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| Western Civilization I page. |
I. BYZANTINE EMPIRE
INHABITANTS OF EASTERN EMPIRE DID NOT RECOGNIZE A BREAK BETWEEN THEIR CIVILIZATION AND CLASSICAL ROME. THEY CONTINUED TO REFER TO THEMSELVES AS ROMANS.
- THE ROMAN EMPIRE DID NOT FALL IN THE EAST UNTIL 1453.
- BYZANTINE HISTORY IS GENERALLY DIVIDED AS FOLLOWS:
1) EARLY BYZANTINE PERIOD - 324 - 632 A.D.
2) MIDDLE BYZANTINE PERIOD - 632 - 1071 A.D.
3) LATE BYZANTINE PERIOD - 1071 - 1453 A.D.
EARLY BYZANTINE PERIOD (324 - 632 A.D.)
- EMPEROR CONSTANTINE HAD TRANSFERRED THE CAPITAL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE FROM ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE (NEW ROME) IN 324 A.D. PRIMARILY FOR MILITARY REASONS TO PROTECT THE WEALTHIER PART OF THE EMPIRE.
- CONSTANTINOPLE WAS LOCATED ON AN IMPORTANT COMMERCIAL INTERSECTION:
1) OVERLAND HIGHWAY BETWEEN BALKANS AND ASIA MINOR.
2) MARITIME ROUTE BETWEEN BLACK AND MEDITERRANEAN SEAS.
- JUSTINIAN THE GREAT (527 - 565 A.D.)
- 532 A.D. - POPULAR FACTIONS OF CONSTANTINOPLE REVOLTED BUT WERE CRUSHED BY THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN WHO HAD BEEN URGED TO FIGHT RATHER THAN FLEE BY HIS WIFE THEODORA. THE RESULTING DOMESTIC PEACE ALLOWED JUSTINIAN TO CARRY OUT HIS 3 PRINCIPAL GOALS:
1) RESTORATION OF THE WESTERN PROVINCES TO THE EMPIRE.
2) REFORMATION OF LAWS AND INSTITUTIONS.
3) BEAUTIFICATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
1) JUSTINIAN'S ARMIES FOUGHT AGAINST THE VANDALS, OSTROGOTHS AND VISIGOTHS WHILE TRYING TO MAINTAIN PEACE WITH THE PERSIANS ON THE EASTERN BORDER.
- HIS ARMIES WERE PARTIALLY SUCCESSFUL PARTICULARLY OVER THE OSTROGOTHS ON THE ITALIAN PENINSULA. IN THE YEARS FOLLOWING JUSTINIAN'S DEATH, MOST OF THE TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS WERE LOST.
- JUSTINIAN CAME CLOSER TO RESTORING A UNITED ROMAN EMPIRE THAN ANY OTHER BYZANTINE EMPEROR.
2) MANY OF THE OPINIONS OF THE GREAT CLASSICAL JURISTS HAD NOT BEEN PRESERVED IN AN ORGANIZED WAY, MAKING THEM DIFFICULT TO CONSULT:
- A COMMISSION APPOINTED BY JUSTINIAN PREPARED A SYSTEMATIC CODIFICATION OF ROMAN LAW KNOWN AS THE CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS (BODY OF CIVIL LAW) CONSISTING OF 4 COMPILATIONS.
- THIS CODIFICATION OF LAW BECAME ONE OF THE GREATEST WORKS OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. IT HAD MORE OF A PROFOUND INFLUENCE ON THE WEST THAN THE EAST AND GREATLY INFLUENCED:
1) THE CHURCH'S CANON LAW.
2) THE MODERN LEGAL SYSTEM OF MOST WESTERN COUNTRIES.
3) JUSTINIAN WANTED TO MAKE CONSTANTINOPLE REFLECT THE PHYSICAL SPLENDOR OF ROME.
- HE BUILT MANY NEW CHURCHES AND PALACES.
- HAGIA SOPHIA (HOLY WISDOM) WAS THE GREATEST CHURCH HE HAD ERECTED.
- BEGINNING IN 542 A.D. TERRIBLE PLAGUES UNEQUALED IN VIRULENCE UNTIL THE BLACK DEATH (1348 A.D.) REPEATEDLY STRUCK THE LANDS OF THE EMPIRE. THIS COMBINED WITH WARS WHICH NOW ALSO INVOLVED THE PERSIANS ON THE EASTERN FRONT, STOPPED FURTHER INTERNAL BEAUTIFICATION.
MIDDLE BYZANTINE PERIOD (632 - 1071 A.D.)
- 610 A.D. - HERACLIUS, THE EMPIRE'S MILITARY GOVERNOR OF CARTHAGE, SEIZED CONTROL AND BECAME EMPEROR.
- HE ABANDONED JUSTINIAN'S GOAL OF RESTORING THE EMPIRE AND CONCENTRATED MORE OF HIS FOCUS IN ASIA MINOR.
- HIS GREATEST THREAT WAS THE WAR OF CONQUESTS WAGED BY THE FOLLOWERS OF MUHAMMAD. THESE MUSLIMS OVERRAN MUCH OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE IN THE 630's AND 640's.
- EMPEROR LEO III (717 - 741 A.D.) DEFEATED MUSLIM ATTACKS ON CONSTANTINOPLE AND BEGAN RECONQUEST OF ASIA MINOR FROM THE MUSLIMS.
- HIS VICTORIES GAVE THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE A TWO-CENTURY RESPITE FROM FURTHER MUSLIM ENCROACHMENT.
- 726 A.D. - HE INTRODUCED ICONOCLASM (IMAGE-BREAKING) WHICH FORBAD THE VENERATION OF IMAGES WITHIN CHURCHES.
- ICONOCLASM HAD A DISASTROUS EFFECT ON RELATIONS WITH THE WEST. THE WESTERN AND EASTERN CHURCHES GREW FARTHER APART.
- FROM 867 - 1025 A.D., THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE WAS RULED BY MEMBERS OF THE MACEDONIAN DYNASTY. UNDER THIS DYNASTY, A NEW PERIOD OF PROSPERITY WAS ENJOYED.
- BYZANTINE ARMIES WERE VERY SUCCESSFUL PARTICULARLY AGAINST MUSLIM AND THE BULGARS.
- THE MILITARY POWER OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE WAS NOW BASED ON AN ARMY AND NAVY OF FREE PEASANT WARRIORS. THIS POWER WAS BASED ON WHAT WAS KNOWN AS THE SYSTEM OF THEMES.
- THE BYZANTINE NAVY OFTEN USED GREEK FIRE SHOT FROM TUBES ON THE PROWL OF THEIR SHIPS. NO ONE KNOWS FOR SURE HOW GREEK FIRE WAS MADE.
- THE BUREAUCRACY WAS REFORMED.
- TRADE EXPANDED.
DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE
- IN THE 11TH CENTURY, MANY OF THE FREE PEASANT WARRIORS HAD BECOME SERFS AS THEY ABANDONED THEIR FARMS TO POWERFUL LANDLORDS.
- THE GROWING STRENGTH OF LANDLORDS WEAKENED THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND REDUCED MILITARY MANPOWER.
- EMPERORS WERE FORCED TO SEEK OUTSIDE HELP INCLUDING GROWING NAVAL POWER OF VENICE.
- SELJUK TURKS
- NAME GIVEN TO NOMADIC TRIBES IN PRESENT DAY TURKESTAN. THEY SUCCESSFULLY BROKE DOWN EASTERN DEFENSES OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE INCLUDING CAPTURING THE EMPEROR ROMANUS AT MANZIKERT IN 1071 A.D. (WHICH ENDS THE MIDDLE BYZANTIUM PERIOD) AND IS THE FIRST DISASTER OF THE 11TH CENTURY.
- SCHISM WITH THE WEST - 2ND DISASTER OF 11TH CENTURY
- FOR YEARS THE POPES AT ROME AND PATRIARCHS AT CONSTANTINOPLE HAD BEEN AT ODDS WITH EACH OTHER. BYZANTINES ESPECIALLY RESENTED PAPAL CLAIM TO PRIMACY WITHIN THE CHURCH.
- 1054 A.D. - ACTUAL SCHISM TAKES PLACE ON A VISIT TO CONSTANTINOPLE BY ENVOYS OF THE POPE. BOTH CHURCHES EXCOMMUNICATED EACH OTHER. THIS SCHISM DESTROYED ANY HOPE OF A UNITED CHRISTIAN CHURCH. ONLY IN 1965 A.D. DID THE POPE AND GREEK PATRIARCH FORMALLY REMOVE THE EXCOMMUNICATIONS OF 1054 A.D.
EASTERN CHURCH
- DEVELOPED UNDER CLOSE SECULAR SUPERVISION
- BYZANTINES BELIEVED THAT THE EMPEROR WAS A HOLY FIGURE WHO EXERCISED AN IMPRESSIVE AUTHORITY OVER ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. THE EMPEROR:
- CREATED BISHOPRICS.
- APPOINTED PATRIARCHS (AND SOMETIMES FORCED THEM TO RESIGN).
- SOME HISTORIANS HAVE USED THE TERM CAESAROPAPISM TO DESCRIBE THE EMPEROR'S POSITION IN THE CHURCH BUT THIS IS NOT ACCURATE AS THE EMPEROR'S POWER OVER THE CHURCH WAS MUCH MORE LIMITED THAN THE POPE'S.
- TERMS ROMAN CATHOLIC AND GREEK ORTHODOX ARE EXCLUSIVELY MODERN TERMS.
- SOME OF THE DISAGREEMENTS BETWEEN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OF THE WEST AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OF THE EAST INCLUDED:
- EASTERN CHURCH TAUGHT THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT PROCEEDS FROM THE FATHER ONLY WHILE WESTERN CHURCH BELIEVED THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT PROCEEDS FROM BOTH FATHER AND SON.
- EASTERN CHURCH DIDN'T BELIEVE IN PURGATORY WHILE WESTERN CHURCH DID.
- EASTERN CHURCH PERMITTED DIVORCE FOR REASONS OF ADULTERY AND ALSO PERMITTED THE ORDINATION OF MARRIED MEN TO THE PRIESTHOOD; WESTERN CHURCH DID NOT PERMIT EITHER.
- EASTERN CHURCH TOLERATED MANY VERNACULAR LANGUAGES IN THE LITURGY; WESTERN CHURCH PERMITTED ONLY LATIN AS THE LANGUAGE OF THE LITURGY.
- THE USE OF VERNACULAR LANGUAGE WEAKENED THE UNITY OF THE EASTERN CHURCH AND EASTERN CHURCHES DEVELOPED IN ISOLATION OF EACH OTHER.
- THE EASTERN CHURCH GRADUALLY WITHDREW FROM TEMPORAL CONCERNS WHILE THE WESTERN CHURCH REMAINED ACTIVE AND OFTEN IN CONFLICT WITH TEMPORAL LEADERS AND AFFAIRS.
BYZANTINE SOCIETY
- CONTINUING VITALITY OF CITIES IS A CHARACTERISTIC OF THIS SOCIETY WHICH HAD FALLEN IN THE WEST.
- GREAT CITIES INCLUDED CONSTANTINOPLE, ALEXANDRIA, ANTIOCH, BEIRUT, TREBIZOND AND TYRE.
- EVEN AFTER THE GREAT PLAGUES OF THE LATE 6TH CENTURY AND THE MUSLIM INVASIONS OF THE 7TH CENTURY, SOME GREAT CITIES STILL REMAINED. CONSTANTINOPLE HAD A POPULATION GREATER THAN 300,000 INHABITANTS AT ITS PEAK UNDER JUSTINIAN.
- URBAN SOCIETY MARKED BY GREAT DISPARITY BETWEEN RICH AND POOR.
- RURAL SOCIETY CONSISTED LARGELY OF PEASANTS.
- THE PEASANTS OFTEN HAD HIGHLY DEVELOPED VILLAGE GOVERNMENTS.
- COMMERCE AND NUMEROUS ACTIVE GUILDS PROVIDED SOURCES OF WEALTH PARTICULARLY FOR CONSTANTINOPLE.
- GOVERNMENT CLOSELY SUPERVISED MERCHANTS AND ARTISANS AND MAINTAINED STATE MONOPOLIES.
- THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE HAD A STRONG CENTRAL GOVERNMENT WITH THE EMPEROR HAVING ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY.
- THERE WAS A WELL-ORGANIZED LOCAL ADMINISTRATION WITH A LARGE PROFESSIONAL BUREAUCRACY.
- THE GOVERNMENT IMPOSED 10% TARIFFS ON TRADE AND PROFITS IT RECEIVED FROM STATE MONOPOLIES.
- EUNUCHS OFTEN HELD IMPORTANT POSITIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT. THEIR ROLE OFTEN RESTRICTED INFLUENCE OF WOMEN AND LED TO THEIR GRADUAL SECLUSION.
- 3 TYPES OF INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING:
1) PALACE SCHOOLS - TRAINED CIVIL SERVANTS.
2) PATRIARCHAL SCHOOLS - INSTRUCTED PRIESTS IN RHETORIC AND THEOLOGY.
3) MONASTIC SCHOOLS - TRAINED MONKS.
- SCHOLARS USED THE GREEK (NOT LATIN) LANGUAGE ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY AFTER THE 6TH CENTURY.
- GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF BYZANTINE SCHOLARS WAS THE PRESERVATION OF CLASSICAL GREEK LITERATURE.
WESTERN DEBT TO BYZANTINE CIVILIZATION.
- PRESERVATION OF CLASSICAL GREEK LITERATURE.
- BYZANTINE EMPIRE PROTECTED WESTERN PEOPLES FROM DESTRUCTIVE INCURSIONS OF ARABS, PERSIANS, TURKS AND OTHERS.
- BYZANTINE EMPIRE SERVED AS A MODEL OF CIVILIZATION TO WESTERN PEOPLES.
II. PRINCIPALITY OF KIEV
- 3 MODERN SLAVIC PEOPLES TRACE THEIR ANCESTRY TO THE EAST SLAVS WHO WERE THE DIRECT HEIRS OF BYZANTINE CIVILIZATION.
1) RUSSIANS
2) UKRAINIANS
3) WHITE (BYELO) RUSSIANS
- EAST SLAVS GREATLY EXPANDED THEIR AREA BETWEEN 6TH AND 9TH CENTURIES.
- TWO OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SETTLEMENTS WERE:
1) KIEV ON THE DNIEPER RIVER WITH ACCESS TO THE BLACK SEA.
2) NOVGOROD (NOT FAR FROM THE BALTIC SEA).
- 830 A.D. VIKINGS BEGAN TO PENETRATE LAND OF THE EAST SLAVS.
- VIKINGS ESTABLISHED TRADE ROUTES WITH CONSTANTINOPLE OVER THE RIVERS OF THE EAST SLAVS.
- OLEG (873? - 913 A.D.) - TRUE FOUNDER OF THE RUS STATE OF EAST SLAVS.
- UNITED TWO CHIEF CITIES OF KIEV AND NOVGOROD.
- BYZANTINE EMPERORS PAID TRIBUTE TO THE RUS STATE AS WELL AS GRANTING THEM TRADING RIGHTS TO AVOID BEING ATTACKED.
- OLEG'S SUCCESSORS EXPANDED AND UNIFIED THE RUS STATE WHICH STRETCHED FROM THE BALTIC TO THE BLACK SEAS AND FROM THE DANUBE TO THE VOLGA RIVERS.
- MOST IMPORTANT SOURCE FOR THE BIRTH OF THE RUS STATE IS FOUND IN THE PRIMARY CHRONICLE.
