The War Between the Roman World and the Muslim

Islam and Rome were both similar and different in many ways. For example, they both had similar architecture, and they both fought wars to gain power. But, they had different forms of transportation because Muslims lived in the desert, so they couldn't travel like Rome. Even with their similarities, they had their differences too.

Islam and Rome had very similar architecture. For example, they both had domes. “Roman architecture consisted of arches, vaults, and domes. (pg.69)” Muslims also had domes for their houses and temples. But, Romans made many statues while Muslims “thought it was wrong to use the human form in art (pg. 121&67)”The Romans also had different sources of water than the Muslims. The Romans had aqueducts to bring water to them while the Muslims had oases to drink water. This shows that they had different environments and different techniques of style and technology.



Both Roman and Muslim Empires were powerful. They conquered many lands. They fought to protect their homes and to gain more power. But, they had to fight differently because of their different environments. For example, their war strategies were different. The Romans could attack lands by ship, but since the Muslims lived in the desert, Muslims couldn't really attack by ship. If they had been living in the same time period, Muslims probably could not be attacked by ship by the Romans. But they conquered lands the same way. They both fought wars and made peace treaties to gain control and make alliances.



Because of their different environments, Muslims and Romans had different forms of transportation. For example, the Romans rode horses. But because there are no horses in Saudi Arabia, Muslims traveled by camels. Also, the Romans had roads to travel by, but the Muslim people traveled without roads, using their own technology to navigate. It must have been confusing to find where they had to go.



As you can see, Rome and Islam were very similar, yet different at the same time. With their technological, political, and environmental similarities and differences, BOTH worlds have impacted and influenced our world to even today. Their technology helped us a lot to build things, like the White House, roads, and even the great Statue of Liberty. With these examples, you can see that the Roman and Muslim Empires were both similar and different from each other, even though they existed at different time periods.