Empires: Rome - Pandora's Box Part Two

In 123BC, after a decade of pushing for it, Gaius Gracchus succeeded in passing a law that would have some unintended and terrible consequences. By the terms of this law, Pergamum was finally subjected to organized taxation. The Republic had to turn to the private sector to tax the subjects of the bequeathed kingdom, because it did not have the huge bureaucracies that the kings of the east relied on, to not only tax-but over-tax their subjects. This led to tax-collecting contracts being publicly auctioned, with those who bought them paying in full the tribute owed to the state. Even the wealthiest of contributors could not afford to pay these, as the sums were enormous. Instead, the wealth of many investors would be pooled, and the resulting companies administered like the huge financial concerns they were. Just like in modern finance, shares could be offered, meetings held and directors elected to the service of the board. Pergamum had become a Roman province by 129BC, and the 'tax-collecting' staff in the province might include soldiers, sailors-even postmen, besides the regular staff itself. Publicani was the name given to the businessmen who ran these cartels. The rape of the newly minted province was now in full swing.

The name publicani, referred to these men as agents of the state. There was however, nothing public in the quality of the 'service' they provided in Pergamum. Profit was all that mattered-the bigger the better. The ultimate goal of these men was not only to collect the tribute owed to the state, but also to bully the provincials in paying extra for the 'privilege' of being bled dry. Of course, by the laws of the Republic, subjects on paper did have some appeal against the torments of the tax predators. The taxation system may have been privatized, but the provinces administration remained in the hands of the Senate. In other words, with the men supposedly imbued the most with the values of the Republic. These ideals were supposed to have obliged governors to provide their subects with the benefits of security, peace and stability. However, in the case of Pergamum, the bribes offered to look the other way were so gainful, that even some of the most law abiding men were taken in. Roman rectitude and uprightness were becoming values lost to the gold rush in the province. To the benighted provincials, there appeared to be little difference in the publicani and the senators sent to govern them. The rape of Pergamum's wealth was an in-your-face spectacle of pure greed overcoming any sense of decency and honor that the Republic was supposed to stand for.

The highways that were originally built for commerce or war now just brought the Roman tax predators to their victims faster, pack animals literally strained under the weight of the tribute they carried along these roads as they were guarded by legionaires. Ships across the Meditteranean sailed for Italy, loaded with plundered treasure from imperial extortion. Rome was becoming a nightmare behemoth whose innards were becoming clogged with gold. The more Rome became over-laden with silver, gold and other treasure, the harder she closed her massive fists to attain more. The lust for more and more mineral wealth actually began to alter the landscape of her western provinces. Almost as if the giant fingers of the Roman behemoth had dug for hidden mineral wealth, the scarred terrain of the provinces in the west bore witness to the Republic's lust for silver and gold. In the east cities were plundered for treasure of any kind, be it money, works of art-even foodstuffs. In the west it was the earth itself that fell victim to imperial greed. The result of this was mining on a scale that would not be seen again until the industrial revolution! Spain bore witness to the worst of the excavation devastation. Many observers talked in awe of what they had seen there.

A century previously, the publicani had taken over the mines that Rome had annexed from Carthage. They bore and dug there with their exemplary flair for turining a profit. A single network of tunnels might extend for more than a hundred square miles. Forty thousand slaves had a nightmare existence working in just one of these networks. For people who think pollution and smog started with the industrial age; the cloud of pollution that hung over the devastated landscape from the smelting furnaces through giant chimneys in Spain was so toxic that birds would die if they flew through the exhaust. Originally, large areas of Spain were thought to be too remote and dangerous to dig for mineral wealth. However, by the second century BC, all areas except the north of the Iberian peninsula had been used for mining (the Iberian peninsula was not brought under Roman control completely until 23 BC). The measurement of concentrations of lead in the ice from Greenland's glaciers, show an extremely marked increase during this time. These lead concentrations are a stark reminder of how huge the mass of poisonous fumes that the Roman mines were emitting must have been. The ore that was being smelted was silver and it has been estimated that for every ton of silver extracted over then thousand tons of rock had to be quarried.

By the first century BC, it has also been estimated that the Roman mint was using fifty tons of silver each year. The immense scale of these operations, both in Asia and in Spain could not have come to fruition without the public sector working hand in glove with the private sector. The Roman authorities in the provinces began to look for partners in crime in the ranks of Roman officialdom, for providing such handsome pay-outs, safe roads, good harbors and natives who were kept under the imperial thumb. It was the height of hypocrisy to watch senators show such an uppity contempt for all matters financial--and yet at the same time making loads of money from these 'arrangements'. There was even a law that a publicanus would not be allowed to join the Senate, just as no senator was permitted to have anything to do with trade beyond Rome's boundaries. However, in real life these laws did not work hardly at all. Both the entrepreneur and the senator or governor needed each other to become wealthy. The actions between the private sector and public sectors in ancient Rome, very much became what might be thought of as an archetypal military-industrial complex. It had all started with the willing of the kingdom of Pergamum to the Republic. In the years after this, motives for profit, status and Rome's traditional values had become more confused than ever.

To the two or three people who read this blog:-) Usually you will never see me type the amount that I did in this post because I am such a horrid typist (not that it was a lot of material)-I was just very anxious to show the corrosive effect on the government -even back to ancient times-when money is allowed to cloud people's minds-and also thought some of the other information was good to know-as the info about mining and the like was completely new to me(as to the extent of pollution etcetera). I would have kept on going -but came to the end of information I had on paper-back pain is horrid right now-but when you are doing something you love it doesn't matter as much. I am really excited about the continuation of the story here and hope to have it here as soon as I can. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Empires: Rome - Pandora's Box Part One

The bequest of Pergamum to Rome must have ignited some fires of an almost all-consuming greed in the hearts of men in the Republic. Pergamum was known for the collossal majesty of her monuments, and also the wealth of the cities under her rule, indeed this was the most magnificent bequest in history. However--the wealth of Pergamum posed a huge question for Rome. How was the enormous wealth of the kingdom to be handled? The Senate was supposed to have responsibility for the way the wealth of Pergamum was to be appropriated. Membership in this body of three hundred of Rome's best and brightest was not guaranteed by birth, but by achievement and reputation. The Senate's deliberations carried enormous moral and guiding authority, however its decrees did not have the technical force of the law. Even so -only a very brave or foolish magistrate would ignore them. It was the Senate that cemented the foundation of the Republic together with the people. "Senatus Populusque Romanus" or "SPQR" was the shorthand that referred to the constitution of the Republic. This phrase or its abbreviation was stamped on everything from the smallest of coins to the most majestic official buildings and temples, that described the bond between the Senate and the people.

However, the bequest of Pergamum was about to open up a Pandora's Box of troubles for the Senate, the people and Rome herself. First of all, news of the new wealth from the East, literally seemed to appear as a gift from the heavens for the previously mentioned Tiberius Gracchus in his quest to help the poor of Rome. He wanted the treasure to be spent on funding his ambitious reforms. Of course, the people agreed with him, but his fellow senators did not, and ended up being partly responsible for his murder. Some other things showed just how paradoxical this 'gift' from the East were: Romans had long associated gold with moral corruption and the idea of inheriting a fabulously wealthy kingdom was anathema to ancient Roman values. The matter of governance was a more pragmatic and immediate concern to Rome than the lofty upholding of ancient values. The Republic had always considered provinces bothersome to administrate. Rather than impose direct rule on the kingdoms of the East, the Senate practiced a delicate maneuver of exploitation, but from a distance preferrably-only intervening when absolutely necessary.

This policy was practiced in Pergamum, until the kingdom started to disintegrate into anarchy, which threatened the stability of the surrounding areas. Rome sent in an army. It took several years before the region was brought back under control, and even then, the Senate didn't establish Rome's first province in Asia until 129 BC. The commissioners sent to oversee the kingdom were told to enforce the laws of the kings they were replacing. This was part of the unique 'isolationism' Rome practiced. Respect was what the Republic truly demanded from the people it conquered and ruled over. As long as there was sufficient deference in the way the ambassadors from the East came to learn of the Senate's every desire; as long as the barbarians of the West feared any military engagements with the legions in Gaul or Hispania, everything was fine. It was all fine and good for the senatorial elite, who already had more than their fair share of wealth and status to feel this way about respect offered to Rome. But what of the people of lesser status in Rome, to say nothing of the vast mass of the poor-they wanted their share of the Pergamene loot too, and they found a spokesman for this in none other than Gaius Gracchus.