- PRINCIPALITY OF KIEV REACHED GREATEST HEIGHT UNDER YAROSLAV (1015 - 1054 A.D.).
- WAGED SUCCESSFUL WARS.
- WON SELF-GOVERNMENT FOR THE RUS CHURCH FROM THE PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE IN 1037 A.D.
- FIRST WRITTEN CODIFICATION OF EAST SLAVIC LAW TAKES PLACE.
- PRINCIPALITY OF KIEV MAINTAINED CLOSER TIES WITH WESTERN EUROPE THAN ANY OTHER RUS STATE FOR CENTURIES.
KIEVAN CIVILIZATION
- VIGOROUS TRADE WITH VARIOUS PEOPLES ESPECIALLY THE BYZANTINES IN CONSTANTINOPLE.
- MOST OF THE POPULATION WAS FREE PEASANTS ALTHOUGH THERE WERE SERFS.
- WHILE ITS FOUNDATION WAS AGRICULTURAL, KIEVAN SOCIETY HAD AN IMPORTANT URBAN LIFE.
- KIEV BY THE 11TH CENTURY WAS ONE OF THE GREAT CITIES OF ITS TIME.
- HEAD OF KIEVAN GOVERNMENT WAS THE PRINCE WHO SELECTED NOBLES CALLED BOYARS TO HELP HIM GOVERN. TOWNS OF THE KIEVAN PRINCIPALITY HAD LARGE CITIZEN ASSEMBLIES.
- GOVERNMENT WAS THUS A BALANCE OF MONARCHIAL, ARISTOCRATIC AND POPULAR ELEMENTS.
- CENTRAL EVENT IN KIEVAN CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT WAS CONVERSION TO EASTERN CHRISTIANITY IN 988. THIS EVENT WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST CONTRIBUTIONS OF BYZANTINE CIVILIZATION. THE PRIMARY CHRONICLE'S PRINCIPAL THEME IS THE CONVERSION OF THE RUS TO CHRISTIANITY.
- EAST SLAVS BUILT MANY CHURCHES BASED ON BYZANTINE MODELS.
- THEY TOO DECORATED THEIR CHURCHES WITH ICONS.
DECLINE OF THE KIEV PRINCIPALITY
- CUMBERSOME SYSTEM OF SUCCESSION OFTEN LED TO CIVIL WARS. AFTER YAROSLAV, POLITICAL HISTORY BECAME ONE OF QUARRELING AMONG PRINCES.
- NOMADS EVENTUALLY CUT OFF TRADE ROUTE BETWEEN KIEV AND CONSTANTINOPLE WHICH LED TO THE RUINATION OF KIEV.
- GRADUAL DISPERSION OF EAST SLAVS INTO 3 CULTURALLY DISTRICT PEOPLES.
1) RUSSIANS
2) UKRAINIANS
3) BYELO - OR WHITE RUSSIANS
III. ISLAM
ARABIAN PENINSULA WAS IN A STATE OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL FERMENT AT THE TIME OF MUHAMMAD. STRONGER POWERS, e.g., PERSIANS, BYZANTINES, AND ABYSSINIANS TRIED REPEATEDLY TO SUBDUE THE ARABS.
ARABS AT THIS TIME (AROUND 600 A.D.) PRACTICED PAGANISM WHICH GAVE NO PROMISE OF AFTERLIFE.
- NEITHER JUDAISM NOR CHRISTIANITY WERE ABLE TO CONVERT MANY ARABS.
610 A.D. - MUHAMMAD CLAIMED TO HAVE RECEIVED REVELATIONS FROM THE ANGEL GABRIEL.
- HE BEGAN TO PREACH PUBLICLY. MECCA, HIS NATIVE CITY, REJECTED HIM AND HE FLED TO YATHRIB (MEDINA) IN 622 A.D. HIS FLIGHT BECAME KNOWN AS THE HIJRA.
- HE BECAME THE GOVERNOR OF MEDINA.
- HE MADE MANY CONVERTS THERE.
