DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5625#0378
342
Survey of the Ancient World
689. The
whole Medi-
terranean
world at last
highly
civilized
All these Roman buildings, still encircling the Mediterranean)
reveal to us the fact that as a result of all the ages of human
development which we have studied, the whole Mediterranean
world, West as well as East, had now gained a high civilization-
Such was the picture which the Roman traveler gained of that
great world which his countrymen ruled: in the center the vast
midland sea, and around it a fringe of civilized countries sur-
rounded and protected by the encircling line of legions. These
legions, forming a great barrier of military stations, stretched
on the north of the Mediterranean from Britain to Jerusalem)
and on its south from Jerusalem to Morocco, like a dike restrain-
ing the stormy sea of barbarians outside, which would other-
wise have poured in and overwhelmed the results of centuries
of civilized development. Meantime we must return from the
provinces to Rome itself, and endeavor to learn what had been
the course of civilization there since the Augustan Age.
690. Public
buildings of
Rome : the
Colosseum
and the new
forums of
the emperors
691. Roman
concrete:
Hadrian's
Pantheon
Section 70. The Civilization of the Early
Roman Empire : Rome
The visitor in Rome at the close of the reign of Hadrian
found it the most magnificent monumental city in the world of
that day. It had by that time quite surpassed Alexandria m
size and in the number and splendor of its public buildings-
It was especially in and alongside the old Forum that the
grandest buildings of the Empire had grown up. There Ves-
pasian erected a vast amphitheater for gladiatorial combats,
now known as the Colosseum (Fig. 119). Along the north side
of the old Forum, the emperors built three new forums sur-
passing in magnificence anything which the Mediterranean world
had ever seen before.1
In these buildings of Trajan and Hadrian the architecture
of Rome reached its highest level of both splendor and beauty,
and also of workmanship. Sometime in the Hellenistic Age
1 See Ancient Ti/nes, Fig. 247.
Survey of the Ancient World
689. The
whole Medi-
terranean
world at last
highly
civilized
All these Roman buildings, still encircling the Mediterranean)
reveal to us the fact that as a result of all the ages of human
development which we have studied, the whole Mediterranean
world, West as well as East, had now gained a high civilization-
Such was the picture which the Roman traveler gained of that
great world which his countrymen ruled: in the center the vast
midland sea, and around it a fringe of civilized countries sur-
rounded and protected by the encircling line of legions. These
legions, forming a great barrier of military stations, stretched
on the north of the Mediterranean from Britain to Jerusalem)
and on its south from Jerusalem to Morocco, like a dike restrain-
ing the stormy sea of barbarians outside, which would other-
wise have poured in and overwhelmed the results of centuries
of civilized development. Meantime we must return from the
provinces to Rome itself, and endeavor to learn what had been
the course of civilization there since the Augustan Age.
690. Public
buildings of
Rome : the
Colosseum
and the new
forums of
the emperors
691. Roman
concrete:
Hadrian's
Pantheon
Section 70. The Civilization of the Early
Roman Empire : Rome
The visitor in Rome at the close of the reign of Hadrian
found it the most magnificent monumental city in the world of
that day. It had by that time quite surpassed Alexandria m
size and in the number and splendor of its public buildings-
It was especially in and alongside the old Forum that the
grandest buildings of the Empire had grown up. There Ves-
pasian erected a vast amphitheater for gladiatorial combats,
now known as the Colosseum (Fig. 119). Along the north side
of the old Forum, the emperors built three new forums sur-
passing in magnificence anything which the Mediterranean world
had ever seen before.1
In these buildings of Trajan and Hadrian the architecture
of Rome reached its highest level of both splendor and beauty,
and also of workmanship. Sometime in the Hellenistic Age
1 See Ancient Ti/nes, Fig. 247.