existed in some form at a very early period, long before the Phoenicians learned of the Cornish tin mines. The earliest inhabitants of whom traces have been found on the island were

chiefly of stone, though wood and bone were also largely used. In the later period of the Stone Age the New Stone

STONEHENGE

A prehistoric ruin on Salisbury plain, probably of Celtic origin and devoted to the worship of the sun; its greatest height is about twenty-two feet. From a photograph by W. H. Dudley.

Workers developed considerable skill in grinding the rough flint on a granite slab with a little moist gravel thrown on the granite surface to make the grinding easier. It was a slow process, but six or eight hours of grinding every day for a week would produce a fairly good ax of the desired form and finish.

As good flint did not exist everywhere in Europe, it seems possible that there was a somewhat brisk trade in this comThe trade modity, at least in the later Stone Age. It is also in flint. likely that something like a flint industry may have been developed where the materials were plentiful, as for instance in Denmark. Some of these manufactured flint implements may have found their way to Britain. But the British Stone Men also had a native source of supply in the southeastern part of the island, which was doubtless distributed by commercial methods to the other parts of Britain.

6. The Bronze Age: the Celts. The Stone Men were succeeded in the island by the Bronze Workers, a race that

THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN: JULIUS CÆSAR

bronze.

5

learned the art of making implements from a composition of copper and tin. There seem to have been several migrations of bronze-using people from the Continent to Brit- The use of ain. The race that the European travelers encountered on the British Isles at the dawn of British history, more than two thousand years ago, were called The Celts. Celts; they had by that time learned to work

in iron, but it is likely that the Celtic tribes that first came to Britain were still in the bronze age. The Highlanders of Scotland, the Irish, and the inhabitants of Wales and Cornwall are chiefly of Celtic blood, the descendants of these prehistoric workers in bronze and iron. The Celts who occupied the southern and larger part of Great Britain were known as Brythons, hence the terms Briton and Britain.

7. The Phoenicians and Greeks in Britain. It was the commercial possibilities of Great Britain that first attracted the attention of the Mediterranean merchants to this northern

country. The bronze-smiths needed the tin that Phoenician the streams of Cornwall laid bare; and Phoeni- traders in Britain. cian traders from Spain and Carthage appear to have sought this commodity in Britain at a very early date. Toward the close of the fourth century B.C., they seem to have found competitors in the Greeks from the Hellenic city of Massilia (Marseilles) in southern Gaul. In the days of Alexander the Great the merchants of that city sent an expedition to the "Pretanic Isles" headed by a Greek scien- Pytheas. tist, Pytheas by name. It is likely that the visit Ca. 300 B.C. of Pytheas did much to stimulate the overland trade between the Channel and the Mediterranean by way of the great valleys of the Seine and the Rhone. On his return Pytheas wrote an elaborate report of his journey, parts of which have come down to us and serve as the earliest literary source for the history of Britain. 8. The Romans in Britain: Julius Cæsar. In the days of this Greek explorer, Carthage was the greatest power in the western Mediterranean, Rome being still confined to central

1 Cheyney, Nos. 11, 13; Gardiner, 9-10.

55 and 54 B.C.

Italy. The three centuries that followed were notable for the swift and wonderful expansion of Roman power, a movement that culminated in the extraordinary career of Julius Cæsar. The expeditions While engaged in conquering Gaul, Cæsar had of Julius Cæsar. come to realize the need of an expedition across the Channel to punish the Britons, who seem to have brought military assistance to their Celtic friends in northern Gaul. Cæsar made two such expeditions and apparently accomplished his purpose. These were mere incidents to his Gallic wars; but they have their importance, as the great general's account of the island inspired the Romans with an abiding interest in these distant lands, which finally led to annexation and conquest.

The revolutionary movements in Italy that accompanied the change from republic to empire and the cautious policies of the first emperors, whose desires were to strengthen rather than to extend the frontiers, prevented further expansion of Roman territory, and for nearly a century the British tribes were allowed to retain their independence. But in 43 A.D., an invasion was begun for the purpose of subduing the island. Northward and westward the Roman eagles were carried, northward to the Humber and westward to the sacred isle of Mona (Anglesea). The conquest covered a period of nearly forty years and was carried to pracAgricola.

The Roman conquest. 43 A.D.

tical completion by the Roman general Agricola, the father-in-law of the historian Tacitus. Agricola carried the frontier to the edge of the Highlands; but Rome soon withdrew from these northern territories and drew the frontier along a line connecting Solway Firth with the river Tyne. 9. Roman Civilization in Britain. To make it easier to hold the country the Romans built a network of roads, four principal highways running northward and many shorter transverse lines. At the intersections camps were located and important cities grew up, inhabited largely by Roman merchants and discharged soldiers. Half

Roman roads.

1 Cheyney, No. 7; Gardiner, 11-12.

a century after Agricola's time, the Emperor Hadrian built,

Hadrian's

wall.

between the Solway and the Tyne, a strong wall, fragments of which can still be seen after the passage of eighteen centuries. The south side of the wall wast lined with Roman camps and guarded by a force of about 10,000 men gathered from every quarter of the Roman world. The Romans also did much to improve the civilization and to utilize the resources of the island. Mines of tin, lead, and Progress in civilization.

iron were opened and worked. Splendid houses

were built of which an occasional ruin is still to be

seen.1 Cities were founded; trade was developed; and agriculture was improved. In time the Christian religion came to the island along with numerous forms of pagan faith. The native Celt no doubt came to some extent under the spell of Roman civilization; but Britain never became thoroughly Romanized, except in the neighborhood of the Roman towns; in the more remote rural districts the rude British habits of life seem to have persisted.

10. Withdrawal of the Roman Legions. For more than three centuries the larger part of Great Britain was under the domination of the Cæsars. But about the year 400 the western part of the Roman Empire was rapidly crumbling. Among the military chiefs who were striving to get some advantage from the confusion by seizing and holding some fragment or province

Constantine crosses over

to Gaul. 407.

was one Constantine, a British soldier who enjoyed the imperial title and honors for about four years. Not satisfied to rule Britain alone, he collected what forces he could and crossed over to Gaul (407). The soldiers never returned and the Britons were left to their own devices. Civilization soon began to decay and Celtic barbarians reconquered much that had been lost. Christianity, however, did not die out, but seems to have won a firmer footing after the Roman government had disappeared.

The century that followed the withdrawal of the legions from Britain saw great changes everywhere in Europe. The

1 Cheyney, No. 24.,