Part 13 (1/2)

number of contemporary nations absorbed into the Roman Empire 122.

height, in feet, of Colossus Neronis, the bronze statue of himself that the emperor Nero erected in Rome in the first century CE 123.

number of days the celebration lasted for a Roman military victory in 107 CE 11,000.

number of exotic animals killed in the arena as part of the celebration 177.

number of annual official Roman holidays by the fourth century 1,000,000.

estimated population of Rome at the time of Christ 250,000.

seating capacity of Rome's Circus Maximus arena by the fifth century 50,000.

estimated population of Rome after final sack by Visigoths in 476 CE 547,000.

area, in square feet, of the base of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan 5,500.

number of pounds of gold paid by Roman citizens to the Visigoths in 410 CE to prevent destruction of the city 3,000.

number of pounds of pepper paid in same ransom 6,000.

number of men in a Roman legion 4,000.

length, in miles, of the Silk Road, linking China to the West

THE NOT-REALLY-THAT-DARK (UNLESS YOU LIVED IN EUROPE) (UNLESS YOU LIVED IN EUROPE) AGES AGES.

(5001000)

IN A NUTSh.e.l.l.

The decline and eventual collapse of the Roman Empire in the West during the fifth century CE plunged the world into centuries of doom and gloom, wherein humanity became a collection of dull-witted, superst.i.tion-ridden dolts who accomplished next to nothing and waited around for the Renaissance to begin.

Or not.

Actually, the ”Dark Ages”-the term used to describe the first half of what is traditionally described as the ”Middle Ages”-is something of a misnomer. So is the ”Middle Ages” for that matter. The idea that there was a thousand-year period between the end of the Roman Empire and the beginnings of the Renaissance where nothing much happened was fostered mainly by intellectuals starting in the fifteenth century, especially in Italy. These bright lights wanted to believe-and wanted others to believe-that they had much more in common with the Cla.s.sical Age than they did with the centuries that had just preceded them. By creating, and then denigrating, the Dark, or Middle, Ages, the ”humanists” also sought to separate themselves from the very real decline in the quality of life in most of the European continent after the Roman system fell apart.

It was a pretty Eurocentric view of things. In reality, there were a lot of places in the world where mankind was making strides. Centered on what is now Turkey, the Byzantine Empire was a direct link to the culture and learning of ancient Greece and Rome. In the deserts of what is now Saudi Arabia, an empire centered on the new religion of Islam was spreading with lightning speed, and carrying with it not only new beliefs but also new ways of looking at medicine, math, and the stars. In the North Atlantic, Scandinavian s.h.i.+ps were exploring the fringes of a New World, while in the Pacific, the Polynesians were pus.h.i.+ng across even more vast aquatic distances to settle in virtually every inhabitable island they could find.

In the jungles of Central America, the Maya were reaching the peak of a fairly impressive civilization. In the jungles of Southeast Asia, the Khmer were setting up an equally impressive cultural and trade center. Even in Europe, which admittedly was pretty much a mess, devoted monks were doing their best to keep the flame of learning burning.

As in every age of man, there were great individuals. At six-foot-four, the Frankish king Charlemagne literally towered over his contemporaries. Sometimes referred to as the father of modern Europe, he was a success at war and politics, and also a great patron of education.

And there were those capable of horrific acts by the standards of any age, such as the Tang Dynasty empress Wu, who killed her own infant daughter in order to gain power by framing a rival with the murder. (It worked.) There were astounding feats of human endeavor, such as the construction of the Grand Ca.n.a.l in China, which stretched more than 1,200 miles and connected the farmlands of the Yangtze Valley with the markets of Luoyang and Chang-an. There were astounding feats of human barbarity, such as the blinding of more than fourteen thousand prisoners by the Byzantine emperor Basil II. And there were equally astounding feats of individual endeavor, such as the founding of a major world religion by a comfortably fixed middle-aged Arab trader who became known as the Prophet Muhammad.

As Christianity had done in the late Cla.s.sical Age, the rise of a new religion set in motion a hurricane of political and military clashes that would stir things up far beyond the Not-So-Dark Ages. But the storm also precipitated a mixing of cultures and ideas that would reap benefits for the various affected groups.

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WHAT HAPPENED WHEN.

527.

Justinian begins a thirty-eight-year reign over Byzantine Empire.

538.

Buddhism reaches j.a.pan from Korea via Chinese missionaries.

570.

Muhammad is born.

637.

Islamic armies capture Jerusalem.

661.

The a.s.sa.s.sination of Muhammad's cousin Ali widens schism among Muslims that results in s.h.i.+te and Sunni sects within the religion.

664.

Christianity replaced pagan religions in Britain after Synod of Whitby. Almost simultaneously, British Isles are ravaged by plague.

695.

The first Arab coins are minted.