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The cities, in turn, reinvested their capital, most often in themselves, and became some of the most
beautiful in the Empire. Attractive to Eastern religions, metropolises such as Pergamum emerged as the
centers of such deities as Asclepius. A few of these cities received the official Roman status of
"metropolis," which brought them even more benefits and privileges. Schools of philosophy, general
education and medicine were opened in Smyrna, Ephesus and Pergamum.
The wealth of the province made it attractive to colonists. Italians and Romans were lured by the richness
and beauty and by the imperial policy concerning rougher regions, which assisted such colonization.
Veterans were given parcels of land around Pisidian cities, such as Apamea, or were instructed to found
new ones, such as at Antioch. The Greek notions of self-determination were evidenced by the cities,
which also displayed a lingering sense of the polls, the concept of the city-state with its self-concern and
desire to effect policies beneficial to the common workers and their families.
Greek civilization was visible as the people accepted the older Eastern cults, tolerated newer ones and
then embraced the most important of all, Christianity. It was in the province of Asia that the early church
prospered. The Eastern Church, in time, became the bulwark of the Christian creed.
¤ ASIA MINOR Name given to Anatolia, the extensive peninsula between the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean Sea, fronting the Aegean. Throughout the period of the Roman Empire, Asia Minor
contained the provinces of ASIA, LYDIA, CAPPADOCIA, BITHYNIA, and PONTUS, 3S Well 3S
GALATIA and PAMPHYLIA. Connected to the East by Comma-gene, Armenia and Parthia, the entire
region was one of the most prosperous and well traveled (commercially) areas in the Roman Empire.
¤ ASINIUS CALLUS (d. 33 A.D.) Senator and consul in 8 B.C.; the son of the famous orator C. Asinius
Pollio followed his father's style of blunt speaking. He was sin- I gled out for destruction by Tiberius, in
one of the most vindictive episodes of that emperor's reign. In 14 A.D. Gal- I lus proposed that Augustus'
body be carried to the funeral through the Triumphal Gate and then enraged Tiberius by asking how
much of the Roman world the new emperor wished to rule. Tiberius waited for his chance to destroy
Gallus for this and for another, greater act. Tiberius di- I vorced his beloved wife VIPSANIA to marry
the adulterous Julia, Augustus' daughter. In a moment of astounding political shortsightedness, Gallus
wed Vipsania, going so far as to have children and to call Drusus, Tiberius' son, his own.
By 30 A.D., the aged emperor was prepared to seek vengeance. Gallus had added to his sins by constant
speech-making in the Senate. He had an overly ambitious friendship with the soon to be doomed Prefect
SEJANUS and an association with Tiberius' enemy, AGRIPPINA. Tiberius summoned Gallus to Capri,
entertained him hospitably and then put him in chains. He was condemned and kept under the closest
supervision for the next three years. Life was made as horrible as possible for him, as he was never given
enough food. The emperor refused to yield, and Gallus died of starvation. Tacitus mentioned Gallus
frequently in his Annals, usually in a critical fashion. Augustus said that he was a man harboring
ambitions for the throne, but lacking the intelligence necessary to achieve such a lofty position. Of his
five sons, three became consuls of Rome.
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