One of the most significant of the numerous plots and skirmishes between the new kingdoms and Dynasties, happened in 215 BC when the Antigonid king Phillip V, who had united and ruled much of the Greek Heartland at the time, formed an alliance with Hannibal of Carthage, the main enemy of the Romans. From that moment Rome worked against Greece and when Carthage was finally defeated in 202 BC, Rome turned eastwards and defeated Philip in 197 BC. The Romans did not want the administrative burden of ruling these new regions so withdrew in 194 BC. In 196 BC, Antigonus had gained a foothold in Thrace and in 192 BC he invaded Greece. The Romans sent another army that defeated Antigonus in 191 BC at Thermopylae. In 190 BC the Romans decided to take the battle to Antigonus and crossed into Anatolia where Roman general Scipio defeated him at Magnesia. The Romans gave the lands they gained to the king of Pergamum, as a Roman friend, and again they withdrew. The Romans were clearly still not keen to have “hands-on” rule of this region, particularly of Greece, which they admired, and were content to absorb, the Greek Culture. However, Macedonian leaders kept provoking the Romans, and with Pergamum happy to keep stirring the pot, wars kept breaking out, each resulting in greater control from Rome until in 150 BC Macedonia, and in 146 BC Greece became Roman Protectorates. The Romans had been encroaching on the Greek settlements in Italy and Sicily, but some settlements such as Massalia (Marseilles) in Southern France were still equal allies of the Romans in 121 BC. The Roman general Pompey the Great finally extinguished the Seleucid Empire in 64 BC when its last king was dethroned. Cleopatra, the Egyptian Pharaoh, tried to beat Rome by marriage, but neither Caesar nor Anthony achieved her aims. Octavian finally defeated Egypt, the last of Alexander’s kingdoms, at the battle of “Actium” in 31 BC.

10.5 The Celts

The predecessors of the Celts, sometimes referred to as proto-Celts, probably began as an Indo-European branch in Asia Minor around 1,400 BC and migrated to Central Europe. Basically the name Celt is poorly defined and covers anyone who spoke the Celtic language, however another distinction is that in Celtic people blood group O predominates whereas B predominates in South India. The population of Britain is estimated to have been just under a million in 1,400 BC, while Europe’s population grew to 25 million by the beginning of the Iron Age.

“Lowland” proto-Celts left the East Danube region around 1,200 BC and slowly migrated across Europe as far as Switzerland, Iberia and Ireland. They were industrious farmers and metalworkers who practised cremation and “merged” with the “Megalithic” people, although in exactly what way we do not know, but Megalithic monuments stopped being built at about this date. Towns spread from the first ones in Greece, financed by the wealth derived from metal ores, salt (for preserving food), cattle and crafts. Greece had a major impact on the Celts and the general development of the rest of Europe, including the spread of literacy. The Celtic towns were fortified to protect them from raids, often from nomadic horsemen from the Steppes. North of the Alps the Bronze Age lasted to about 700 BC. Then iron tools and weapons were introduced, horses became widespread and trade increased considerably. However, the potter’s wheel did not spread into Europe north of the Alps before the end of the 2nd century BC.