These three monuments preserve for us the exact line of the low wall or _spina_, which divided the race course and around which the charioteers drove their furious steeds. The obelisk was transported from Egypt by Constantine. Between it and the crumbling tower beyond is a pillar of three brazen serpents, originally set up at Delphi by the Greeks, after the battle of Plataea. On this trophy were engraved the names of the various states that sent soldiers to fight the Persians.] [Illustration: Map, CONSTANTINOPLE] HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE OF CONSTANTINOPLE Excepting Athens and Rome, no other European city can lay claim to so long and so important a history as Constantinople. Her day came after theirs was done. Throughout the Middle Ages Constantinople remained the most important city in Europe. When London, Paris, and Vienna were small and mean towns, Constantinople was a large and flourishing metropolis. The renown of the city penetrated even into barbarian lands. The Scandinavians called it Micklegarth, the "Great City"; the Russians knew of it as Tsarigrad, the "City of the Caesars." But its own people best described it as the "City guarded by God." Here, for more than eleven centuries, was the capital of the Roman Empire and the center of Eastern Christendom. STUDIES 1. Compare the area of the Roman Empire in the East in 395 A.D. with its area in 800 A.D. (maps between pages 222-223 and facing page 308). 2. Compare the respective areas in 800 A.D. of the Roman Empire in the East and Charlemagne's empire. 3. On the map, page 338, locate Adrianople, Gallipoli, Nicaea, the Bosporus, Sea of Marmora, and Dardanelles. 4. Who were Belisarius, Chosroes II, and Heraclius? 5. In your opinion which of the two rival imperial lines after 800 A.D. had the better title to represent ancient Rome? 6. Why has Justinian been called the "lawgiver of civilization"? 7. Why was it necessary to codify Roman law? Is the English Common law codified? 8. Compare the work of Alexandrian and Byzantine scholars in preserving learning. 9. "The Byzantines were the teachers of the Slavs, as the Romans were of the Germans." Comment on this statement. 10. The Byzantine Empire was once called "a gigantic mass of mould, a thousand years old." Does this seem a fair description? 11. "The history of medieval civilization is, in large measure, the history of the Roman Empire in the East." Comment on this statement. 12. Show that Constantinople formed "a natural citadel." 13. On the map, page 340, trace the successive walls of Constantinople. FOOTNOTES [1] The fall of the empire came in 1453 A.D., when Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks. [2] See pages 311-312, 317-318. [3] See page 245. [4] See page 300. [5] See page 244. [6] See the map, page 301. [7] Roman law still prevails in the province of Quebec and the state of Louisiana, territories formerly under French control, and in all the Spanish-American countries.