Islam and the sudden decline of civilization in Europe
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By John J. O'Neill , translated by Deep Roots. The original
Islam and the Dark Age of Byzantium appeared on 7 October 2009 for "Gates of Vienna" 
However, this blooming late classical culture came in the seventh century to a rather abrupt end: the urban life declined, like the trade, a barter economy replaced the previous monetary system, and what was used in coins was minted from silver instead of gold, and the Literacy decreased, since the papyrus from Egypt disappeared and took his place expensive parchment, and disappeared, the power of kings, as local "Strong men" or "barons" in the provinces took the reins of power. The Middle Ages had begun. Pirenne's great book, published posthumously, received mixed acclaim. On the whole, it conceded that he seemed to have stumbled on something very important. However, there was criticism and the criticism was over the years only.
One of the most telling arguments against Pirenne was the question of Byzantium. Historians were quick to point out that while might have experienced the regions of the west between the seventh and the tenth century, a dark age, not in the regions of the East the case. There was no decline in Byzantium, they said. If the Arab blockade of the Mediterranean, the classic urban civilization had strangled in the West, why had not the same impact in the East? This was a question to which there seemed to be no easy answer. Even Pirenne believed that Byzantium was any better with the Arabs finished than the West. In his time it was widely believed that classical civilization had survived in the east and that the region had been less "mittelalterisiert" than the West. We are informed by the historians, or were until recently that the eighth, ninth and tenth century in Byzantium, in the words of Sidney Painter, "Three glorious centuries" were and that "was the Byzantine Empire the richest state in Europe, the strongest military power, and by far the most sophisticated." In this period (Sidney Painter, "A History of the Middle Ages, 284-1500) . We are further informed that "during these three centuries, while Western Europe was a country partly tamed barbarians, the Byzantine Empire a highly civilized state was where a very happy fusion of Christianity and Hellenism, a fascinating culture brought forth." (Ibid.) The above opinions that until the second half of the twentieth Century were popular, in part caused by the Byzantine propaganda that is always striving to Constantinople as the "New Rome" show and as the successor of the first Christian emperor Constantine in an unbroken line of authority. But during the past half century, archaeologists have proved that this image was an invention. We now know in fact that the once proud Ostrom was ravaged by Arab attacks. The same poverty and illiteracy, the same that we find in the West, we now find in the East. Cities are in decline, and disappear the science and philosophy of the Greeks and Romans. In fact, the drops as in the west a dark age descended. In the words of Cyril Mango:
"One can hardly overestimate the catastrophic fracture, which took place in the seventh century. Anyone who reads the report of the events will be affected by the calamities that befell the empire, beginning with the Persian invasion at the very beginning of the century, and continue with the Arab expansion, some thirty years later - a series of setbacks that the realm of some of its most deprived provinces, especially Syria, Palestine, Egypt and North Africa later - making it both on land and population to less than half its previous Size was reduced. But reading the narrative sources, gives only a faint idea of the profound transformation that accompanied these events. ... She put the Byzantine countries marked the end of life - the urban civilization of the ancient world -. And the beginning of a very different and distinct medieval world "(Cyril Mango, Byzantium, the Empire of New Rome", p. 4). Mango mentioned the literal object of the Byzantine cities in the middle of the seventh century, and the archaeological location of these settlements usually reveals "a dramatic break in the seventh century, sometimes in the form the literal settlement task. "(ibid., p. 8) cities and the papyrus supplies from Egypt was also the intellectual classes, meaning that after the seventh century to a" small clique has been reduced "(ibid., p. 9). The evidence, what is mango it is, unmistakably, the "disaster" (as he calls them) of the seventh century "is the central event of Byzantine history." (Ibid.)