- 630 A.D. - MUHAMMAD CONQUERED MECCA WHICH HAD REMAINED PAGANISTIC.
- 632 A.D. - MUHAMMAD DIED BUT HIS RELIGION, ISLAM, CONTINUED TO STRENGTHEN.
TENANTS OF ISLAM
- REVELATIONS OF THE ANGEL GABRIEL CONCERNING THE PROPHECIES OF ALLAH (GOD) WERE WRITTEN IN A SACRED BOOK CALLED THE QURAN (KORAN).
- THE QURAN DEFINED FOR MUSLIMS THE ETHICAL AND LEGAL REQUIREMENTS FOR AN UPRIGHT LIFE.
- ISLAM DID NOT RECOGNIZE CHURCH AND STATE AS SEPARATE ENTITIES - THERE WAS ONLY THE SACRED COMMUNITY OF ALLAH.
- THE CALIPH WAS THE SUPREME RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL HEAD OF THE MUSLIM WORLD.
- THE QURAN SPELLS OUT THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAMIC FAITH:
1) ACCEPTANCE OF THE BELIEF THAT THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLAH, AND MUHAMMAD IS HIS PROPHET.
2) PRAYER - 5 TIMES A DAY FACING THE HOLY CITY OF MECCA.
3) ALMS - MONEY TO HELP THE POOR AND NEEDY.
4) FASTING - DURING THE HOLY MONTH OF RAMADAN - FROM ALL FOOD AND WATER FROM SUNRISE TO SUNSET.
5) PILGRIMAGE - TO MECCA - AT LEAST ONCE DURING ONE'S LIFETIME.
- MUHAMMAD CONSIDERED HIMSELF THE LAST OF THE GREAT PROPHETS WHICH INCLUDED ABRAHAM AND CHRIST.
- LIKE CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM TAUGHT OF PERSONAL SALVATION, HEAVEN AND HELL, CHARITY TO THE POOR.
- PAGANISM CONTRIBUTED TO VENERATION OF THE KAABA - THE SACRED BLACK STONE FOUND IN MECCA - AS WELL THE REQUIREMENT OF PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA WHICH BECAME A SACRED CITY.
EXPANSION OF ISLAM
- ISLAM APPEALED TO THE RACIAL AND CULTURAL PRIDE OF ARABS.
- THE QURAN WAS WRITTEN IN ARABIC.
- ISLAM WAS LOOKED AT BY ARABS AS THE FINAL REVELATION.
- ALLAH, ACCORDING TO MUHAMMAD, INSTRUCTED HIS FOLLOWERS TO CONVERT OR CONQUER NONBELIEVERS.
- IN ORDER TO SPREAD ISLAM, THE CONCEPT OF JIHAD (HOLY WAR) WAS UPHELD.
- ARABS WENT ON HOLY WARS TO CONVERT OR CONQUER AND THE MOST RAPID EXPANSION OF ISLAM OCCURRED IN THE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER MUHAMMAD'S DEATH.
- ARABS CONQUERED NORTH AFRICA AND ADVANCED INTO NORTHWEST EUROPE AS FAR AS TOURS IN FRANCE. TO THE NORTH AND EAST, THEY OVERRAN PALESTINE, SYRIA AND PERSIA.
- AS ISLAM SPREAD, ISLAMIC UNITY SHATTERED.
- SUNNITES VS. SHIITES.
- INDEPENDENT CALIPHATES IN SPAIN, MOROCCO, TUNISIA, AND EGYPT.
ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
- DESPITE DISUNITY, MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION REACHED ITS PEAK OF PROSPERITY AND LEARNING IN THE 9TH AND 10TH CENTURIES.
- ISLAMIC CENTERS OF CIVILIZATION INCLUDED:
- BAGHDAD - WRITTEN ABOUT IN THE TALES OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS WHEN BAGHDAD REACHED ITS MOST SPLENDID PERIOD.
