Model Essay Comparison Essay Post-Classical Civilizations
With the collapse of the Roman, Gupta and Han empires, the world was left in a period of chaos with little structure in most areas. However after these collapses and the interlude that followed, post-classical civilizations arose in various regions. There were various reasons for this that ranged from rise of religion to the re-organization of political structures. During the time frame 500 CE to 1200 CE the Middle East and Europe both experienced this post-classical rise and had many similarities and differences among the factors that led to this, particularly in the areas of religion (similarities in rise, differences in spread and role of Christianity and Islam), trade (similarities in rebirth of commerce and rise of new economic systems) and political structure (differences with feudalism, similarities in theocracies and imperial). Religion was an important factor in the re-emergence of post-classical civilizations in both the Middle East and Europe. Both the religions of Christianity and Islam had their origins in the Semitic Near East and had spread widely throughout both regions by 1200 CE. This is because both were easy to convert to and traveled along the trade routes of the Roman Empire prior to its collapse and through jihad by the caliphs that followed Muhammad after his death. A difference between these two religions in regards to their spread was how people converted. Early in Christianity, people came to the religion based on the efforts of missionaries. Later as Christianity was spread by the Franks (particularly Charlemagne), it was a forced conversion. Evidence is also seen in this in the