Constantinople itself, the mighty million-strong capital of the East, was up to the mid-eighth century, a true ruin reduced. Mango cited a document from the time that an image of "desolation and ruin" evokes. Again and again we learn that many monuments - had once existed but were destroyed - statues, palaces, baths. Moreover, the remaining monuments, many of which are in the fourth and fifth centuries had to be incurred were no longer understood as what they were. They had acquired a magic and generally sinister connotation. (Ibid., p. 80)
was so great the destruction that even the bronze coins, the lubricant of everyday business life, disappeared. Mango: "In places where there had been systematic excavations in Athens, Corinth, Sardis and others is determined was that bronze coins, which were for everyday transactions used coins, throughout the sixth century, and (depending on local circumstances) to sometime in the seventh century, abundant, that they disappeared almost in the ninth century, a slight increase and showed only in the late tenth . century often again "(ibid., p. 72 - 73) were. Nevertheless, even should the claim that some coins appeared in the ninth century to be treated with caution. Mango mentioned that is represented in the Sardis period 491-616 of 1011 bronze coins from the rest of the seventh century, about 90, "and the eighth and ninth centuries, taken together, of not more than 9 "(ibid., p. 73) and similar results have been obtained from nearly every province of the Byzantine cities." Even such poor examples of how they survived in the eighth and ninth century (nine) are usually of questionable origin, a fact that is mentioned by Mango himself, who remarked that, on closer inspection often turns out that these are derived either from before the Dark Ages or the time after.
If archaeological finds show up in the middle of the tenth century, again, is the civilization that they reveal, changed radically: the old Byzantine Empire in late antiquity has disappeared, and we find a semi-illiterate and impoverished remnant, a medieval Byzantium, strikingly similar to the medieval France, Germany and Italy, it was his contemporary. Again, we find an exchange or semi-barter economy, a decline in population and literacy and an intolerant and theocratic state. And the breaking point lies in Byzantium and the West in the first half of the seventh century - which is exactly the appearance of the Arabs and Islam on the scene.
Archaeology has therefore supported Pirenne dramatically, long after his death, and answered a question for him, The answer he could not. The impact of Islam was devastating for the whole of Christendom, both East and West. He was the event that ended the classical civilization. The destruction of traditional culture in Europe was largely, though not entirely, on the economic blockade of the Mediterranean by Muslim pirates. Nevertheless, the end of this culture in places like Egypt and Syria (once great centers of classical and Hellenistic civilization), which came under the control of Islam, caused by the utter contempt of the new faith with respect to the cultures and history of the peoples of the He became the rule. From the beginning, advised the caliphate government in Egypt, a commission whose purpose was to look for graves of the Pharaohs to loot them. So complete was the destruction that little more than a century after the Islamic conquest of Egypt, no one had any idea who built the Great Pyramid - despite the fact that very substantial reports on the monument and the Pharaoh who built it, in the works of many classical authors were mentioned, especially by Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus. Immediately before the Muslim invasion, the libraries and academies of Egypt, Syria and Babylon have been stuffed with the works of these authors. Her disappearance and the disappearance of knowledge, they contain can only mean, as Christian polemicists have claimed for centuries that the Muslims had deliberately destroyed a large amount of classical literature.
the west and east Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, the classical civilization was in the middle of the seventh century to a close, and the reason for their demise can be summed up in one word: Islam.
"Holy Warriors: Islam and the Demise of Classical Civilization", by John J. O'Neill (the link to Felibri Publications works from the original string is no longer d. Ü.)
comments from the original strand at "Gates of Vienna ":
Robin Shadowen
:This essay only confirms what I have already predicted several times. That if Islam gets the power in Europe, countless and priceless treasures, artifacts, artwork, books, music, and what else the utter destruction and annihilation will fall prey to. Rembrandt, Velasquez, Bach, Mozart, Goethe, Shakespeare and burning are many, many more and be lost forever. Like all scientific, Einstein, Galileo, Hawking, and so on. This is what is at stake. Unlike the last time we will not rise again. Civilization as we know, at best, will be part of a mythical past. Look at just the civilizations that they conquered in the past. The Persians were once a great civilization in the ancient world. What they are now, except fanatical
mahoundians. In two or three generations the surviving ethnic Europeans will be just as brainwashed. And with the passage of each new century, they will continued to develop in growing illiteracy and barbarism. With the acquisition mahoundianischer cousin marriage customs such as they are in sufficient time be as inbred as products. That's why I think we all slip into a dark age lasting forever, where we have no hope of ever coming out.
