7 ms·
What's this about "Rome isn’t Western Europe"--have you consulted a map of the Roman empire?
by sk5t 7y ago
What's this about "Rome isn’t Western Europe"--have you consulted a map of the Roman empire?
- boomboomsubban 7y agoHave you looked at the population spread of the Roman Empire? Rome had people, the rest of the empire was predominantly to the East/South. Rome was Mediterranean, not Western European.
- kgwgk 7y agoWhat is your definition of “Western European” precisely? https://aaron7roberts.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/roman_empire_pop.jpg https://aaron7roberts.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/roman_empi... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_Roman_Empire https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_Roman_Empi... also shows larger populations in the “Latin West” than in the “Greek East”.
- boomboomsubban 7y agoThe first map shows roughly thirteen million people in non-Italy "Western Europe" and roughly twenty two millions in the non Western Europe parts. Wikipedia has an actual population density map[1] that highlights my point. Even in traditional "Western Europe," the population is predominantly Mediterranean. It also has a list of the most populous cities during the peak of the Empire, largely outside of Western Europe. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_Roman_Empire#/media/File%3ACartogram_of_the_estimated_populations_of_cities_in_the_Roman_world_in_the_Imperial_period.jpg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_Roman_Empi... edit terrible math on my part.
- kgwgk 7y agoSo about half the roman empire (including Italy) was in Western Europe? Of course the Roman Empire extended further (and longer in other regions), but saying Middle Age's Western Europe doesn't include large regions that were previously part of the Roman Empire seems strange to me.
- boomboomsubban 7y ago>but saying Middle Age's Western Europe doesn't include large regions that were previously part of the Roman Empire seems strange to me. No one said that. The Roman Empire isn't Western Europe, and calling the period the "Dark Ages" is inaccurate.
- kgwgk 7y agoNovacole said “Rome isn’t Western Europe. So western Europe’s entire history is a “dark age” before the Age of Enlightenment.” That seems to imply that Rome isn’t part of the history of Western Europe at all (and neither did the Renaissance happen in Western Europe, apparently).
- boomboomsubban 7y agoThough I can't make out Novacole's exact point, I would assume it was more about how it is incorrect to say "there was a dark age after Rome" as the dark age only impacted a part of the still existing Roman Empire.
- kgwgk 7y agoI agree. The part affected was “Western Europe”, as opposed to the part of Europe that remained in the sphere of the Eastern Roman Empire.