ἐκ δὲ τούτου Δίαιος μὲν ἀπογνοὺς ἑαυτὸν ἀπέκτεινε, τῶν δ’ ἐκ τῆς μάχης περισωθέντων οἱ μὲν Κορίνθιοι κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἐσκεδάσθησαν, οἱ δ’ ἄλλοι οἴκαδε ἔφυγον. ὅθεν καὶ οἱ ἐν τῷ τείχει Κορίνθιοι πάντας ἀπολωλέναι νομίσαντες ἐξέλιπον τὴν πόλιν: καὶ κενὴν αὐτὴν ἀνδρῶν ὁ Μόμμιος ἔλαβε. καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα κἀκείνους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας ἀπόνως προσεποιήσατο. καὶ τότε μὲν τά τε ὅπλα αὐτῶν καὶ ὅσα πρὸς τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀνέκειντο καὶ τοὺς ἀνδριάντας τάς τε γραφὰς καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο πρὸς κόσμον εἶχον παρείλετο, πεμφθέντων δέ οἱ τοῦ τε πατρὸς καὶ ἄλλων ἐπὶ καταστάσει τῶν ἁλόντων, τείχη τέ τινων περιεῖλε καὶ ἐλευθέρους πάντας καὶ αὐτονόμους πλὴν τῶν Κορινθίων ἀφῆκε.
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Three events in the second century BCE transformed the relationship between Corinth and Rome. The first came at the turn of the century when the Roman general Flamininus defeated Philip V of Macedon at the Battle of Cynocephalae in 197. A year later, Flamininus and Rome were not interested in ruling Greece. Instead, before the assembled multitude at the isthmian Games, Flamininus promised the “freedom of the Greeks,” and just two years later he made good on his word, removing Roman troops from the “fetters of Greece”—Acrocorinth, Chalcis, and Demetrias.
The second event came nearly thirty years later. Rome tried to broker friendly relations among Greek cities and confederacies, but fear of Philip’s son Perseus led to Rome’s intervention. Led by Aemilius Paullus, the Romans dealt a decisive blow to Perseus and the Macedonian kingdom at the Battle of Pydna in 168. This time, Rome imposed much harsher penalties on the Macedonians: an annual tribute of one hundred talents and the enslavement of 150,000 inhabitants.
Another twenty years passed and the Achaean League wanted more say as to who was part of the league and how it should be run. In 146 BCE, the Romans sent two armies in a pincher movement, Metellus from the north and Mummius from the south. Metellus disposed of Achaean general Critolaus and Mummius easily handled Diaeus and the remaining Achaean army at the isthmus.
Three events, each one exacting a stronger response from Rome until in 146 BCE Mummius’ army crushed Corinth, the capital of the Achaean League, once and for all. This passage from Zonaras begins just after Mummius’ troops routed Diaeus and the Achaeans.
Think about the vocabulary of victors and vanquished: Winners and Losers-Pre-reading-SackofCorinth
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Johannes Zonaras was a member of the political elite during the late 11th and early 12th century CE Byzantine empire, serving as high judge (Great Commander of the Palace Watch) and imperial secretary (First Secretary of the Chancery). Sometime during the reign of Alexius Comnenus (1081-1118 CE), he was commissioned to write a commentary on the canons of Byzantine church law. Then in his fifties (around 1112 CE), some personal situation compelled him to retire to the monastery of St. Glykeria. At the urging of his friends, he took up the challenge of writing the Epitome, which he completed sometime before 1134 when he was in his seventies.
His Epitome of History (Ἐπιτομὴ ἱστοριῶν) chronicles the history of the world from creation to the year 1118 CE. The work is divided into two portions, the first six books covering Jewish history down to the destruction of Jerusalem under the Roman emperor Titus in 70 CE and the next twelve books offering α history of the Roman world from the kings to the death of the Byzantine emperor Alexius Comnenus. Zonaras’ universal history is valued for preserving a running account of time periods where the ancient and medieval historical sources are lacking and for reconstructing missing portions of Cassius Dio’s history of the Roman empire.
Banchich, Thomas, and Eugene Lane, trans. The Histories of Zonaras from Alexander Severus to the Death of Theodosius the Great. London and New York: Routledge, 2009.