To anyone who reads this blog-I am going to be posting information to it as soon as I can. I have a long way to go before I have anything remotely resembling what I wanted this blog to look like.I am working on a very large project for my other blog-and I hope it does not 'die' as I get things together. My health is becoming an issue again, and I had to finally decide to concentrate on the 3 things that most interest me. The 3 things being history-as I feel we can still learn from it-the second being my major subject (topic) for my other blog which I have no clue how long it will take to get together-and also the new 'book' :-) I have decided to write-and keep my personal life story to myself-although having said this, I agree with a dear friend overseas who I have never met-but feel I have known him all my life-that everyone should write "their" story-whether for public or private. The thing I most had to discard was constantly doing 'little subjects' constantly in between at my other blog-although this is not to say anything against them as I think the study of paranormal phenomena is of immense value-what I had to do was slow down the speed over there with always getting into a new subject so quickly-I would love to be able to do it-but I know longer have the energy to juggle that much at one time-I may have another post here by the am-as I have to do an all-nighter tonight-providing connection holds and my back pain is at a tolerable level. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Empires:Rome- The Sybil's Prophecies & The East

The prophecies of the Sibyl were a carefully guarded state secret in Rome, kept in the Temple of Jupiter. However, the Romans were not the only people in the world to receive a visit from her-perhaps multitudes of 'hers' (likely a lot of hims using the name, Sibyl as a pseudo-both for anonymity and their own personal safety). The prophecies she had given the Greeks and the Jews had been told far and wide. In a very sinister prophecy, she had told of a time when Roman would take up arms against Roman, and in these prognostications the violence would not be confined to the capital: "Not foreign invaders, Italy, but your own sons will rape you, a brutal interminable gang-rape, punishing you, famous country, for all your many depravities, leaving you prostrated, stretched out among the burning ashes. Self-slaughterer! No longer the mother of upstanding men, but rather the nurse of savage, ravening beasts!"

Scholars and historians have dated this and other prophecies to times near the 140s BC. An interesting sidebar to these prophecies is that the ones kept by the Romans seemed to suggest the future could be altered if certain actions were taken, while the prophetic books in the East appeared to have had a very deterministic view of the future. Everything was set in stone and nothing could be changed. Of course, with the times that these prophecies of Rome's destruction were dated, it would not have taken a true prophetess to describe Rome's hegemony over the world of the time. Also, the way some of these prophecies were worded seemed to have been written by someone who could only imagine Rome being brought down by internal strife-as her power in regards to other nations seemed invincible.

Before the catastrophes for the cities of Carthage and Corinth in 146BC; the Greeks had been somewhat confused by Rome's guarantees of freedom. The Greeks tended to think of the Romans as barbarians (behind their backs) and the Romans thought of the Greeks as contentious children who needed a strong hand to keep them in line. Until the destruction of Corinth, the Greeks had interpreted Roman guarantees of 'freedom' in a much larger sense than the Republic had intended. No reading between the lines of diplomatic language was needed after 146 BC. The treaties of friendship between Rome and her allies were now as sharply defined as a razor blade's edge, and as ill-advised to play with. The lessons Rome had so brutally taught had not been lost on anybody throughout the Meditteranean and to the east, far beyond the Greek kingdoms into Asia Minor. Monarchies throughout the region were always trying to ponder what Rome's true intentions were and made sure they were in perfect harmony with the tune the Republic was singing. The last king of Pergamum, Attalos III, who ruled over a Greek city controlling most of what is modern western Turkey, went as far as one could go in this new era of 'friendship' and 'cooperation'. In 133BC he left his entire kingdom to Rome in his will! As obsequious and benevolent an act as this may have seemed, it started a chain of events rolling (some involving the Gracchi brothers) that were to have some very horrific consequences for Rome.