Thursday, May 7, 2015

Today in West Civ class we watched a movie all about ancient Rome. But I also learned the three wars were a total destruction; end of an empire. Marcus Portius Cato the elder was a politician who ended every speech by saying "Delenda Carthage est," which means "Carthage must be destroyed," and he got his wish. Slaves poured into Italy (50,000 Carthaginians, 150,00 Greek POWs etc.) By the end of the second century BCE there were over a million slaves in Italy. Small farmers lost their land to aristocrats (for a little or no money) if they could not pay their debts, sometimes because the men of the farm were fighting battles. Slaves did the wok on the farms for the rich. The big farms became massive estates called latifundia.

No comments:

Post a Comment