The Differences and Similarities between Two Different Worlds

As we all know that Rome and Islam are from different times and of course different places, they were both similar and different in many ways. Some of those ways include environmental, political, and technological aspects. By saying environmental, their climates were completely different. In the political ways, Islam was more to a religious side for ruling while Rome included more of the military or the wealthy side. Lastly, for the technological aspect, there were differences between the roads while being similar at the same time.


The climates of Islam and Rome were completely different. For Rome “The region experienced cool, rainy winters that created acres of productive farmland.”(Pg.47) had a great impact to the Romans. The productive farmland meant that there wouldn’t be any troubles farming for crops. Rome also had the Seven Hills which protected Rome from harsh weather. However for Islam “It receives little rain and is covered mainly by deserts.” (Pg.85) Islam received a small amount of land for agriculture that could lead more people to become nomads, starvation, and event more hardships for irrigation.


For ruling, Islam was more to the religious side while Rome included either the military or the wealthy side. What was meant by both the military and the wealthy side, Julius Caesar was one of them in those categories. “In 45 B.C., a powerful Roman general named Julius Caesar brought order to Rome and named himself sole ruler.”(Pg.49) for being a general and coming to become a ruler, they may have brought many strategies for war. After Julius Caesar was murdered and his adopted son Octavian took over, Rome became and empire. However, Islam used more of a religious side for ruling. “In 632, Abu Bakr became the first caliph, a title that means “successor.”(Pg. 100) Abu Bakr was Muhammad’s father-in-law and also his best friend. Also, most of the other caliphs weren’t related to Muhammad in any way. Islam could rule with the family members becoming a caliph, however, that wasn’t the only case. Other caliphs that weren’t related to Muhammad in any way however followed the religion well, became a caliph. Rulers of Islam became Caliphs mainly because of the religion. This shows that religion was important for Islam while in Rome, warfare and the army was important.


Although their roads might have been similar, there were also many differences. They both created roads however each were for different reasons. For Rome, “Workers built many roads for the specific purpose of transporting Rome’s powerful army.” (Pg.69) they used the roads for the transportation of the army. On the other hand, Islam had another reason. Their roads were used for trade. Islam is the crossroads of three continents, Asia, Africa, and Europe. “In these cities, Arabs could meet travelers from near and distant lands and trade a variety of goods.” (Pg.87) Islam used the routes for trade while Rome used them for the army’s transportation. This showed that Islam didn’t care about war or the army. However, Rome was all about the army and their roads were for their transportation.


Now we can see that Rome and Islam had numerous amounts of similarities and differences. Environmental, Political, and Technological aspects were the couple of many ways that Islam and Rome were alike and different. They were from different times and different places, but they still had many comparisons and contrasts throughout the Roman and the Islamic times.

This is an illustration of Abu Bakr!!!