A Comparison Between Roman Society And Midieval

2000-07-09

History Essay: A Comparison Between Roman Society and Medieval

Society There are many distinct differences between Medieval society as

illustrated by Achen in 800 AD and Roman society as illustrated by Pompeii

in 79 AD, with some similarities. There are many aspects to examine, such

infra-structure, trade and cities. The first difference to look at is cities and

that they were structured differently. In Pompeii, there was the patrician and

plebeians. In Achen, classes were different, although the Christian church

viewed everyone as equal. The classes contained and separated lords,

knights, peasants and serfs. One thing common between these cities were

slaves. Education is another part of these cultures. In Pompeii, many of the

citizens were literate and schooling began at an early age. In Achen, even

Charlemange couldn?t read or write, although he made repeated attempts to

revive learning. The people who were literate were mainly monks. Religion is

another difference between the cultures. In Pompeii, religion was based on

polytheism, whereas in Achen it was monotheistic because most were

Christian. From religion comes another aspect, that of tolerance. In Achen,

there was no tolerance or acceptance of other religions. In Pompeii, they

mostly were accepting. Materialism consumed people of Pompeii. For

example, during the eruption of Vesuvius, citizens could be seen running

away carrying all their valuable gold jewelry and belongings. In Achen, there

was the Christian belief that you should die a pauper because your afterlife

is what mattered. Afterlife is what affected the people of Achen?s view of

time. They were thinking about heaven and their life in eternity. In Pompeii,

people were concerned with their every day life and chores. Another part of

the cultures to compare is infra-structure. In Pompeii, they had aqueducts,

which was an advanced water piping system and stone roads. In Achen, the

most they had was ruins of the Roman civilization. This relates to the affect

of trade in the time periods. In Pompeii, trade was bustling because of the

easy transportation on roads. For Achen, there was no trade at all. They

were most concerned with providing enough food for themselves. This

makes another difference between the two places. Pompeii was a busy,

fairly-sized city. Achen was merely a village, hardly busy in the least. There

are many more things to compare between Achen and Pompeii. But from

what is represented in my essay, it is clear how far from similar Achen and

Pompeii are.