The world did not change greatly as historically we move into this second century after Christ. The Christian Church still made only a limited impression at the time when the Roman Empire was at its full extent, blocked still in the east by the Parthians. Beyond the latter the Kushan Empire reached its zenith, controlling central Asia and much of India. The Han Dynasty continued to rule China and there were some great cultural advances there in spite of many difficulties which appeared from year to year. (Please again refer to map of page 61). The Maya civilization approached its Classic Period.
By mid-century churches had been established in Italy, the Rhine Valley, north Africa, perhaps Spain and many in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. The mystical belief, Gnosticism, continued to expand. (See page 296). Valentinius, an Egyptian educated at Alexandria, was one of the chief exponents of this Gnosticism and perhaps wrote the "Gospel of Truth", one of the manuscripts recently found at Nag Hammadi. Even though women had participated extensively in Christianity in the first century, by this second one the majority of churches began to oppose equality and endorsed the pseudo-Pauline letter of Timothy which stressed Paul's anti-feminist views. By A.D.122 any groups which continued to have women in leadership roles were branded as heretical. (Ref. 38, 163)
The kingdoms of Meroe and Axum continued to develop. (See page 292) Egypt was under the rule of the Roman emperor, but beyond the mouth of the Nile, the country was actually little touched by Romanization. The royal custom of brother-sister marriage had been copied by the lower classes, and it has been estimated that by this century two-thirds of the citizens of Arsinoe were off spring of sibling unions. Alexandria was now a great trade center containing some 500,000 people, receiving goods from Red Sea ports and exporting its own manufactured products such as linen, processed Arabian drugs, Indian perfumes, papyrus, glass-ware and Egyptian grain. This city which originally was one of the greatest of the Greek cities, gradually became more and more oriental. Strife between Greeks and Jews resulted in massacres; soldiers mutinied and taxes soared.
Ptolemy, or Claudius Ptolemaeus[100], was a great scientist concerned with the Alexandrian library in this century. Inspired by Hipparchus, who appeared to have provided one of the links between Babylonian and Greek science, Ptolemy wrote a mathematical treatise which became known as the Almagest. The 360 degree circle of the Babylonians was used, trigonometry was promoted and astronomy advanced, although with some errors. With 1,002 stars catalogued the heaven was considered spherical and as rotating around the immobile earth sphere. This concept made Ptolemy's theories very acceptable to the theologians of the later Middle Ages. He did have a system showing relationships of stars and planets which was effective from the practical standpoint. He also wrote a Geographical Treatise which included the geography of Marinus of Tyre. (Ref. 48)
North Africa remained the granary of Rome, with the Moors as the dominant people of the area now developing considerable sea-power and prestige. The Moors were of Berber origin (later with an Arab mixture) and came originally from south of Morocco in the country of present Mauretania, on the great Atlantic bulge of Africa. In about A.D. 125 a locust invasion destroyed large areas of cropland and this was followed by a plague which killed perhaps 500,000 in Numidia and possibly 150,000 more on the coast. (Ref. 222)
The changes in central, eastern and southern Africa were very slow. As noted in the last chapter, the introduction of wet zone crops like the yam and banana allowed better penetration of the Bantu-speaking blacks into the forest and low-lying river valleys and coastal plains. They also continued to drift south along the Indian Ocean coast. (Ref. 68)
Back to The Near East: 0 to A.D. 100
The increasing land and sea trade between the Mediterranean, India and China increased chances of unfamiliar infections spreading to susceptible populations and severe epidemics are known to have hit the Mediterranean populations and probably China too in this century. (Ref. 140)
The trade routes across the Arabian peninsula were very active at this time. The citizens of Palmyra owned and escorted caravans between the Roman Empire (controlling Jordan and some of northern Arabia) and the Persian Gulf ports of Charax and Apologos, thus accumulating great wealth which permitted the financing of spectacular public buildings. Petra performed the same functions farther south between the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea ports. (Ref. 8)
The industry and trade of Judea and the area of Lebanon were intimately connected with the whole of Syria and Iraq. Although the entire region remained under Roman control, the basic people of these lands remained Jewish and Phoenician in derivation, as always. The dye industry, inherited from old Phoenicia continued to function along with schools of medicine and law at Beirut. The upper classes were of Hellenic culture and the Greek language was used in literature and government, while the lower classes remained oriental and spoke Aramaic.
In A.D. 132 under the leadership of Simeon Bar Cocheba, who claimed to be the Messiah, the Jews made their last effort in antiguity to recover their freedom and their homeland. In the last of the Romano-Jewish Wars they fought desperately for three years against the Roman legions. One-half million men were killed and more starved. After the Jewish defeat, Hadrian forbade any Jewish ritual and the vanquished were shut out of their Holy City and scattered again.
