A Study On The Roman Rule In The Eastern Mediterranean From Late Republic To Early Empire

At the end of Republic,Rome established her sovereign over eastern Mediterranean,and so became the overlord all around the Mediterranean.The Greek East was different from Roman western provinces,since there had developed high-degree civilizations,well-established institutions and deep cultural accumulation.Thus,it was a challenge for Romans to control this area.There will be five chapters in this paper to illustrate Roman rule on eastern Mediterranean.The first chapter focuses on the Roman policy evolution in the eastern Mediterranean.During late Republic,the Senate was unwilling to intervene in eastern affairs,so it took the policy of Laissez Faire.Both the Macedonian wars and the Syrian wars were an effort by Romans to revive the balance broken by Macedonian and Seleucid kings.To the same reason,Rome established alliance with Hellenistic kingdoms after the wars.But the establishment of Macedonian province and Asia province indicated that Rome was changing her policy.The war with Mithridates Eupator was a fuse which led to the thorough conquest of Eastern Mediterranean.Several generals introduced series of measures here,which would become the basis of Imperial eastern rule.The second chapter illustrates the administrative measures by Roman Empire.Provincial system was introduced continually,under which the governors took out all the daily works,juries and keeping orders.Meanwhile,the process of urbanization was promoted greatly.Urban constructions and municipality system were improved,too.Besides,Provincial assembly was established by Augustus in the Greek East.Outside provinces,there were a lot of client kingdoms.The status of client kings declined constantly,although they had played an important role on Roman Empire.The third chapter studies on the economic steps.Agriculture was the most important economic section of Roman empire.Various natural environmental elements led to the diversity of agricultural products.There existed three kinds of land ownership,namely city territories,temple lands and imperial estates,on which tenancy was taken widely.Romans collected various taxes on eastern provincials,which constituted a great source of imperial treasury.During this period,the tax system was regulated.As to the coinage,Rome combined the policies of central control and local autonomy.The eastern Mediterranean had shaped several commercial circles and centers,which even driven the trade of Italy and western provinces.At the same time,it was the terminus of long-distance trades.Romans grasped the initiative for long-distance trades objectively by military conquest,political annexation and foreign policies.The fourth chapter is about Roman eastern frontier system.This system consisted of three parts,namely the Pontus-Transcaucasia frontier,the Euphrates frontier and the Arabian frontier.These three parts all had their own features,so too the defensive measures taken by Romans.The final chapter explores the religious and cultural government.Augustus established imperial worship in the eastern Mediterranean,and introduced to the whole empire.Imperial worship was based on urban centers,and was supported by the system of provincial assembly to ensure the loyalty of provincials.Oriental religions had been influenced by Greek religions.Although Roman religions only had a limited influence on these Hellenistic religions,imperial rule did help the integration of oriental and occidental religions.The policy on monotheism by Rome was relatively moderate as a whole.Latin as official language was encouraged and supported by Roman government.But the further spread of Latin confronted obstacles,since oriental languages and Greek were used more widely.Through the analysis above,we could draw three conclusions.Firstly,there were no deliberate policies and clear aims from the start of Roman rule in eastern Mediterranean.It was a long process before a long-term strategy and a relatively stable government system developed out of temporary response and proper adjustment.In addition,given the distinct history and cultural background of eastern Mediterranean,the Romanization here was relatively limited despite a long period under Roman rule.Secondly,the reasons why Romans could keep stable rule in eastern Mediterranean might lie in three points.Roman army was a kind of effective deterrent force.Roman government took flexible and pragmatic principles to rule the country.In addition,Romans created a relatively relaxed atmosphere for Hellenistic culture.Thirdly,the Roman hegemony brought significant influence on ancient world and civilizational evolution.Meanwhile,there existed some negative effects on the subjects by Roman conquest and control.So we should evaluate the Roman influence dialectically.