TWO WORLDS COLLIDE

Long time ago, many civilizations were growing. However not all the civilizations were the same like Rome and the Islamic World for instance, but they were both similar and different in their geography, religion, and schism.


First of all, their geography differed completely. Rome began near the center of what is now Italy, also known as the Italian Peninsula. (pg. 47) It was built on a series of seven hills near the Tiber River. This was a great place to start a civilization because this region experienced cool rainy weathers. This allowed the Romans to farm. Because of the productive farmland, Romans were able to have surpluses that lead to trade. This helped a lot because this was the first step to building a prosperous civilization. This is how most civilizations break out into empires. In addition, the Tiber River allowed trade throughout Italy and later throughout the Mediterranean Sea. On account of Rome growing into a wealthy settlement, it soon became a kingdom. Like Rome, the Islamic world started on a peninsula, the Arabian Peninusla. Even though they both started on a peninsula, the geography of it was way different. It is full of the red desert and the flaming hot sun. Unlike Rome, the Arabian Peninsula receives little rain throughout the year causing them to have only a limited amount of space that is useful for agriculture. Because of this, they were not able to prosper as well as Rome. Life seems harder on the Arabian Peninsula then Rome! The Romans were very lucky they had such a strong water source. They were able to help the growth of Rome by planting agriculture. As you can see life was harder on the Arabian Peninsula.

Next, their religion is also dissimilar, but also very identical. Rome followed the teachings of Jesus which is Christianity. Jesus taught that the Romans the belief of one god. (pg.50) They would worship and pray to God in a church. Those who followed Christianity were persecuted. Even thought the Christians were mistreated, Christianity flourished throughout the Roman land. It seemed that Christianity helped the Romans believe in their own thoughts and have their own ways. Like Rome, the Muslims were had a “teacher” that taught the religion of Islam. This teacher was Muhammad. Muhammad was known as the prophet God. In this case, God was called Allah. Similarly, Muhammad also told the Islamic people that there was only one god to worship. They too were monotheistic. They worshiped Allah at the Ka’aba five times a day at certain times. To me, they take their religion very seriously. They follow all the rules and make sure they worship the right way. There were even pilgrimages that came from far away places. These two religions were a big part of growth in both their cities.


Last, Rome and the Islamic World both separated into two groups, but for different reasons. This is known as a schism. For Rome, Christianity split into two groups, the Orthodox and Catholic. They had a split because of religion tensions between popes and emperors. It’s bad when there is a split because many things will begin to fall and the whole civilization will go down into nothingness like dust. The Islamic people also had a split but for a different reason. Because of Muhammad’s death, great sadness was cast throughout the land. This followed into the problem, who will teach us the religion of Islam now? Many people had different ideas, but the main two are the Shi’a and the Sunnis. The Shi’a were a group of people that thought that the next caliph should always be a relative while the Sunnis thought that caliphs should be elected. I personally think that the Sunnis are right. What if Muhammad’s second revolved cousin was a serial killer and he was the only one alive? Then what? We should always think beyond because many appalling things can happen without us knowing it. There were soon many wars, and still today are there arguments that are happening. As you can see, when splits happen, it caused sinful happenings. During this period of time, both kingdoms were at its lowest point.


All in all, both Rome and the Islamic World are very different, but similar in their geography, religion, and schism. Because of their differences, they have grown into the wonderful worlds they are today.

~JESUS CHRIST (L) ~MUHAMMAD (R)

~Daphne Chiang