In the next four centuries there were written two Talmuds, one from Jerusalem and a much longer Babylonian version containing a rich collection of medical lore among the other authoritative Jewish traditions. Some of the medical material came from Alexandria where Jews had flocked in the 4th century B.C. Although dead bodies were avoided as unclean, Rabbi Ishmael is said to have boiled and then studied the body of a prostitute. In surgery the Talmud discusses means of reducing dislocations and performing certain other operations. (Ref. 48, 125)
At the beginning of this century there were ten million people living in Greater Syria, which probably encompassed modern Lebanon and Iraq, and there was great prosperity due to the dye and glass industries. Today there are only three million people living in the same area, most finding only a precarious existence. In A.D. 114 the Emperor Trajan exploited a moment of Parthian weakness and advanced down the Tigres and Euphrates rivers to the Persian Gulf, thus putting the rule of Rome over this entire ancient land. In the Hadrian Principate to follow, however, (A.D. 117 - 138), the Roman troops were withdrawn to the Euphrates which then became the eastern boundary of the empire. In the area between the Red and the Black Seas, a hundred cities flourished in this era of relative Roman peace. The political and military reverses of the Jews in Judea in no way affected the large number of them living in Babylonia and elsewhere in the empire. (Ref. 8)
Emperor Trajan also invaded part of Iran and between A.D. 115 and 117 all of Media and part of Parthia, itself, belonged to Rome, but as noted in the paragraph above, Hadrian withdrew all troops to the Euphrates, freeing the main areas of Persia and the Parthian Empire remained pretty well intact. Late in the century Roman generals again attempted to invade this region (165 and 198) but with no lasting effect. (Ref. 8)
Even under the years of Roman rule, the Ionian Greek culture still flourished along the coast of Asia Minor. Soranus of Ephesus wrote a treatise on diseases of women, birth and care of children (A.D. 116), a work which marks him as a great gynecologist. Only Hippocrates and Galen rank above him in the medicine of ancient times.
Armenia was a site of almost constant warfare. Just before the beginning of this century that country and Parthia were allied, but when the Parthian King Chosroes set up a puppet governor in Armenia, Trajan declared war, claiming a treaty violation. In 114, on the death of the Parthian puppet, Trajan annexed the country. After his death, however, Hadrian withdrew the troops to a less advanced position and Armenia was again left alone until Marcus sent General Verus back to the area in 162. Verus cruised through Syria and up to Armenia, where he put a Roman puppet on the throne. The Armenians may gave gotten their revenge, however, because upon Verus' return to the West, his troops brought with them a terrible plague which seriously depopulated the empire in A.D. 166 and 167. (Ref. 119)
Part of the Roman Empire.
The home place of the Hellenic world enjoyed an "Indian summer" which was mistaken for a "Golden Age". A thousand city-states lived peacefully together but an impalpable censorship from the Roman overseers was already slowly eliminating intellectual and artistic vitality. At the end of the century the Germanic Costobii raided down through Greece to within 14 miles of Athens. (Ref. 48)
Almost all of the present day Balkans belonged to the Roman Empire, including Dacia or Romania, Moesia or Bulgaria,Thracia and Dalmatia. The very northern portions of Romania and Bulgaria may have been outside the Roman jurisdiction, in the large area known then as Sarmatia and extending over into Russia on the north shore of the Black Sea. In the upper Balkan area, however, only Romania can be said to have been truly Latinized.
The first half of the century, under Emperors Trajan and Hadrian and their immediate successors, was one of the great periods of the empire, with general prosperity and with limited exceptions, such as the Romano-Jewish Wars and Armenian squabbles, a period of peace. The Mediterranean world had a fullness of life not seen before or since. The Greek spirit ruled the mind and the East, while the Roman spirit ruled the state and the West. Under Trajan the empire reached its greatest geographical extent, as indicated on the map and in the summary of the empire at A.D. 117 to follow.
AFRICA. All of Egypt and the north African coast, including Mauretania, Syrtica and Marmarica.
THE NEAR EAST. A portion of Arabia, all of the eastern Mediterranean coast, all of Syria, Iraq, Media in Persia, Asia Minor, including Bithynia, Pontus and Cappadocia, Cilicia, Lycaonia, Gallatia and Armenia.
EUROPE
SOUTHERN EUROPE. Greece and most of the Balkan area, including Dacia (Romania), Moesia (Bulgaria), Thracia and Dalmatia (southern Bulgaria, European Turkey, Yugoslavia and Croatia), and all of Italy and Sicily.
B. CENTRAL EUROPE. The Austrian-Hungary area, known then as Pannonia, Noricum and Baetia, and those parts of present day Germany which lie west of the Rhine and south of the Danube, including Bavaria, Switzerland and the parts of Germany about the Black Forest.
NOTE: Insert Map 29. THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE DEATH OF TRAJAN A.D.
WESTERN EUROPE. Hispania (Spain and Portugal), Brittanica (England and Wales), Gallia and Belgica, etc.
The empire was surrounded by Germania, Sarmatia, Parthia and the remainder of Arabia.
