Pompeii was established in the 6th or 7th century BC. "It had already been used as a safe port by Greek and Phoenician sailors. According to Strabo, Pompeii was also captured by the Etruscans, and in fact recent excavations have shown the presence of Etruscan inscriptions and a 6th-century BC necropolis. Pompeii was captured for the first time by the Greek colony of Cumae, allied with Syracuse, between 525 and 474 BC."
Later, "After the Samnite Wars (4th century BC), Pompeii was forced to accept the status of socium of Rome, maintaining, however, linguistic and administrative autonomy. In the 4th century BC, it was fortified. Pompeii remained faithful to Rome during the Second Punic War."
So while Pompeii was part of the Roman empire, they were NOT Roman. This was the era of city-states (remember the rivalry between Athens and Sparta?) People of Rome took great pride in calling themselves a "citizen of Rome" (the city) much like modern Parisians look down on other French who are not citizens of Paris. Athens, Cairo etc. became part of the Roman empire, but certainly were not considered "Roman" That's only confusing because the Roman empire was named after the city, unlike the Greek and Egyptian empires (no city named Greece or Egypt) A better parallel would be the Byzantine empire or the Babylonian empire. People would be a part of the empire, but not necessarily a citizen of Byzantium or Babylon.
The more successful empires allowed the 'conquered' to retain their language, religion, and some autonomy, which they paid for in taxes, and that also made them more loyal to the conquerors, who protected them from outside invaders. The Ottomans also followed this practice, and survived from the Middle Ages through World War I.
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InternationaleClique
10 years ago
Pompeii was established in the 6th or 7th century BC. "It had already been used as a safe port by Greek and Phoenician sailors. According to Strabo, Pompeii was also captured by the Etruscans, and in fact recent excavations have shown the presence of Etruscan inscriptions and a 6th-century BC necropolis. Pompeii was captured for the first time by the Greek colony of Cumae, allied with Syracuse, between 525 and 474 BC."
Later, "After the Samnite Wars (4th century BC), Pompeii was forced to accept the status of socium of Rome, maintaining, however, linguistic and administrative autonomy. In the 4th century BC, it was fortified. Pompeii remained faithful to Rome during the Second Punic War."
So while Pompeii was part of the Roman empire, they were NOT Roman. This was the era of city-states (remember the rivalry between Athens and Sparta?) People of Rome took great pride in calling themselves a "citizen of Rome" (the city) much like modern Parisians look down on other French who are not citizens of Paris. Athens, Cairo etc. became part of the Roman empire, but certainly were not considered "Roman" That's only confusing because the Roman empire was named after the city, unlike the Greek and Egyptian empires (no city named Greece or Egypt) A better parallel would be the Byzantine empire or the Babylonian empire. People would be a part of the empire, but not necessarily a citizen of Byzantium or Babylon.
The more successful empires allowed the 'conquered' to retain their language, religion, and some autonomy, which they paid for in taxes, and that also made them more loyal to the conquerors, who protected them from outside invaders. The Ottomans also followed this practice, and survived from the Middle Ages through World War I.
By the time of the events in the movie they had been part of the Empire for 400 years. In the Punic war, 100 years after being conquered, they already felt Roman enough to stand fast while Hannibal, who had defeated 3 massive Roman armies, was ravaging the countryside, engaging in war and threat of war. All of Italy had been granted citizenship by this time, and they paid no tax.
The suggestion that Pompeiians would have any animosity towards people from the city of Rome is ludicrous. Likely every other man had relatives or business there and the capital itself was viewed pretty much like capitals today. A little jealous because of the wealth and smugness on the part of the inhabitants, but that's it. It's not like other Frenchmen view Paris as a conquering oppressor they want rid of. It's regional banter, nothing more.
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Earthmonkey16
10 years ago
By the time of the events in the movie they had been part of the Empire for 400 years.
Not quite in 4th century bc Pompeii became an ally of Rome, 80 bc Pompeii became a colony of Rome...
So it was about 160 years of being part of Rome...
The 2nd Punic wars were against a common enemy (like WWII would you say that GB was part of the USA or vice versa at that time? Not to mention USA and USSR)
Likely every other man had relatives or business there and the capital itself was viewed pretty much like capitals today.
And many provinces resent the power of the capital, the bigger the country the more resentment from the rest of the country.
I'm not crazy, I'm just not your kind of sane
He who laughs last, didn't understand the joke
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marbleann
10 years ago
You spent more time on this post than the writers did on the script
And 6 months later that fact remains the same.
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kingg-2
10 years ago
There is a lot of bad info in this thread. Pompeii was definitely Roman. They weren't an oppressed people, they weren't conquered. They were Roman. The bad blood between Rome and Pompeii was similar to bad blood between New Yorkers and Bostonians. One nation, one people, with rivalries all over the place between cities and regions.
You see this in practically every country and culture on the planet today, and it certainly existed 2,000 years ago. True, there were recent additions to the Roman Empire in the mid-first century that would have still some rebel agitation. But not in Italy.
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Earthmonkey16
10 years ago
The Roman Empire was actually a city state that had conquered eerybody else..
The conquered cities and areas were given citizenship if Rome so decided...
Pompeii was made a colony in 89 BC....
The cities/areas in the Italian peninsula may not have rebelled but it is also not impossible to imagine that they feel conquered.. A bit like Poland/Former Yugoslavia through most of its historie or most smaller modern countries in Europe....
Italy as a united country did not exist until the 19th century...
I'm not crazy, I'm just not your kind of sane
He who laughs last, didn't understand the joke
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