A Comparison Between Roman Society And Midieval Civilizations Essay, Research Paper
A comparison between roman society and medieval society
2000-07-09
History Essay: A Comparison Between Roman Society and Medieval
Society There are many distinct differences between Medieval society as
illustrated by Achen in 800 AD and Roman society as illustrated by Pompeii
in 79 AD, with some similarities. There are many aspects to examine, such
as education, religion, tolerance, social classes, materialism, view of time,
infra-structure, trade and cities. The first difference to look at is cities and
that they were structured differently. In Pompeii, there was the patrician and
plebeians. In Achen, classes were different, although the Christian church
viewed everyone as equal. The classes contained and separated lords,
knights, peasants and serfs. One thing common between these cities were
slaves. Education is another part of these cultures. In Pompeii, many of the
citizens were literate and schooling began at an early age. In Achen, even
Charlemange couldn?t read or write, although he made repeated attempts to
revive learning. The people who were literate were mainly monks. Religion is
another difference between the cultures. In Pompeii, religion was based on
polytheism, whereas in Achen it was monotheistic because most were
Christian. From religion comes another aspect, that of tolerance. In Achen,
there was no tolerance or acceptance of other religions. In Pompeii, they
mostly were accepting. Materialism consumed people of Pompeii. For
example, during the eruption of Vesuvius, citizens could be seen running
away carrying all their valuable gold jewelry and belongings. In Achen, there
was the Christian belief that you should die a pauper because your afterlife
is what mattered. Afterlife is what affected the people of Achen?s view of
time. They were thinking about heaven and their life in eternity. In Pompeii,
people were concerned with their every day life and chores. Another part of
the cultures to compare is infra-structure. In Pompeii, they had aqueducts,
which was an advanced water piping system and stone roads. In Achen, the
most they had was ruins of the Roman civilization. This relates to the affect
of trade in the time periods. In Pompeii, trade was bustling because of the
easy transportation on roads. For Achen, there was no trade at all. They
were most concerned with providing enough food for themselves. This
makes another difference between the two places. Pompeii was a busy,
fairly-sized city. Achen was merely a village, hardly busy in the least. There
are many more things to compare between Achen and Pompeii. But from
what is represented in my essay, it is clear how far from similar Achen and
Pompeii are.