Development of the Roman Orient
During the last years of the Republic, Greece, Anatolia, Syria-Palestine, Egypt, and Cyrenaica had become Roman. This process began with the bequeathing of Pergamon to the Roman Republic, and was marked by Augustus’ taking possession of Egypt in 31 BC, and continuing through the tumult of the many wars during the last years of the Republic. There is not much to say of Greece, for she was knocked flat by wars and never got back on her feet economically. The reader may recall the development works at lake Copais undertaken in the Mycenaean era (Figure 4.10), and somewhat restored by Alexander the Great. Several sources mention that during the Roman period the lake’s dikes are no longer maintained, that the adjacent cities are subject to flooding, and that the best land must be abandoned.
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