The coming dark age
I had an interesting - if very depressing - conversation with my father a couple of years ago. He's a keen historian, and his area of interest is classical Greek and Roman history.

He was telling me how it only took a hundred years for the Roman Empire to fall, and that we were discovering technologies up to (I think) about the 19th century that the Romans had already developed a thousand years before. The dark ages were called the dark ages because of the very sudden massive loss of knowledge and information that the Romans provided (Bloody Romans!).

He is concerned for his grandchildren, as he feels that the world is so massively reliant on computing that all it takes is for the electricity to go and we're basically all completely fucked.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Sat 16 Jun 2012, 18:53, 10 replies)

It's odd that you call him a keen historian
when he appears to have such a blunt and enfeebled grasp of history.

Did you mean to type "pædophile"?
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Sat 16 Jun 2012, 18:57, closed)

Sorry, yes - yes I did.
He's a keen PAEDOPHILE.

Thanks.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Sat 16 Jun 2012, 18:59, closed)

You lucky bastard.

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Sat 16 Jun 2012, 19:08, closed)

But it was Archimedes and the Greeks who invented all that stuff.
The Romans were good at building stuff and fighting. They preserved rather than added to Greek knowledge. And the arab world retained the knowledge and re-introduced it to Renaissance Europe through Moorish spain so it wasn't exactly re-invented.

But apart from being completely wrong in every sense ... yes ... he's absolutely right.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Sat 16 Jun 2012, 19:10, closed)

I think you will find that even the Greeks borrowed a lot of what they are credited with from the Sumerians.
(Finster Ate a cat biscuit for a bet, Sun 17 Jun 2012, 22:41, closed)

That's probably my reiteration as opposed to his knowledge.
I don't listen that carefully to him most of the time.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Mon 18 Jun 2012, 8:36, closed)

It's his concern for the grandchildren that I'd watch out for

( Light In Chains maker of the ikea sofa, Sat 16 Jun 2012, 19:10, closed)

Decline and fall...
....it's a bit of an outdated view to be honest. Gibbon was responsible for that view in the 18th Century. The fall of the Western Empire didn't happen in the East - there the Roman Empire survived for another 1000 years and only fell when the Turks used cannon balls the size of small cars to crack their walls. When that happened the refugees ended up in Italy and kick-started the Renaissance.

A lot of the knowledge gained in Antiquity was learned and expanded upon by the Arabs - hence their expertise in medicine, astronomy, maths, etc.

Even in western Europe the `Dark Ages' weren't that dark - there are more documents from that period than the Classic Age.
(Audax Victor, Sat 16 Jun 2012, 19:44, closed)

Oh look it's Mary Beards boyfriend

( Light In Chains maker of the ikea sofa, Sat 16 Jun 2012, 22:23, closed)

Marys a gay,
It's Mary's beard.
( rjmrjm, Sun 17 Jun 2012, 14:33, closed)