CH. 8-10

Chapters 8-10

Reading the descriptions of the various “Third Wave Civilizations” of the post-Classical Era, reminded me of watching a sequel to one of my favorite movies.  Like Grease 2 for example, Stephanie and Michael were likeable enough and like the original, was full of song, dance and teenage angst.  You enjoy the movie while it is playing, but somewhere in the back of your mind you are constantly comparing them to Sandy and Danny and taking note of all that is different.  Some differences were good and some were bad for both Grease 2 and the third wave civilizations.

China and Africa’s sequels were definitely better than the originals.   In China, its land and marine trade flourished as well as its agriculture, art, religion and manufacturing.  China produced massive quantities of silk and porcelain for distribution all over Eurasia and Africa.  The introduction of camels to Africa enabled access and passage through the Sahara Desert.  A great deal of gold, ivory and especially slaves were exported and traded via the sand roads of the Sahara.

In none other than Western Eurasia does my metaphor about the sequel fit best.  This time period could have been broken down and called, “Rome II”, “Rome III”, “Rome IV”, etc., etc.  The first would be what was left of the Roman Empire in Western Europe.  It became scattered politically and the one unifying thing was Christianity.  Christianity became the political force in Western Europe.

Byzantium, or “Rome II”, was very interesting.  They referred to themselves as Romans and even called Byzantium the “New Rome”.  They did however eventually abandon the roman language of Latin, opting for Greek.  In their desire to separate themselves from the old Rome, they differentiated themselves via their religion.  Christianity was very much a part of their political and social lives.  They called their form of Christianity, Orthodox, which means “right thinking”.  It is clear that they believed they were superior to the Western Europe Christians.  They believed their emperor was appointed by God himself and did not see the Roman Pope as the one true leader or monarch of all Christendom.  Byzantium was eventually defeated by the Ottoman Turks and Islam took over much of the population.

The “third Rome” emerged with the fall of Byzantium.  A group in Kievan Rus, current Russia, led by Prince Vladimir of Kiev decided to adopt Orthodox Christianity as its religion and way of life.  It has survived in this area to present day and which is the “Russian Orthodox” which most of us have heard of.  This area was soon conquered by many different groups, such the Germanic peoples, Visigoths, Franks and more.  It was definitely an era of sequels, each one getting a little less impressive and shorter in length, but their legacy remained.  Kind of like each of the Rocky films.