- SPAIN - ARCHITECTURAL BRILLANCE INCLUDED THE MOSQUE AT CORDOBA, THE ALHAMBRA IN GRANADA, AND THE ALCAZAR IN SEVILLE. SPAIN WAS A GREAT SEAT OF ISLAMIC LEARNING AND MANY WESTERN CHRISTIANS BENEFITTED FROM CONTACTS WITH ISLAM HERE.
- VIGOROUS URBAN LIFE WAS SEEN IN GREAT ISLAMIC CITIES INCLUDING BAGHDAD, CORDOBA, CAIRO AND DAMASCUS.
- ISLAM CONTRIBUTED TO ECONOMIC LIFE BY THE IMPOSITION OF A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE - ARABIC - WHICH FACILITATED COMMUNICATIONS FROM SPAIN TO INDIA.
- MERCHANTS WERE HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM IN ISLAMIC LAW. ISLAMIC MERCHANTS INCREASED CARAVAN TRADE AND ALSO MARITIME COMMERCE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND RED SEAS AND THE INDIAN OCEAN.
- COMMERCE WAS THE CHIEF ECONOMIC RESOURCE OF ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION.
- EGYPT WAS A VITAL HUB OF MARITIME COMMERCE.
- AGRICULTURAL TECHNIQUES SUCH AS IRRIGATION OF FIELDS GREATLY IMPROVED IN ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION.
- MALE MUSLIMS COULD HAVE AS MANY AS FOUR LEGAL WIVES AND UNLIMITED CONCUBINES (ONLY THE VERY RICH COULD AFFORD SEVERAL WIVES).
- WOMEN, PARTICULARLY UPPER CLASS WOMEN, WERE FORCED INTO SECLUSION AFTER REACHING PUBERTY.
- ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION PRESERVED SOME OF THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS ACHIEVED BY OLDER CIVILIZATIONS ESPECIALLY THE INTELLECTUAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF HELLENISM.
- MANY OF THE WORKS OF GREEK AUTHORS WERE TRANSLATED INTO ARABIC.
- ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION SHOWED KEEN INTEREST IN SCIENCES ESPECIALLY ASTRONOMY, ASTROLOGY, MATHEMATICS AND MEDICINE.
- ARABIC SCHOLARS ADDED ZERO TO THE NUMBERING SYSTEM.
- ARABIC SCHOLARS DEVELOPED ALGEBRA.
- AVERROES (1126? - 1198 A.D.) WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHER. HIS WORKS AS WELL AS OTHERS GREATLY ENRICHED WESTERN PHILOSOPHERS.
DECLINE OF MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
- IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 11TH CENTURY, CHRISTIAN ARMIES EMBARKED ON RECONQUEST OF THE IBERIAN PENINSULA.
CHRISTIAN FLEETS BROKE ISLAMIC DOMINATION OF MEDITERRANEAN SEA.
- FIRST CRUSADE (MOST SUCCESSFUL OF ALL CRUSADES) CAPTURED JERUSALEM FROM ISLAMIC CONTROL IN 1099 A.D.
- TURKISH NOMADS ATTACKED ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION FROM THE EAST.
- SELJUKS CAPTURED BAGHDAD IN 1055 A.D.
- COMMERCIAL SUPREMACY PASSED TO THE ITALIANS AND OTHER WESTERNERS.
WESTERN DEBT TO ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
- TECHNIQUES OF IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT BY MUSLIMS WERE IMPLEMENTED BY THE WEST.
- NEW PLANTS WERE UTILIZED BY THE WEST AS A RESULT OF EXPOSURE TO ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION, e.g., RICE, CITRUS FRUITS.
- WESTERN MERCHANTS USED ARABIC SYSTEM OF NUMBERS.
- ISLAMIC SCHOLARS GREATLY INFLUENCED WESTERN PHYSICIANS, PHILOSOPHERS AND THEOLOGIANS.
- DESPITE THE HEAVY BORROWING OF MANY ISLAMIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS, ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION DID NOT DECISIVELY CHANGE THE COURSE OF WESTERN CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT.
- THE TWO MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATIONS REMAINED DISTINCT.