for what it's worth
Posted by kit on 2026-October-13 14:23:47, TuesdayIn reply to Re: 'Antiquity...ended around 476 AD.' posted by diogenes on 2026-October-13 04:45:26, Tuesday
|
I once had to write an essay on when antiquity ended - choosing a date and defending it. It provoked some interesting discussioins in my tutorial group - some students liked 380 (the Edict of Thesslonika), 476 (deposition of Romulus Augustulus), 496 (conversion of Clovis), and 536 (capture of Rome by Justinian). But strong arguments were also made for 1204 (Fourth Crusade) and 1452 (Fall of Constantinople - which is, of course, where Gibbon ends his Decline and Fall). Someone even tried to argue for 1806 (Napoleon's destruction of HRE). Personally, I argued for 750 - the year when Islamic imperial authority passed from Damascus to Baghdad. In its first century or so Islam grew up in the shadow of Byzantine power and took over most of the institutions that preceded it. But with the Abbasid 'revolution,' the Islamic word shifted its gaze away from the Mediterannean and towards Persia and the East. It wasn't a permanent realignment, but it was a significant one. |
Follow ups: