How the Islamic World and the Roman Empire are the Same but Different

Poonam Bhakta
Period 2


Suppose you live in a desert, on the Arabian Peninsula, part of the Islamic World. Say your relative lived in the Roman Empire years before, and stories passed down in your family about life in the Roman Empire. You would notice some similarities and differences of life in the Islamic World and in the Roman Empire. Such as trade practice and war, which were similarities. A difference would be the way they worshipped.


Trade would fall into the technological area of the P.E.S.T. analysis from my point of view. “To improve communications and travel across their far-reaching empire, the Romans built some 50,000 miles of roads.” (pg. 69) One reason they built the roads in the Roman Empire was probably to make trade routes easier. “Arabs could meet travelers from near and distant lands and trade a variety of goods, including spices from India and ivory form Africa.”(pg. 87) Arabs had crossroads that allowed them to travel to India and Africa and trade many things for a long distance. This is important because it shows that the Roman Empire and the Islamic World both had interest in trade, and some people even depended on trade to live. Trade was very important to them, and it was almost an every-day activity for them.

War would be classified into the political part of the P.E.S.T. analysis. “By 661, Muhammad’s successors had increased the size of the Muslim Empire nearly four times, either through conquest or by treaty.” (pg. 101) This shows that they have skillful troops for war, if it increased four times in size. The Romans were very skillful when it came to war, too. They expanded the empire just by conquering the land. Over all, you could see that the Islamic World and the Roman Empire both engaged in war.


One difference between the Islamic World and the Roman Empire was the way they worshipped. Muslims believed “Abraham and his son Ishmael built the Ka’aba in Mecca and a temple to God.”(pg. 88) Arabs called God, Allah. They prayed to the Ka’aba in Mecca or at mosques, facing the direction to Mecca. They also had the Five Pillars, which were requirements for a Muslim to do in their lifetime. They also believed in the Qur'an. In the Roman Empire however, Christianity was the official religion. They believed in the Bible. Before, the Romans executed Christians, but after the empire spilt into east and west, it became the official religion. Then when the west side was invaded and taken over, the two sides started disagreeing in how things work in the church. “These differences led to a split in the Christian church.” (pg. 61) The new Christian religions were the Roman Catholic Church in the West and the Orthodox Church in the East. By this you can see that the Islamic World and the Roman Empire are very different when it comes to religion.


Wouldn’t you be amazed at these similarities and differences? How trade was a priority of life for some people in both the Islamic World and the Roman Empire. Why war was so important to both of them. How different their religions were after so many other similarities that they shared. For example, it would definitely amaze me if all of a sudden I found out that things work the same in the U.S. as they did decades ago in Australia.