The First European

OpEdNews

"The First European

By Iftekhar Sayeed

Who was the first European?

The answer depends on what one means by 'Europe'. If Europe is a mere economic arrangement among nation-states, then the first European must surely be Augustus. For it was he who determined the limits of the Empire which subsequent emperors merely tinkered with at the edges. There were to be no more conquests, no more expansion. The river, the desert and the ocean set the limits to the empire. Within, there was one economy, without, the dark world, full of threatening barbarians. "