When was sicily conquered by rome

Every day, speakers of Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and even English and German, use words which would be perfectly recognizable to the ears of Julius Caesar, though he would be surprised to witness the enduring influence of his Empire's culture. The annals of history themself were defined by Romans, with years based on the birth of Jesus in the Roman province of Judea. Rarely with the possible exception of today's Americans has a single --and singular-- people ever influenced the lives of so many others.

Without doubt the Romans were a singular people, at once unspeakably cruel and compassionately democratic. Barbaric and intolerant yet creative and intellectual. The epitome of contradiction.

Willing to embrace foreign cultures but underestimated only at their adversaries' mortal peril. True, the Romans Latinized Sicilian society, though perhaps not as much as is often believed. However, the accomodation of local cultures was a key factor in preserving the vast Roman Empire for a thousand years, and this experiment was first attempted with success in Sicily.

In many ways, Greek civilization represented the Romans' mother culture. Though Latin was introduced, Greek the "intellectual" language of upper-class Romans continued to be widely spoken throughout the Roman rule of Sicily and the regions to the east. In most cases, bilingual societies emerged, with Latin used by the invading Romans and in official inscriptions but the local vernacular being preserved in everyday speech, though perhaps influenced by Latin.

Initially, Latin seems to have had a more general influence in western regions where there was previously no widely-used written language or where there was high illiteracy. In its final centuries the Roman Empire, divided into East and West, continued in Byzantium Constantinople long after these western regions had fallen to invaders.

To understand the Romans' role in Sicily and elsewhere, it is necessary to understand Rome, the people of Rome and the Roman world. This very concise survey concentrates on Roman Sicily without seeking to present a detailed history of the Roman Empire, which would require volumes.

The earliest Romans, Latins present in settlements such as the Palatine Hill from about BC, were greatly influenced by the more advanced Etruscans, who ruled the territories to the north and east of Rome, with a capital at Felsina now Bologna. Little is known of the origins of the Etruscans, whose language, though probably not Indo-European, made use of an alphabet influenced by Phoenician and Greek. By BC, the Romans had assimilated with the Etruscans, as well as various Italic peoples, and controlled the Italian peninsula.

This became the "home" province of Rome, and by AD CE as many as six million people lived there, with at least ten times that many in the entire Empire. In time, most were granted Roman citizenship, and among Rome's emperors were citizens born in various parts of the Empire; in this respect overt ethnic bigotry was not a serious social problem in Roman society, though religious and cultural differences certainly existed among its diverse peoples.

The Romans frequently left local rulers in nominal control of conquered lands. Despite uniform standards of law and even architecture, the far-flung provinces of the Empire often enjoyed localized ethnic social practices such as the continued practice of local religions. By BC, as Rome enjoyed ever more contact with Greece, particularly through the Sicilians, Roman society began to imitate Greek society in many ways.

Romans worshipped the Greek gods, albeit under different names and with less devotion than the Greeks, and imitated Greek architecture and urban planning. Greek literature and science greatly influenced Roman ideas. The Romans built upon what they learned from the Greeks and others. Christianity began to make serious inroads into Roman society by AD , though it was still outlawed at that time.

Roman engineering was sophisticated, but the Romans are credited with few insights into pure science and mathematics. Life in the cities didn't change very much, but Roman agricultural policy differed somewhat from that of the Greeks. Under the Romans, Sicily's forests gave way to the first large grain farms. As a source of hard wheat, Sicily became the "granary of the Roman Empire. Never in its long history has Sicily known peace for as long as it did during the Roman period. This followed the second and third Punic Wars against the Carthaginians , with the virtual destruction of the north-African city in BC.

Moreover, the war in Sicily from BCE had redrawn the political map of the island, as former Roman allies were destroyed while other cities were rewarded for their loyalty. These three elements, the need for security, the desire for grain, and the destruction of the Second Punic War, allowed the Romans to reset and reorganise their role in Sicily, as well as the role of Sicily itself within the Roman dominion.

Sicily was vital to the Romans as a point of supply, as a centre for controlling the western Mediterranean, and for keeping a close watch on Carthage.

Roman bureaucracy in Sicily increased as the island steadily became more important to the legions as a source of grain. In the context of Sicily, security and the grain supply were interrelated, as the system of military and political administration that was put into place gave Sicily the stability that was necessary for the agricultural resources to be exploited.

This paper will explore the process which took Sicily first from newly conquered territory, to a zone of military occupation, and finally to an area of mostly administrative control which might properly be called a province. This process will reveal how administration and taxation of conquered lands were not imposed from the centre, but instead either continued native practices already in place, or developed in response to local conditions.

Accordingly, many institutions that modern scholars associate with provincial governments - tithes, tributes, large bureaucracies, and such - evolved out of a series of ad hoc measures designed to meet immediate needs. In this way, Sicily acts as a microcosm for the development of Roman overseas bureaucracy during the Republic, and serves as our most immediate example for the way in which the Second Punic War affected territories beyond Italy.

Hannibal's Legacy. From the. Skip to main content. Snowden Jr. The war had a profound effect on the island. In and , a strong separatists movement campaigned for Sicily to be admitted as a U. Appeasing this movement the Italian government awarded Sicily with a special status, and to this day Sicily is declared an autonomous region of Italy in Unfortunately, the war had a further effect on the region.

Once the Allies turned to the Mafia for assistance; supporting this criminal network in their quest for power in Sicily. Notorious Mafioso, Don Calogero Vizzini became a key player in the political sphere and the Sicilian Mafia developed into a frightening force on the island for the next 50 years, constructing a massive heroin and cocaine trafficking network that stretched from Palermo to New York as well as the infamous protection and extortion rackets — a criminal lifestyle that has been the inspiration for countless Hollywood blockbusters.

For Sicilians however, this was reality and lasted up until the 90s, when a number of big criminal players were prosecuted in a series of highly-publicised trials. The long, vibrant tale of Sicilian history is written in the key sights of the island — the lovingly restored old town centres; the national parks and nature reserves; and the ancient ruins, many of which are listed as UNESCO world heritage sites. With a present day population of over 5 million, the Sicilian people are a unique blend resulting from their colourful ancient and medieval past.

They are a people aware of their unique heritage and every day in Sicily is a celebration of their artistic and cultural heritage.

We at Sicily4u. Sicily's history - unique and deeply fascinating.