Quote:In the 2nd and 3rd century BC rome began to dominate the mediterranean region, and thus became the news kings at around that time
Time to put down your stupid-ass bible and learn some Roman history so you won't make a fool out of yourself.
Rome ended the 3'd century BC having finally defeated Carthage in a struggle to the death in 202. She opened the 2d century at war with Macedon and trying to pacify Greece. This was accomplished when Titus Quinctius Flamininus defeated Phillip of Macedon in 198. With the Macedonians crushed, Antiochus III of the Seleucid Empire tried to assert Seleucid rule in Greece which provoked the First Syrian War with Rome. Antiochus III was kicked out of Greece by M. Acilius Glabrio at the Battle of Thermopylae (yes, THAT Thermopylae) in 191 and then the Romans, with their allied states, Pergamum and Rhodes defeated the Seleucid navy, crossed to Asia Minor and defeated Antiochus at Magnesia under the command of Lucius Cornelius Scipio...who had his more famous brother, Publius, along as "advisor." The Romans saddled Antiochus with a savage war reparation and took a great deal of terrritory from him...which they turned over to their Pergamene and Rhodian allies. Contrary to your statement, the Romans withdrew from Asia Minor at that time (early in the 2d century.)
They still had periodic problems in Greece and Spain and factions in the Senate were agitating for another war with Carthage ( Marcus Porcius Cato famously ended every speech in the Senate with "Carthago delenda est" (Carthage must be destroyed). In 146 BC Cato got his wish....while another Roman commander sacked and burned Corinth for good measure.
At such a point in time your assertion of Roman domination of the Mediterranean might have been true except for 100 years of civil strife;
the Gracchi brothers, a slave revolt in Sicily, the Social Wars, the slave revolt of Spartacus, Marius, Sulla, and the civil war between Caesar and Pompey. In foreign affairs the Romans suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of Germanic tribes. The second half of the 2d century and the beginning of the first were hardly a pax Romana. For most of that time they maintained their alliances in the east with Pergamon, Rhodes and the Ptolemies in Egypt. They managed to avoid major war in the East until the First Mithridatic War in 86 BC.
It wasn't until Pompey was given given a command against pirates in the East (and exceeded his authority) that Roman control of the East was established.
Now, all of this was done without a single KING (or emperor ) being established in the Roman world. The various consuls named above were all elected to their positions by the senate. Rome remained a republic... at least in form...so when you try to stretch your fairy tales like you did you had best take a little time to learn some shit.
You wouldn't want people to think you were stupid...in addition to being a xtian... would you?
