(Ebook) Taken at the Flood : the Roman Conquest of Greece by Waterfield, Robin ISBN 9780199656462, 9780199916894, 0199656460, 0199916896

In an absorbing account of a critical chapter in Rome's mastery of the Mediterranean, Robin Waterfield reveals the peculiar nature of Rome's eastern policy. For over seventy years, the Romans avoided annexation so that they could commit their military and financial resources to the fight against Carthage and elsewhere. Though ultimately a failure, this policy of indirect rule, punctuated by periodic brutal military interventions and intense diplomacy, worked well for several decades, until the Senate finally settled on more direct forms of control. Waterfield's fast-paced narrative focuses mainly on military and diplomatic maneuvers, but throughout he interweaves other topics and themes, such as the influence of Greek culture on Rome, the Roman aristocratic ethos, and the clash between the two best fighting machines the ancient world ever produced: the Macedonian phalanx and Roman legion.
Abstract: The story of the Roman conquest of Greece - not only a thrilling tale of military conquest, but a pivotal event in the history of Rome, her empire, and the whole subsequent history of Europe.