er of Roman civilization. In a very real
sense Graeco-Roman civilization was the parent of western civilization.
Among the many completed civilizations of which we have fairly adequate
records, those concerning Rome are most complete and most available.

The story of Roman civilization begins in the Eastern Mediterranean
Basin in an era when Greek and Phoenician cities, together with segments
and fragments of the Egyptian-Assyrian-Babylonian civilizations were
competing for raw materials, trade and alliances. Egyptians had been
supreme in the area for centuries. The Sumerian, Aegean, Chinese,
Hittite, Assyrian and Indian civilizations had enjoyed periods of
dominance but had never reached the level of supremacy enjoyed by the
Egyptians.

When Rome came on the scene as a first-rate power, circa 300 B.C., the
crucial land bridge joining Africa, Europe and Asia was being passed
from hand to hand, with no power strong enough to succeed Egypt as the
dominant political-economic-cultural force in the region. Historically
speaking it was an interregnum, a period of transition. Egypt had ceased
to dominate the public life of the area. The trading cities of the
Greeks and the Phoenicians were pushing their way of life into the front
ranks among the recognized powers. The kingdoms of Asia-Minor were
still warring for supremacy in a field which none of the local kingdoms
was able to dominate and hold for any considerable period of time.

Public affairs at the African-European-Asian crossroads were being
periodically disturbed and upset by the intrusion of Asian marauders and
nomads who came in successive waves, defeated and drove the native
inhabitants off from the choicest land and settled down in their places,
only to be pushed out in their turn by fresh Asian migrants.

The African-European-Asian triangle was a meeting place and a battle
ground. Phoenician and Greek cities brought to this scene new factors
and new forces: the rudiments of science; trade and commerce, including
a money economy, accounting and cost keeping; the elements of economic
organization; the conduct of public affairs by governments based on law
rather than on the whim and word of a deified potentate; and the
construction of cities and city states built on these foundations.

Rome entered the picture when the forces of political absolutism based
upon an agriculture operated by serfs and slaves had fought themselves
to a standstill and exhausted their hi