Foundations of Western Civilization

The Roman Empire was a great empire full of riches, a massive army, and a wide area of land, but they also were plagued by disease, poverty and corruption. After many years of Roman rule the empire lost its final battle. Luckily the Roman dream was preserved through many new empires, events and groups of people which included the Muslims, the Catholic Church, the Barbarian invasion, and the Byzantium Empire. These people and events influenced the way Western civilization has developed today. One period in history that had many contributions to the way western civilization has developed today is the middle ages. The idea that the Middle Ages were "dark ages" has been exaggerated a lot. In fact the middle ages are split into three distinct time periods, which were all quite different from each other. There are the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages. Despite the reputation for being a time when there were no moves forward in Europe, there were actually many important achievements. During the middle Ages there was as much cultural turmoil as in the periods prior to it, if not more. Each new conflict and war, each new voyage, each new opened trade route brought new ideas, new worldviews, broadened the medieval people 's perspective and laid the base for the beginning of the Renaissance later. And of course, looked on its own and not in the context of other historical phases, the Medieval age is best suited for the needs of the people that lived in it with their cultural necessities set to a lower priority in favor of religious and physical ones (Hooker). This was due to the unstable character of that era. As there was no central authority or authorities to call upon, people were largely left on their own, creating a sense of insecurity and dread which could only be overcome by the strict adhesion to religion. It can be said that the period of the Middle ages was mainly a period in which Europeans battled not only their enemies and among themselves, but most

Cited: Bible History. Com accessed June 18-24, 2005. http://www.bible-history.com/ Hooker, Richard. "The European Middle Ages" Washington University 1996 accessed June 18-24, 2005 http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MA/ABOUT.HTM Kishlansky Mark, Geary Patrick, and O 'Brien, Patricia. Civilization in the West 6th Edition New York: Pearson Longman 2003. "Roman Empire" Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia accessed June 18-24, 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org