ROME 



ROME 



ROME 



THE EMPIRE 



Roman Empire 



at its Greatest Extent 



Prefecture of Gaul 



Prefecture of Italy 

 ^Prefecture of Illyricum 



Prefecture of the East 



Hadrian's Ibmb 



Marcus Aureltus Augustus 



A Roman Empress 



PRINCIPAL DATES AD. 

 Reign of Augustus Caesac..- 

 31 B.Cto4 



Burning of Rome 64 



Jerusalem destroyed byTtusJO 

 Destruction of Herculaneum 

 and Pompeii. ...79 



Conquest of Britain 85 



Christianity becomes 



the state religipn.313 

 Final division of the empire395 

 SacK of Rome by Alaric...4IO 

 Rome pillaged by Vandals.455 

 End of Roman Empire 476 



Buildings. To list all of the important build- 

 ings in an article of this length is impossible; 

 some few, however, must be noticed. There 

 were temples everywhere no fewer than three 

 hundred of them, it is said; and the sites of 

 many of these are known. Most famous of all 

 was the Pantheon, a temple to all the gods, as 

 the name indicates. This great, circular-domed 

 building is to-day the most perfectly preserved 

 of all the ancient Romans' structures. Some 

 of the old temples have been turned, in part 

 at least, into churches and so have been pre- 

 served. 



Tin re were numerous public baths, which 

 formed one of the most characteristic features 

 of the imperial city, and the ruins of some of 

 these great buildings, with their sumptuous 

 decorations, prove for luxury which 



was an inherent part of Roman character in im- 

 perial days. Of amphitheaters, in which tlu> 

 city abounded, the oldest was the Circus Maxi- 

 mus, built in the days of the kings, but the 

 most famous was that known as the Colosseum, 

 which constitutes the most imposing ruin of 

 Rome. Many of these theaters were built on 

 the Campus Martius, the great plain within the 

 curve of the Tiber, which was given up largely 

 to sport and to military exercises. Another 

 characteristic feature of the city was the tri- 

 umphal arches, those soaring structures which 

 the emperors built to commemorate their vic- 

 tories. 



One of the illustrations accompanying this 

 article gives an idea of the city and of its best- 

 known landmarks in the days of its great pros- 

 perity. 



The Modern City of Rome 



It is impossible to consider the "Eternal 

 City" simply as the capital of a modern nation 

 apart from its historic associations, for there 

 are evidences of the latter on every hand. 



General Description. Rome to-day is about 



miles in circumference. About it 



>tn -tchc > a \v;ill which is in large part that built 



by the Emperor Aurelian, and within this the 

 Tibrr divides the city into two unequal parts. On 

 the right bank are those great centers of Catho- 

 lic Christendom, the Vatican and Saint 1 

 and a populous section has sprung up around 

 but the larger part of the city is on thr 

 other side of the Tiber, on the old Campus 



