[Illustration: A MEGALITH AT BAALBEC
A block of stone 68 feet long 10 feet high and weighing about 1500 tons.
It is still attached to its bed in the quarry not far from the ruins of
Baalbec in Syria. The temples of Baalbec seen in the distance were built
by the Romans in the third century A.D. The majestic temple of the Sun
contains three megaliths almost as huge as the one represented in the
illustration. They are the largest blocks known to have been used in any
structure. For a long time they were supposed to be relics of giant
builders.]
ROMANIZATION OF EAST AND WEST
The civilized world took on the stamp and impress of Rome. The East,
indeed, remained Greek in language and feeling, but even there Roman law
and government prevailed, Roman roads traced their unerring course, and
Roman architects erected majestic monuments. The West became completely
Roman. North Africa, Spain, Gaul, distant Dacia, and Britain were the
seats of populous cities, where the Latin language was spoken and Roman
customs were followed. From them came the emperors. They furnished some of
the most eminent men of letters. Their schools of grammar and rhetoric
attracted students from Rome itself. Thus unconsciously, but none the less
surely, local habits and manners, national religions and tongues,
provincial institutions and ways of thinking disappeared from the ancient
world.
STUDIES
1. On an outline map indicate the additions to Roman territory: during the
reign of Augustus, 31 B.C.-14 A.D.; during the period 14-180 A.D.
2. On an outline map indicate ten important cities of the Roman Empire.
3. Connect the proper events with the following dates: 79 A.D.; 180 A.D.;
and 14 A.D.
4. Whom do you consider the greater man, Julius Caesar or Augustus? Give
reasons for your answer.
5. Compare the Augustan Age at Rome with the Age of Pericles at Athens.
6. What is the _Monumentum Ancyranum_ and its historic importance
(illustration Monumentum Ancyranum, section 66. Augustus, 31 B.C.-l4 A.D.,
topic The Augustan Age)?
7. How did the worship of the Caesars connect itself with ancestor
worship?
8. In the reign of what Roman emperor was Jesus born? In whose reign was
he crucified?
9. How did the "year of anarchy" after Nero's death exhibit a weakness in
the imperial system?
10. How many provinces existed under Trajan?
11. What modern countries are included within the limits of the Roman
Empire in the age of Trajan?
12. Compare the extent of the Roman Empire under Trajan with (a) the
empire of Alexander; and (b) the empire of Darius.
13. Give the Roman names of Spain, Italy, Gaul, Germany, Britain,
Scotland, and Ireland.
14. Contrast the Roman armies under the empire with the standing armies of
modern Europe.
15. Trace on the map, page 205, the Roman roads in Britain.
16. "To the Roman city the empire was political death; to the provinces it
was the beginning of new life." Comment on this statement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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