Questions Assessment

1. What two economic systems were fused to make feudalism?

Feudalism was a mix between the Latin Empire and the Germanic invasions. Therefore, the Roman and German economic systems were fused together to create it. The two societies were very different, but after spending some time so close together, began to adopt parts of each other. Christianity was adopted, and Germanic law superseded that of Roman law. One main difference was that Roman society had privately held land, where as German society did not.

2. Why was Jerusalem such a contested city?

Jerusalem was such a contested city because it was adopted by three faiths. These groups were the Christians, the Jews and the Muslims. Each faith adapted Jerusalem as a holy site. It was triply contested by all three faiths.

3. How did the Muslim concept of jihad change over time?

At first, Muslims made the term jihad central to their self-understanding. They adapted the term to mean ‘striving’. Muslims believed in expanding the Islamic empire, and saw jihad as their individual duty to do this. After this stage, during the empire building stage, the concept of jihad changed. At this stage, it was an offensive term, which affected both Muslim and non-Muslims. This was from the 8th to 16th Centuries. Finally, jihad became a term of resistance against colonial rulers. This was when Muslim countries were colonized.

4. How did the Byzantine Empire differ from the Roman?

The Byzantine Empire emerged from the Roman Empire’s eastern remains. At this stage, the East and the West were further separating, due to the Schism of 1054 CE. This meant that the Latin Christians of the West, and the Orthodox Christians of the East were further separating. Those of the East, the Byzantines, began to develop more of a Greek culture. They began to speak Greek, and adopted a Greek style of living. Like in the Roman Empire, slavery continued. Another difference between the Byzantine Empire and the Roman Empire was the Roman’s...