I do not share your dystopian vision of the future. Yes, I am concerned, but we will not simply be absorbed into a herd. Maybe it feels different in Europe, but here there is a sense that we can overcome this with time. My only concern is that the Saudis quickly assumes that enough oil to prevent a lot of that which you fear that it will happen.
Not all of God's problems is a Muslim. We have a lot of home-grown villains and stupid politicians and laws, the harmful than an advance of Islam. The United States needs to clean up their house to reform and reduce our corrupt government and stop the advance of the law into private life. S:
There is evidence for an entire underground city in Turkey, as recently shown on the History Channel. Cavernous spaces that were created to protect thousands of the robbers who attacked them. The rooms were created by people who were certainly Christians, after they had religious art that have been defaced by the Turks about living, as they found them. The people living above could in any case, these areas rebuild. The engineering is beyond all understanding of what they do. You can not keep out sheep.
I agree with Robin. How could the world to revive Islam? They would not.
And the article says what I've always geargwöhnt about the "great and glorious" past of the Middle East, all propaganda. He also reinforced my thoughts about the cruelty of the Inquisition. That she was also a reaction to the Islamic invasions. It is no accident that the Christian leaders after the invasions of Italy, Constantinople, Spain, etc. have become ruthless are, in addition to the history of the Crusades. Most likely a reaction in terms of "if we do not, there is no future."
This reminds me of the enormous gold hideout, which was recently found in the Middle East, with coins dating from shortly after the founder Islam became powerful. As crossed the soldiers of Islam, the owner of the hidden coins, they most probably in the hope that things would get better. Instead, he / she probably beheaded. Indeed, there is just such a story in the Hadith.
If you think that Christianity can revive again is, look at the place where Christianity began. This is the future of Europe and the West if Islam takes power. If the western countries will be purged from Islam, trumpet around sometime in the future, good guy (most likely Christians), what has been done, without understanding why, and they shall be called Islam with open arms again welcome. After all, it is Christian to do that. Therefore, it will never again be a Christian Bethlehem.
Hell_Is_Like_Newark
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I'll have to contradict the author regards the start of the Dark Age in the Western Roman Empire. The situation was later 5. Century rather gloomy.
The best job I've ever read was "The Fall of Rome by Bryan Ward-Perkins. It is pure architectural history, resulting in a dry reading material, what it is worth it, if the essence of the early medieval period the West is interested.
The conclusion was that the security had been lost and with it the trade. The Empire was - rather like the U.S. today - a multi-national economy, which was dependent on goods from all over the kingdom. For example, pottery and other ceramics from Rome were Britannic provinces of such high quality that they dominated the market. The people listened throughout the empire to make pottery and roof tiles, and bought most of them from Britain. Even the poorest peasants had had plates of good quality, modest houses and tiled roofs (instead of thatched roofs).
Then came the collapse. No one could more safely transport goods, so there was no way to buy British ceramics. The British, who had no market to hear more, to produce pottery and roof tiles, so the knowledge was lost for their production in history. Fast forward a hundred years, and you have a noble living in houses without roofs, brick and pottery of such bad Quality used and that they had been refused a hundred years earlier by a Roman peasants. At that time, pottery, amphorae, which were used for storage and transport of goods, or the use as building materials (roofs, floors, water pipes) are important for life. The loss of fine ceramics meant the loss of comfort and the loss of civilization. Sorry about the lengthy comment ... but remember, what would happen if Islam would succeed in destabilizing the world enough that the commercial breaks. How would the West in a generation or two be? Since our knowledge is now on electronic Media is what would happen if we lose the ability to store and read the media? More than a thousand years the Church managed to save manuscripts that helped in the rediscovery of classical culture during the Enlightenment. What will happen when there is nothing similar to which one could rely in the future?
civilization is onerous. Barbarism is the natural state of man.
4Symbols
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The transition from the architecture of the Roman Villa to simple Anglo-Saxon timber and thatched buildings is a frightening lesson for modern Europeans.
