Samnite Warriors 452 Italy after 275 B.C. 453 Roman Coin Celebrating the Victory over Pyrrhus 455 Mercury 457 Carthaginian Coins 468 Roman _As_ 471 Rome and its Alliances, 150 B.C. 481 Gladiators 489 Roman Power, 50 B.C. 506 Julius Cæsar 512 Roman Empire at Death of Augustus 518 Roman Empire in Time of Trajan 524 Asia and Europe: Life of the Period (Map) 544 Central Asia, 200-100 B.C. 547 Tracks of Migrating and Raiding Peoples, 1-700 A.D. 555 Eastern Roman Empire 561 Constantinople (Maps to show value of its position) 563 Galilee 571 Map of Europe, 500 A.D. 608 The Eastern Empire and the Sassanids 620 Asia Minor, Syria, and Mesopotamia 622 Ephthalite Coin 629 Chinese Empire, Tang Dynasty 633 Yuan Chwang’s Route from China to India 643 BOOK I THE MAKING OF OUR WORLD THE OUTLINE OF HISTORY I THE EARTH IN SPACE AND TIME The earth on which we live is a spinning globe. Vast though it seems to us, it is a mere speck of matter in the greater vastness of space. Space is, for the most part, emptiness. At great intervals there are in this emptiness flaring centres of heat and light, the “fixed stars.” They are all moving about in space, notwithstanding that they are called fixed stars, but for a long time men did not realize their motion. They are so vast and at such tremendous distances that their motion is not perceived. Only in the course of many thousands of years is it appreciable. These fixed stars are so far off that, for all their immensity, they seem to be, even when we look at them through the most powerful telescopes, mere points of light, brighter or less bright. A few, however, when we turn a telescope upon them, are seen to be whirls and clouds of shining vapour which we call nebulæ. They are so far off that a movement of millions of miles would be imperceptible.