Monday, November 16, 2009

Romr and Islam's Similar Differences

Across what we already knew and have learned, there are many differences and similarities to be defined between the Islam’s and Roman’s regional and political cultures. To describe these, P.E.S.T. Analysis is needed to detail the aspects of Islam’s and Roman’s political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, and environmental features. Several examples would include their political powers, geographical features, and systems of virtue. As we can see, many archaeological findings that were cited to be related to the subject has given much information that archaeologists and anthropologists can study to form inferences of their subject. However, though creating detailed inferences of the past, these historical theories have been becoming more accurate, and so between Islam and Rome, an abundance of knowledgeable comparisons can be made.
In Islam and Rome, there was a large difference of how they interpreted political power. During early Rome, they determined the Roman officials by their land ownership and amount of wealth. To their belief, they may have thought that the richer they were, the smarter they were, meaning that the wealthiest would be the “most intellectual”. Islamic people following Muhammad based their government by religion, believing that their leaders should only be descendants of Muhammad, or had a respected relation with him. However, they were then divided into two groups of Muslims when a group of rebels took over, and some were resistant, and others just let them, becoming the Shi’a and the Sunni. Given a division in society, it's what probably would cause a major problem.
As an environmental comparison, their geographic climates are contradictory. A hilly, fertile land is where Rome had begun its origins in. On the contrary, the Islamic people, originated from nomadic clans that lived within the desert. Romans, however, unlike the Islamic people, could easily make permanent settlements because of the land they were in so that they could simply cultivate crops. Since the Romans' geographic location began in a much better area, it is probably why it had much more quickly flourished than the Islamic region.
Through a socio-cultural view, the Romans and Islamic people did have some similarity that led them through their lives. With this, they held a system of virtues in society, and believed that they were one of the most important values of life. The Romans followed Stoicism, a philosophy in which importance held virtue, duty, and endurance in life. For Islam, they had the "Five Pillars of Islam", with the first being faith, the second as prayer, the third as alms, the fourth as fasting, and the last one as pilgrimage. These two systems were both abode by either the daily lives in Rome or Islam. But even to now, people still conform to these values in daily life so that they stay strong in what they believe.
Throughout Rome and Islam, their aspects of comparison may differ, and so would our opinions of them, given the information. Judgement of the past may help us link to what we need to know of any subject. Organizing both the similarities and differences of the Roman and Islamic empire may help us better understand the features of both regions and cultures.

2 Comments:

Blogger Mindy Kim said...

I HAD THE SAME ENVIRONMENTAL COMPARISON!!!! Rome had a more fertile land because of the equal amount of rain and the sun. However, Islam is a desert and because of the desert there would be more nomads.

November 17, 2009 at 8:14 AM  
Blogger Augustine Ng said...

u had lots a green in the beginning and then i got really small. a bit more green would be nice.
oh but the picture is REALLY green =)

November 17, 2009 at 8:37 AM  

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