#Plutocracy movie full#

At an unknown date certain Indo-European tribes had managed to find their way through the passes of the Alps and had pushed southward until they had filled the heel and the toe of the famous Italian boot with their villages and their flocks. The first serious invasion of this land came from the north. It was therefore rarely visited by foreign merchants and the natives were allowed to live in undisturbed possession of their hills and their marshy plains.

#Plutocracy movie full#

Whereas in Greece all the good harbours faced eastward and enjoyed a full view of the busy islands of the Aegean, the west coast of Italy contemplated nothing more exciting than the desolate waves of the Mediterranean. The west coast of Italy had long been neglected by civilisation. The rumors were duly investigated and in a general way these were the facts that came to light. The young rival must be destroyed lest the Carthaginian rulers lose their prestige as the absolute rulers of the western Mediterranean. It was also said that this village, which by the way was called Rome, intended to build ships and go after the commerce of Sicily and the southern coast of France.Ĭarthage could not possibly tolerate such competition. It was said that a little village on the banks of the Tiber had suddenly risen to great power and was making itself the acknowledged leader of all the Latin tribes who inhabited central Italy. They had managed to do this very successfully for almost five hundred years when they were greatly disturbed by certain rumors which reached them from the western coast of Italy. To prevent such an occurrence the plutocracy was obliged to keep the business of the town going at full speed. ΚΛΗ above, ΣΗΡΑΜ/ΒΟΣ below, nude youth on horseback right, placing a laurel wreath on his horse’s head ΤΑΡΑΣ, Taras riding dolphin left, holding trident in right hand, aphlaston in his left hand. But when no ships left the harbor, when no ore was brought to the smelting-ovens, when dockworkers and stevedores were thrown out of employment, then there were grumblings and there was a demand that the popular assembly be called together as in the olden days when Carthage had been a self-governing republic.Ĭalabria, Tarentum, during the occupation by Hannibal, circa 212-209 BC. As long as there was plenty of work and wages were high, the majority of the citizens were quite contented, allowed their “betters” to rule them and asked no embarrassing questions. Of course, such a “plutocracy” was forever at the mercy of the crowd. They were however wide awake and full of energy and worked very hard.Īs the years went by the influence of Carthage upon her neighbours increased until the greater part of the African coast, Spain and certain regions of France were Carthaginian possessions, and paid tribute, taxes and dividends to the mighty city on the African Sea. The city and the surrounding country and the distant colonies were all ruled by a small but exceedingly powerful group of rich men, The Greek word for rich is “ploutos” and the Greeks called such a government by “rich men” a “Plutocracy.” Carthage was a plutocracy and the real power of the state lay in the hands of a dozen big ship-owners and mine-owners and merchants who met in the back room of an office and regarded their common Fatherland as a business enterprise which ought to yield them a decent profit. It was a vast business-house, protected by a strong navy, indifferent to most of the finer aspects of life. Unfortunately the city had inherited many of the traits which for a thousand years had been characteristic of the Phoenicians. When in the sixth century before our era, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Tyre, Carthage broke off all further relations with the Mother Country and became an independent state–the great western advance-post of the Semitic races. It was an ideal spot for a commercial centre. The little Phoenician trading post of Kart-hadshat stood on a low hill which overlooked the African Sea, a stretch of water ninety miles wide which separates Africa from Europe. The Semitic colony of Carthage on the northern coast of Africa and the Indo-European city of Rome on the west coast of Italy fought each other for the possession of the western Mediterranean, and Carthage was destroyed. The plutocracy of Carthage was only too willing to pick a quarrel with Rome. An artist’s impression of what the Roman naval attack on Carthage may have looked like during the Third Punic War, 149-146 BCE / Total War