“Taylor’s study critically compares the manpower and revenues of
Republican Rome with those of Carthage and the Antigonid, Seleucid and
Ptolemaic kingdoms.” —Dominic Rathbone, author of Civilizations of
the Ancient World By the middle of the second century BCE, after
nearly one hundred years of warfare, Rome had exerted its control over
the entire Mediterranean world, forcing the other great powers of the
region—Carthage, Macedonia, Egypt, and the Seleucid empire—to
submit militarily and financially. But how, despite its relative
poverty and its frequent numerical disadvantage in decisive battles,
did Rome prevail? Michael J. Taylor explains this surprising outcome
by examining the role that manpower and finances played, providing a
comparative study that quantifies the military mobilizations and tax
revenues for all five powers. Though Rome was the poorest state, it
enjoyed the largest military mobilization, drawing from a pool of
citizens, colonists, and allies, while its wealthiest adversaries
failed to translate revenues into large or successful armies. Taylor
concludes that state-level extraction strategies were decisive in the
warfare of the period, as states with high conscription and low
taxation raised larger, more successful armies than those that
primarily sought to maximize taxation. Comprehensive and detailed,
Soldiers and Silver offers a new and sophisticated perspective on the
political dynamics and economies of these ancient Mediterranean
empires. “An interesting read . . . Taylor has succeeded at
clarifying an often-unclear topic with some fine scholarship.”
—Ancient World Magazine “Taylor considers the systems of all of
the major players in the Mediterranean state system . . . and that
fact alone puts this study head and shoulders above similar older
efforts.” —A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781477321690
Publisert
2022
Utgiver
Vendor
University of Texas Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter