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Concave mirrors to correct poor eyesight were available in Ancient Rome, if you were rich enough (there's record of Nero using one at the forum, IIRC.) Button l

Concave mirrors to correct poor eyesight were available in Ancient Rome, if you were rich enough (there's record of Nero using one at the forum, IIRC.) Button lenses (single small lenses) for embroidery, etc, perhaps as well. Literacy existed during the dark ages, largely in monasteries. Scotland esp, plus the Babylonian Empire (Late Roman Empire) persisted. Records were more scarce, but exist. Gears go back to ancient Greece, we now know. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism "Dark Ages" is something of a misnomer by now, most historians would say, I believe. This source blames Petrarch for the calumny: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/10/15/were-there-dark-ages/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/10/15/were-there-dark-ages/ Oman and Bury are good public domain sources on the dark ages. You can find some free books here: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_13?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=dark+ages+history&sprefix=dark+ages+his%2Cdigital-text%2C211 https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_13?url=search-alia... I would usually recommend gutenberg.org, but their pickings seem to be slim, in this case.

magduf 8y ago
Pointing to things in ancient Rome or Greece isn't helping your argument, because many of those things were lost in the dark ages. They had toilets in Rome. They didn't have toilets in the dark ages. They built concrete-domed buildings in ancient Rome. They didn't build anything like that in the dark ages, or for a very long time afterwards (not until modern times; concrete had to be re-invented). Literacy existed in monasteries, yes, but that was pretty much the only place it existed then!! Ancient Romans, by contrast, were mostly literate in the general population. Why are people so eager to whitewash the dark ages and the loss of literacy and technology that happened there with the fall of Rome? I really wonder if a lot of it is coming from the Catholic Church; they've tried pushing a narrative that the dark ages were really a great time because everyone in Europe was Catholic.
- Nomentatus 8y ago
  As cited above, https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/10/15/were-there-dark-ages/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/10/15/were-there-dark-ages/ answers all this far better than I can. Changing the subject to loss of previous knowledge is arguing by distraction.

magduf 8y ago

Pointing to things in ancient Rome or Greece isn't helping your argument, because many of those things were lost in the dark ages. They had toilets in Rome. They didn't have toilets in the dark ages. They built concrete-domed buildings in ancient Rome. They didn't build anything like that in the dark ages, or for a very long time afterwards (not until modern times; concrete had to be re-invented). Literacy existed in monasteries, yes, but that was pretty much the only place it existed then!! Ancient Romans, by contrast, were mostly literate in the general population. Why are people so eager to whitewash the dark ages and the loss of literacy and technology that happened there with the fall of Rome? I really wonder if a lot of it is coming from the Catholic Church; they've tried pushing a narrative that the dark ages were really a great time because everyone in Europe was Catholic.

Nomentatus 8y ago
As cited above, https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/10/15/were-there-dark-ages/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/10/15/were-there-dark-ages/ answers all this far better than I can. Changing the subject to loss of previous knowledge is arguing by distraction.