History of Muslim Civilization

703 Words2 Pages

History of Islamic Civilization 1

Islam and Culture

“For the first century following the Roman conquest, Egypt functioned in the Mediterranean world as an active and prosperous Roman province. The value of Egypt to the Romans was considerable, as revenues from the country were almost equal to those from Gaul and more than twelve times those from Judaea. Its wealth was largely agricultural: Egyptian grain supplied the city of Rome. The country also produced papyrus, glass, and various finely crafted minor arts that were exported to the rest of the Roman empire. Its deserts yielded a variety of minerals, ores, and fine stones such as porphyry and granite, which were brought to Rome to be used for sculpture and architectural elements. Trade with central Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and India flourished along the Nile, desert routes, and sea routes from the Red Sea port of Berenike. Goods and cultural influences flowed from Egypt to Rome through Alexandria, which Diodorus of Sicily described as "the first city of the civilized world" in the first century B.C. Its great library and community of writers, philosophers, and scientists were known throughout the ancient world.

The conquest of Egypt and its incorporation into the empire inaugurated a new fascination with its ancient culture. Obelisks and Egyptian-style architecture and sculpture were installed in Roman fora. The cult of Isis, the Egyptian mother goddess, had an immense impact throughout the empire.”

Before the emergence of Islam, the whole area across the map, from Libya and Egypt all the way to India, has been affected by the Greek and Roman (especially Alexander the Great’s) conquests. The Greeks and Romans thrived with mathematics, Theatre, philosophy, literature ...

... middle of paper ...

...ucial role in scripting many of these new sciences and studies instead of just depending on their Oral Tradition. This way they were able to be maintaining this knowledge and then later they will be translated to Latin and help Europe back on its feet on and out of its dark age. This is why I agree with the quote for this assignment that “… Islam found itself in a vital and multiple cultural environments”, because without these cultures and cultural interactions Islam would not have such a huge impact on our food, agriculture, architect (such as building, mosques..etc.) , our languages and many of our Islamic governments that exist today.

Citation

Department of Greek and Roman Art. "Roman Egypt". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/regy/hd_regy.htm (October 2000)

Open Document