You’re not arguing against a competing view of history. You are arguing against an ideology. Save your breath. This is their view of history: Ancient Rome w

You’re not arguing against a competing view of history. You are arguing against an ideology. Save your breath. This is their view of history: Ancient Rome was enlightened. Then Christianity destroyed all the worlds great accomplishments. Then, Galileo showed everyone who was boss. Oh yeah... a corollary to this version: Islam was as nearly enlightened as Rome and would have ushered in an age of elegant sophistication but for the no-good Crusaders. So sad... In reality, Ancient Rome was a brutal slave-based society where life was cheap, religious fanaticism was rampant, children were disposable, and death was glorified. Given a choice of being an average inhabitant of the Roman Empire or an average inhabitant of medieval Europe, only the truly ignorant would choose the former.