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 242 Outlines of Europe a? i History pasturage and there are more forests. This last fact is due to the latitude of Italy ; as a whole, it lies well north of Greece and hence enjoys more of the northern rains. There are far better •opportunities for agri- culture and livestock in Italy than in Greece, and a considerably larger population can be supported in the plains. At the same time the coast is not so cut v.p and in- dented as in Greece ; there are fewer good harbors. Hence agri- culture and livestock developed much ear- lier than trade. Italy- slopes westward, in the main ; it faces and belongs to the western Mediterranean world. Three great islands lie before the penin- sula and tempt to ex- pansion thither. Italy and the west- em Mediterranean world were further removed from the Fig. 105. Ground Plan of a Prehis- toric Pile Village in Italy The settlement was surrounded by a moat (A) nearly one hundred feet across, filled with water from a connected river (C). In- side the moat was an earth wall (B) about fifty feet thick at the base. The village thus inclosed was about two thousand feet long ; that is, four city blocks. The whole village, being in the marshes of the Po valley, was supported on piles, like the lake-villages (Fig. 5). The plan and arrangement of streets are exactly those of the Roman mili- tary camp later derived from it Orient than the ^gean. Living as they did on the threshold of the Orient, the peoples of the ^gean had responded quickly to the civilizing influences of the East ; but while the ^Egeans