Foundations of Western Civilization
Essay Preview: Foundations of Western Civilization
Report this essay
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 peoples 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 importantly their own psychological insecurity and fear, created by the fall of almost all previous institutions (Hooker).
Muslims
Lets first look at one of the major influencing factors – the Muslim civilization. It was not troubled by the insecurity crisis that shook Europeans. On the contrary, they had no far of the outside world, they explored it with a fervor which can only be compared with the scientific boom of the twentieth century. The attitude of Europe to the Arabs and Islam was at first a contrast of fear and admiration coupled with acknowledgement of superiority. This was altered with the capture of Toledo in 1085, the conquest of Sicily in 1091 and fall of Jerusalem in 1099 (Wikipedia). These events brought the Western Europe in contact with Islamic Civilization in Muslim Spain and in Palestine. There for the first time they realized that the Islamic culture and Science is far more superior that they ever seen before (Kinshlansky 247). Thus started the translation of Arabic science into Latin and its integration into European culture, on the foundation of which Europe later developed what we call the modern science. Islam did not only share with Western Europe many material products and technological discoveries. It did not merely stimulate Europe internationally in the fields of science, art and culture. On top of all that it provoked Europe in the forming a new image of itself.
They made Algebra and exact science and laid the foundation of analytical Geometry plans and spherical Trigonometry, which did not exit among the Greek. In Astronomy they made valuable contributions (mainly because they had to know the direction of Mecca)(Hooker). It was in fact in the sphere of Mathematics and Astronomy that the fast advances were made by the Arabs in Islam. They also made a considerable contribution and sea fearing and discovered the telescope and mariners compass. All this helped the Europeans not only by the discoveries made, but also by setting their focus of thought into a particular direction. Muslim were almost always seen as enemies, so the Europeans centered all their cultural and scientific efforts to catch up with Muslim science, which gradually led to the development of a completely new mindset very different from the mostly mythopoeia thinking of the time (Hooker). Also because Europe in the Middle Ages was reacting against Islam, it belittled the influence of Islam on itself and exaggerated its dependence on its Greek and Roman heritage (Kinshlansky 247). Thus Europeans were taken out of their insecurity and cultural crisis and pushed into the direction of scientific thought and cultural development.
The Catholic Church
The next thing that influenced the civilization of the West which was emerging in the middle ages was the Church. In an environment of insecurity in the West, when the single most important symbol of unity – the Roman Empire – was gone, a political and administrative instability occurred (Bible History). This vacuum in secular power was partially filled by religion and thus the Church became an administrative and political body as well as a religious organization. Every day was a struggle for the medieval people, and the barbarian invasions were not helping them in their effort to earn their everyday bread. Invaders swept across their homelands, sometimes overwhelming their masters army and threatening to destroy their village or town. At times like this the only hope and defense of the people was religion. The clergyman of the town had to take up many of the administrative and political functions of the government that had fallen apart, to save the community from obliteration (Bible History).
The Church was shaped and developed on the foundations of Roman culture and the Roman state system. The state was the most important thing in the mindset of Roman people. The best asset for a man from the Classical age was patriotism. The bringing together of so many people of different origin under one government, led to the maturation of juridical thought and the expansion of a vast administrative network which to handle order and stability in the empire. Both the spirit of the Romans and the administration system of the Roman Empire influenced deeply the Church and its structure and organization. People in the West did not have the stability which their Eastern counterparts in Constantinople enjoyed. This led to a different focus of the whole religious body – away from the more philosophical and theological questions which were pondered upon in the East and towards a more secular line of thought as the Church had to take up some of the functions of a secular power in order the whole West European society not to fall apart. The Western Christian people were more engaged with the practical, mainly the ceremonies and the legislative side