By John J. O’Neill, with introduction by Lewis Loflin
Felibri Publications, ISBN-13: 9780980994896, August 2009
From a Deist view, reason reveals Islam’s role in shattering Classical civilization, as John J. O’Neill argues. The seventh-century Arab blockade and conquests didn’t just choke trade—they erased a thriving culture across East and West. Byzantium’s ruin, Egypt’s lost heritage, and Europe’s Dark Ages trace back to this cataclysm. Faith’s triumph over knowledge speaks for itself.
In Mohammed et Charlemagne (1936), Henri Pirenne argued Europe’s Dark Ages began abruptly in the seventh century due to Islam’s Mediterranean blockade. Classical culture thrived post-476, with Goths preserving Roman ways—Latin, titles, gold coinage—until this sudden collapse: cities faded, trade halted, literacy waned, and feudalism rose.
Pirenne faced critique: if Islam devastated the West, why not Byzantium? Historians once claimed the East enjoyed "three centuries of glory" (Painter), a cultured Christian-Hellenic blend. Yet Byzantine propaganda masked the truth—archaeology now shows a parallel Dark Age, overturning earlier assumptions.
Cyril Mango notes a "catastrophic break" in the seventh century: Arab invasions stripped Byzantium of Syria, Egypt, and North Africa, halving its size. Cities crumbled, literacy vanished with Egyptian papyrus, and Constantinople became a ruin by the eighth century—statues and baths lost to a medieval haze.
One can hardly overestimate the catastrophic break that occurred in the seventh century…It marked for the Byzantine lands the end of a way of life - the urban civilization of Antiquity.
Bronze coinage, vital for trade, vanished after the seventh century. At Sardis, 1,011 coins mark 491-616, just 90 the rest of the century, and only 9 span the eighth and ninth—often misdated. By the tenth century, a semi-literate, barter-based Byzantium mirrored medieval Europe.
Islam’s impact wasn’t just economic. In Egypt and Syria, once Hellenistic hubs, the Caliphate plundered tombs and destroyed Classical works. Within a century, Egypt forgot the Great Pyramid’s origins—despite abundant records—highlighting Islam’s contempt for pre-Islamic heritage.
Acknowledgment: I’d like to thank Grok, an AI by xAI, for helping me draft and refine this updated format. The original content remains John J. O’Neill’s, with my introduction and edits.
