Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 - The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution

The Mediterranean and the Roman Revolution 

tionorservicesfromalltheareasnominallywithinitsborders.Someseventy
years after the Pontus region in northernTurkey had become a province,
thehistorianArrian,asgovernor,reportedtoHadrianinthesthatthe
immediateneighboursofthecoastalcityof Trapezuswereapeoplecalled
theSanni,verywarlike,veryhostiletoTrapezus,livinginfortifiedpositions,
practisingbrigandage,andindifferenttothepaymentofthetribute(paidin
beeswax according to Pliny) which they in principle owed to Rome.^65 We
would do well to see all ancient kingdoms and empires as no more than
changingpatchworksofcontrol.
Secondly, in certain respects it has to be conceded that the distinction
betweendirectlyruledareas(i.e.,provinces)andoneswhichwereoutside
theareaof Romandominationhardlymattered.Oneoftheprimecharac-
teristics of the Roman civil wars from the s to Actium was the way in
whichthecompetingpartiesdemandednavalandmilitaryforcesnotonly
fromprovincesbutfromalltheareaswithintheRomansphereofinfluence.
Again,someexampleswillsuffice.Fromwithinaprovince,Ciceroreports
that Fonteius, as a proconsul of Gaul in –, ‘‘ordered the provision of
largeforcesofcavalryforthewarswhichtheRomanpeoplewasthencon-
ductingthroughouttheworld,largesumsofmoneyfortheirpay,andavery
largequantityofcornfortheSpanishwar’’(againstSertorius).^66 Fromout-
sidetheprovincialareaLuculluswascollectingshipsfromCyprus,Phoeni-
cia, Rhodes, and Pamphylia in ..;^67  cavalry from the kingdom of
Noricum arrived in Italy to help Caesar in ..,while in the next year
cavalryfromKingCotysof ThracefoughtonthePompeiansideinThes-
saly;andfromAlexandriain/..Caesarcalled,amongotherforces,for
cavalryfromMalchusofNabataea(Arabia).^68 Thereisnoneedtorecallthe
variousroyalforceswhichtookpartinthecivilwarinAfricainthesorto
givelistsoftheethnicunitswhichservedatPharsalusin..,^69 atPhilippi
in,andatActiumin.Brutus’andCassius’forcesatPhilippi,forinstance,
includedbothCeltsfromthewestandGalatiansfromGalatiainAsiaMinor,
Celtic-speakingpeoplewhohadsettledthereinthethirdcentury..^70 In
thecaseoffleets,itiswellknownthatRomecontinuedtorelyonthesystem
ofrequiringmaritimecitiestoprovidesmallnavalcontingents,andmain-

. Pliny,NH,,;Arrian,Periplus,.

. Cicero,Font..

. Plutarch,Luc..

. Caesar,BC,,,,and,,;[Caesar],B. Alex.,,.

. Appian,BC,–.

. Appian,BC,/.