A few words about the emperors themselves seems indicated. Trajan was the first emperor to have been born outside Italy, coming from a Roman colonial family living in Spain. He lived simply and was a tireless administrator who completed extensive public works including roads, buildings, bridges and aqueducts. He awarded 5,000 scholarships to needy students and he financed secondary schools and pensions for teachers. Romania was conquered because it was on the road to Byzantium at the Bosporus. When his armies reached the Indian Ocean and Trajan went home, revolts spread and his nephew, Hadrian, in command in Syria, withdrew to the Euphrates. Tacitus did his historical writing during this reign.
Hadrian (117 - 138) was the most brilliant of the Roman emperors and his reign the most prosperous. Under him the Pantheon, which had previously burned, was reconstructed.
Later in the century (A.D. 161) Marcus Aurelius came to power and brought thousands of Germans into the empire, both as settlers and as soldiers. The ultimate effect was that the "barbarians" gradually began to dominate Rome. Marcus was one of the greatest exponents of the Stoic philosophy and a good public servant and administrator. It was during his administration that a great plague was apparently brought back by armies from the East. Although Rome had epidemics as far back as 387 B.C. the one of A.D. 165 was the worst. The disease, perhaps small-pox, remained epidemic in various cities for fifteen years and in some areas 25 to 35% of the people died. The population of all Mediterranean lands subsequently decreased overall for the next 500 years. Following Marcus' death, Rome began to visibly decay. At the last of the century the barbarian tribes began to attack again in various parts of the empire, with the Chatti, Chauci and Lombards raiding Italy from Germany and other Germanic tribes raiding through the Balkans into Greece. (Ref. 48, 136, 185, 140)
Overall there were some 54,000 miles of Roman roads, making a network for communications throughout the empire. The middle of each road was raised and covered with gravel to allow drainage. There were post stations every 10 to 12 miles on main roads and each station had horses, veterinarians, surgeons, cartwrights, carriages and wagons. In the outer empire donkeys and camels were available. Still, the bulk of internal trade went by water. (Ref.213)
On the medical scene, Galen, born in Pergamum, Asia Minor practiced medicine in Rome and was physician to Emperor Marcus. He dissected the Barbary Ape and left some good anatomical and physiological knowledge for posterity. His works were considered as an unimpeachable authority for nearly 1,500 years even though much was in error.
Galen used an old Asia Minor combination of medicinals called "theriac"(FOREIGN) (related to Greek word for "wild beast") and he increased the number of ingredients to over 70. This also persisted as a treatment well into the Middle Ages, but at least some of its popularity may have been due to the presence of opium among its ingredients. Other 2nd century contributors to medicine included Soranus, writing especially on diseases of women, and Rufus, also from Ephesus, who made important anatomical observations while in Rome particularly about the eye and brain. Celsus, a Roman, wrote De Medicina which actually codified Greek medicine of the previous century. (Ref. 125)
Northern Germany seethed with a multitude of Germanic tribes. Bordering on the Baltic were the Gepids and farther west the Goths, while just south of them were the Burgundians, bordered on the east by the encroaching Slavs. On the North Sea coast were Frisians, then Sennones, Hermanduri, Marcomanni and Quadi, in turn going east. The last two named tribes were actually in the region of Bohemia. An Iranian tribe, a branch of the Sarmatians, now occupied most of present day Hungary. The Romans had their farthest advance against the Germanic tribes in A.D. 110, under Trajan, when they fortified boundaries from Holland down the Rhine to near Mainz and then east to near Frank-on-Main, and then down the Danube. All areas south of this line were dominated by the Romans for four centuries, and were eventually filled with cities and roads. After Christianity dominated the area, the few regions of Germany and Austria below the above mentioned line later remained Catholic, while north of this line civilization developed much slower and Christianity appeared much later and then of the Arian variety from the East. These northern areas are now essentially Protestant. To return to the 2nd century, however, the Franks, as a loose confederacy of Germanic tribes, developed up to A.D. 200 between the Weser and the Rhine. (Ref. 136, 45)
Emperor Marcus died at Vindobona (Vienna) in A.D. 180 after 8 winters of campaigns on the frozen banks of the Danube fighting against the Marcomanni and Quadi. They were finally destroyed as kingdoms in A.D. 165 about the time that the Lombards (also Longobards) began their first raids down into Roman territory and they never were quite conquered by the Romans.
In Spain, although Romans built roads for their legionnaires, it was still far cheaper to carry wheat by ship from Syria to Andalusia than to carry it overland from south to north Spain. The south of this country was the most prosperous, growing wheat, grapes and olives. At the end of the century Spain was invaded by Moors from northern Africa.
Gaul (France) was ruled completely by the Romans but again at the end of the century there were rumblings of Germanic tribes pushing against the eastern barriers into Gaul. (Ref. 196, 213)
All of western Europe, including England and Wales, enjoyed an era of law and order and peace under Roman rule. The Hadrianic frontier was generally maintained in Britain by the legions, modified only by the conquest of southern Scotland in A.D. 142. The complete annexation of Scotland was attempted from time to time but always failed because the legions could not supply themselves in such a sparsely populated country. In addition the Picts had become a force to be reckoned with. In the last few years of their independence they had finally united under the