Rollory
:here must agree to Newark, and the "crisis of the third century" is not a kind of invention, anti-Christian fantasy. Nor it is the dramatic increase in sectarian violence, civilian frightening that emerged as the Catacombs (violence from a variety of the pagan society was completely unknown). Neither the depopulation of the once-rich western provinces. Or that the western empire Britain voluntarily granted independence, and thus admitting that it was no longer able to defend the islands. allegations that the Roman culture of Antoninus to Justinian continued at the same level, are quite simply without merit and are facing very easily verifiable facts.
Yes, the Gothic kingdoms after Augustulus tried by the Roman culture and way of life to preserve what they could, but it was less about some of it left and Justinian's reconquest and ruinous taxes took away the last of it. The coin dispenser clearly shows an increase in depreciation and inflation during the whole time, which reached around the time of Diocletian and Constantine ruinous rates. The economy was a mess - so far that Diocletian ordered that people change their jobs were no longer able to stabilize in an attempt to smooth things over (a crazy idea, the Ayn Rand in "Atlas Shrugged" is again). Islam expanded into a void that was created by the collapse, he was then as now, an opportunistic infection.
time we had a Karl Martell. We will now have another have, sooner or later. The only question is how far it will go before a reaction begins systematic murder. Edward Gibbon is still worth reading.
S:
If you compare the story with what is happening now, there is a very important difference that makes all comparisons wrong. The depopulation of the West due to birth control. It changes everything. The barbarians do not control their population and finally to the West race.
1 or 2 children can not stop the invasion. And the government will not let it stop her.
Hell_Is_Like_Newark
:@ S: That not reproduce the educated upper classes, is nothing new. Emperor Vespasian saw with great dismay that the Knights (landlords, rich farmers, business owners) and Senator classes compared to the "mob" had too few children. He initiated a policy of financial incentives, paid from the state coffers to encourage the upper classes to more children.
Similar measures have been discussed in Japan, Russia and other countries that are facing a demographic bomb.
Dymphna : Two things I've recently read (But I can not give links because my computer is making some kind of update):
1) The birth rate in Iran crashes. She may be already below the replacement level.
2) Can not remember hearing why they have to do that, but Saudi Arabia tries to borrow money.
Rollory :
Right, Dymphna, Iran is now well below the population replacement level. They had a baby boom just in time to spur the war on Iraq, and now this generation enters into later adult life, for 20 years, and Iran will be loaded with a paralyzing the load of old people and not enough Young have to get them, and not enough technology to make up the difference (the Japan certainly has, and what would create the USA and Europe). Like everywhere else in the Islamic world crashing birth rates everywhere. Actually, I think that Afghanistan and Somalia (?) Are the two places that still have relatively high birth rates, they are everywhere else.
Even the Mexican invasion of the United States could eventually not be a big deal, given current birth rates will run out of Mexico people before they can flood the majority of the U.S..
This article in the Brussels Journal is relevant, I think:
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/4095
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/4106
Like today, the enemies of civilization, a shapeless chaotic mob of well- the demolition was, but after they tore down everything they disappeared then. Those who survived the collapse, were able to build something better and stronger again.
defeatism is wrong. All it takes is to stay on the ball to form stable patriarchal families and raising their children so that they see clearly and are loyal to the law and their own people. It is a natural way of Win result.
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I had already read somewhere (it is the below article by Fjordman) that the Arab horsemen have tried, the pyramids and to destroy the Sphinx, but had to capitulate to their immensity. The destruction of the existing cultures in the countries they invaded and subdued, continues, we think of the destroyed Buddha statues in Bamiyan. Also Fjordman has written an interesting account, which you surely know. "Why Western Art is Unique, and Why Muslim Immigration Threatens It." The German translation I have copies of AdS at the time, like some other essays. 
comment by 
@ Deep Roots, someday I will complete it. The Turkic peoples are the nomadic Turkic peoples
from the Asian steppes and established as an important part of military slaves of Muslim Kalifenarmeenund Samanidenreichs.