"Abba Eban:" "Rome, the ruler of nations." "By the first century of the present era, all the lands of the Mediterranean had been brought together in the greatest political and military enterprise the world had ever known." "The military power of Rome reshaped the governments, the nations, and the peoples of its empire into a single international order." "100 different traditions and cultures were brought together in this vast experiment of rule." "Its effect on the Jews, its effect on all peoples, would be profound." "No one could have foreseen the long-range impact of the great roman conquest- least of all the Romans themselves." "The world as all men had known it was coming to an end, brought to a close in part by the power of Rome." "The centuries that lay ahead would bring with them dramatic change." "Rome would not cause that change." "Rome, itself, would be swept up by it, helpless in the face of forces greater than its own." "But the vast proportions of the Roman Empire would contribute to an international dialogue whose effects would be far-reaching." "New religions and forms of belief would arise and capture the minds and souls of millions of people from the Atlantic coasts of Europe to the farthest reaches of China." "A spiritual revolution was about to sweep the world, and the Jews were to have a central role in the drama." "At the beginning of the present era, the Jews lived scattered throughout the Roman Empire." "Centuries of trouble in their native land of Judea had driven many of them to find homes in other countries of the eastern Mediterranean." "In this Greek-speaking world, the word for the dispersion of a people was "Diaspora. "" ""Diaspora", it was a fundamental and inescapable element of Jewish life." "At least 3 out of every 4 Jews lived outside of Judea." "There were Jewish communities in Egypt, Greece, and Asia Minor, in Babylonia, and in North Africa." "Home for the Jews might be a rich seaport on the coast of the Mediterranean or a remote outpost of trade in the desert of what is now Morocco." "The ancient world had never known a people quite like the Jews." "A book, the Bible, was at the center of their worship;" "a book and a body of law." "On the island of Jerba, in what is now Tunisia, is a Jewish community said to date back more than 2,000 years." "Some of its members still wear black leg bands in mourning for the destruction of Solomon's temple more than 2,500 years ago." "The image of Jewish life revealed here is one almost untouched by time." "Each moment of life was regulated by the sacred law, each action was seen as dedicated to God." "Their lives were bound up in their religion, their religion in their lives." "Dio Cassius, the roman historian, commented..." "Man:" "They are distinguished from the rest of humanity in practically every detail of their lives, but especially in that they refuse to honor any of the usual Gods and adore one particular divinity with great ardor and worship him in the most extravagant fashion." "Eban:" "The exclusive worship of one, universal God... the idea was a novelty." "The Jews, scattered as they were, became emissaries for this new view of the world and the universe." "By the end of the first century," "Josephus, the Jewish historian, could observe..." "Man:" "The masses have been for a long time filled with enthusiasm for our pious customs, and there isn't a city in Greece or a people among the barbarians which does not practice our custom of weekly rest, our fasts, our lighting of lamps," "or many of our dietary laws, and thus, God I the world over." "Eban:" "Everywhere customs were being influenced by Jewish customs, beliefs by Jewish beliefs." "The city of ancient Rome... it was a metropolis of almost modern proportions." "A million people lived in its tenements and palaces." "Its teeming streets and marketplaces were a magnet that drew people from all over the Mediterranean." "The city embraced them all, tolerating the customs and Gods of 100 foreign peoples." "Gods, demigods, spirits... centaurs and heroes..." "Roman religion was a blend of folklore and reverence." "Out of this mixture came a single popular culture." "It was a culture in which all could share;" "all, that is, except the Jews." "Here in Ostia, the port of ancient Rome at the mouth of the river Tiber, lie the ruins of a synagogue whose foundations date back to the first century." "The Jews alone among all the peoples under roman rule did not warship roman Gods, nor could they obey roman laws if doing so meant violating their own sacred customs." "Rome was powerless to change their ways, powerless except by force of arms." "But the issue seemed a minor matter, a question of custom and belief, and so the roman government granted them the right to be different." "With official toleration came increasing acceptance of Jewish ideas as well." "Many throughout the empire were attracted by Jewish beliefs." "many abandoned their Gods, turned their backs on custom, and began to worship the one God of the Jews." "By the middle of the first century, certain Romans were outraged by the continuing spread of Judaism." "Seneca, the orator and philosopher, could write..." "Man:" "The practices of this villainous nation have so prevailed that they are adopted by people everywhere." "The vanquished have made laws for their conquerors." "Over the first two centuries of this era the number of conversions to Judaism increased." "The ground was laid for an upheaval in the beliefs of the western world." "In the early years of the first century, a man called Jesus, said to be from Nazareth, began his preaching here on these shores of the sea of Galilee." "This synagogue at Capernaum was built, perhaps, on the ruins of the one where Jesus told his parables as he sought a following amongst the major Jewish centers in Galilee." "Those who followed the teachings of Jesus were known among other Jews as "Nazarenes"." "In the beginning, the Nazarene sect was completely Jewish." "As a noted scholar has commented..." ""its earliest adherents were synagogue-going Jews," ""or synagogue-going gentiles." ""apart from their belief in Jesus as the Messiah," ""there was nothing to distinguish them" ""from their fellow congregants at the synagogue." ""Their ethics were Jewish, their Messiah was a Jew," ""All their leaders were Jews." ""The temple in Jerusalem was still the center of their worship. "" "Eban:" "The Nazarenes were one among many Jewish sects whose fervent beliefs agitated the land of Judea in those years." "But their influence was to reach far beyond the limits of this small land." "Man:" "I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in Jerusalem and educated according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers." "Eban:" "These are the words of Saul, better known to history as saint Paul, the Apostol." "He and others of his group carried the message of Jesus to the cities of Greece and Asia Minor, and to Rome." "In the thousands of miles of traveling," "Paul visited Jewish communities, tirelessly spreading the message of the Messiah who had come, from Antioch to Thessalonica, from Corinth to the great port city of Ephesus in what is now Turkey." "Where fields of grass now lie, once there was a harbor crowded with ships." "The road that once carried cartloads of produce to and from the docks now stands empty." "It was in this place, about the year 53, that Paul made his home." "For 3 months, he taught in the synagogue." "For two years he gathered followers among the Jews and among the Greeks who were sympathetic to Jewish teachings." "This city, the second largest in the eastern Mediterranean, became a major center for the Nazarenes." "Although his had been a Jewish sect," "Paul welcomed new followers without having them convert to Judaism." "By not imposing the Jewish laws," "Paul made it easier for thousands, in this center of commerce, artistry, and learning, to turn to the worship of the one God." "So many converts did he make in Ephesus and other cities that local citizens thought that their traditional Gods were being abandoned." "In this theatre, about the year 55, an excited crowd gathered to protest the spread of the new sect." "A man named Demetrius stood before them, a jeweler who built statues to the Goddess Artemis." "Fearing that the new religion would destroy his livelihood, he called upon his audience to attack the Nazarenes." "There was a near riot, put down finally by government officials." "Paul was forced to leave the city." "He may have gone, but he left behind a Nazarene sect firmly rooted in the Greek-speaking world of Asia Minor and the Aegean." "While Jewish beliefs were influencing other peoples, the world of Judaism itself was about to undergo a transformation." "Here in Jerusalem, at the center of the Jewish world, there were revolutionaries, radical preachers, sects, and political parties." "Some Jews believed in life after death." "Others denied it." "Some expected a Messiah to bring a Holy Kingdom to the world." "Others called for armed rebellion against Rome at whatever cost." "After more than 100 years of roman rule, there was one fervent hope shared by all- the hope that God would overthrow Rome and restore Judea as a Holy Land." "In the year 66, the people of Judea rose in arms to liberate themselves from roman rule." "After 4 years of struggle, they were utterly and hopelessly defeated." "Their cities were in ruins." "The Holy Temple, the central shrine of the Jewish people, was reduced to ashes." "Tens of thousands were enslaved." "Where once a diversity of religious groups had clamored for support among the people, there was now a profound silence." "Only two Jewish sects would survive- the Nazarenes, most of whom lived outside Judea, and the successors of the Jewish scholars known as Pharisees." "In the countryside of Judea, the sage Johanan Ben Zakkai had found refuge from the war that ravaged Jerusalem." "Here he gathered a group of scholars." "Now that the Jewish laws were in danger of being forgotten, the scholars found younger men to whom they could be taught." "When a man mastered the learning of his people, the scholars ordained him rabbi, which means master or teacher." "In foreign lands," "Jewish communities continued outwardly unaffected by the disaster in Judea." "But something fundamental had changed." "Here in Sardis, in what is now Turkey, is the largest of ancient synagogues to be unearthed in modern times." "Its rich mosaic floors and elegant proportions give witness to the affluence of the Jewish community of the late second century." "With the temple in Jerusalem gone, synagogues became the central focus of Jewish life." "With the priests gone, the rabbis, and the laws that they preserved, would guide the people." "In their meeting place, their synagogue, the Jews of each city gathered to discuss the affairs of their community, to judge among themselves, to study, and to understand with the help of their teachers how they could better live" "in accordance with the wishes of their God." "This most remarkable of early synagogues was discovered in Dura Europus in what is now Syria." "Its illustrations of biblical stories and legends speak of an eclectic and colorful Jewish world." "In some cities, there were several synagogues." "While the congregation of one might listen to its rabbi read from the Hebrew Bible, at a nearby synagogue, another congregation might join in a prayer believed to have been spoken by Jesus." "There was variety and enthusiasm." "But within that community, there was a deep and growing rift." "It was, perhaps, inevitable from the beginning." "the Nazarenes' belief that God had appeared on Earth was of such great moment that it altered their sense of life itself." "They had no patience for the details of worship and ritual considered by traditional Jews so important to the service of God." "They could not forgive the other Jews for refusing to believe that the Messiah had come." "For traditional Jews, however, it seemed that the Nazarenes' purpose was to destroy the very way of life that the Jewish people had preserved as holy." "In an atmosphere of growing tension," "Nazarene and traditional Jews exchanged bitter threats and accusations." "It was in these troubled years of the late first century that the historical texts of the New Testament were written." "In this same period, the Nazarenes came to bear the name they do today." "They believed that Jesus had been the "anointed one"," ""the Messiah", long awaited by the Jewish people." "The Greek word for "anointed one" was Christos, and in the Greek-speaking world of the eastern Mediterranean, these followers of Jesus came to be known commonly as christianol, Christians." "In the land of Judea, where the Christian movement had begun, the Jewish people still waited for the Messiah, still waited for the sign that God would free them, from the rule of Rome." "In the year 130, Hadrian was emperor." "He proposed to build a roman city on the site of destroyed Jerusalem, a shrine to Jupiter on the ruins of the temple." "In 132, the people of Judea, encouraged by the rabbis, rose in revolt." "They were led by Simon Bar Kochba, believed by many to be the Messiah come at last." "Rome sent in its legions from Syria, from Egypt, and Arabia." "Other legions were dispatched from Britain and the provinces of the Danube." "The empire was mobilized." "By 135, Judea lay in ruins." "Dio Cassius, the roman historian, recorded the result." "Man: 580,000 Jews died in battles and in raids." "The number of those who perished from hunger, disease, and fire was past counting." "Nearly all of Judea became a desert." "Eban:" "On the ruins of Jerusalem, a pagan city was built." "Jews were forbidden to enter it on pain of death." "Where once the Holy Temple had stood," "Hadrian constructed his shrine to Jupiter." "He obliterated the Jewish state and renamed the country Palestine." "The land would never recover." "Slowly, over the succeeding centuries, it would sink into poverty and neglect." "Gone was the hope of a Jewish nation restored by force of arms." "Gone were the political dreams of the people." "Perhaps one day it might happen when God willed it." "But now, in devastated Judea, if there was any hope remaining, it lay elsewhere." "If no government could establish the sacred rule of Jewish law, then another way would have to be found." "60 years before, following the first Judean revolt, a group of scholars had founded an academy of Jewish learning and ordained the first rabbis." "Now, in Galilee, the rabbis of this same academy continued the work of gathering and editing the traditions of their people." "The Hebrew Bible was given its final form." "The oral traditions of law were preserved and compiled." "About the year 200, a text of sacred study was produced that would come to be accepted everywhere throughout the Diaspora." "It would be known as the Mishnah, literally that which is repeated, for it was memorized and recited by its students." "Man:" "If someone builds on the Sabbath, how much must he build to have broken the Sabbath?" "He who builds, however little, has broken the Sabbath." "The Sabbath is also broken if he who collects grass, collects enough to fill the mouth of a young goat." "Eban:" "The Mishnah interpreted the laws of the Bible, laws of agriculture, of civil and criminal matters, of marriage and divorce, of the Sabbath and the holy days." "With Judea destroyed, with the central authorities of the Jewish world gone, it was the Mishnah that helped define the duties of Jewish life." "Throughout the far-flung cities of the Diaspora, it was the Mishnah and its study that would keep the Jewish community together." "By the end of the second century, while the Mishnah was being completed, the Christian movement entered a critical moment in its history." "Throughout the roman world," "Christianity was now recognized as distinct from Judaism- the growing Christian movement a special threat to the ways of roman people." "Man:" "The Christians gather illiterates and credulous women and organize a rabble of conspirators." "They despise temples;" "they spit upon the Gods;" "they jeer at our sacred rites." "Eban:" "In the second century," "Romans had reason to worry." "Their society was in decline." "The rich were self-indulgent, the poor rebellious." "The growing number of Christians only seemed further evidence that their world was disintegrating." "To traditional Romans, Christianity was atheism." "It was political rebellion." "It had to be stamped out for roman morals to survive." "In roman amphitheaters," "Christians who refused to worship the roman Gods were torn apart by wild beasts." "During the reign of Septimius Severus, in Carthage, Alexandria, Rome, and Corinth," "Christians were burned to death and beheaded." "Fitfully, uncertainly, without any clear policy or program," "Rome tried to rid itself of this revolutionary sect." "Though roman rulers acted in the name of tradition and morality, their vicious acts made a mockery of their own cause and strengthened the cause of the Christians instead." "The Roman Empire was the greatest state structure the classical world ever produced." "Despite its complexity and far-reaching size, it remained dominant and vital for more than 300 years." "But like most products of human endeavor, it could not last forever." "some states may suffer sudden and cataclysmic downfall through invasion or revolution." "A great many others, however, deteriorate slowly from within." "That, at any rate, is what happened to the Roman Empire." "The process of decline extended over 4 centuries." "By the second century, the period of expansion of empire had come to an end." "Military power had begun to wane." "By the beginning of the third century, there were signs of exhaustion within roman society itself." "Man:" "Every day, one could see the wealthiest men of yesterday turned to beggars." "Eban:" "So wrote Herodian, a roman historian who witnessed the decline of the third century..." "Man:" "The rulers began with wars and murders, bringing on a multitude of calamities." "Provincial cities were desolated, the land was laid waste, and thousands of human beings perished." "Eban:" "Taxes on the land forced farmers into debt." "Irrigation and drainage works were neglected, fields abandoned." "People fled the cities for the wilderness." "The empire was rapidly depopulated." "By the middle of the third century, anarchy swept the roman world." "In the 50 years between 235 and 285," "Rome had 26 emperors, only one of whom died a natural death." "Rome teetered on the brink." "Then, at the end of the third century, one man turned back the tide of disaster, the emperor Diocletian." "He took strong measures to save what he could." "He abandoned Rome as the capitol for what he called military reasons." "He took the drastic step of dividing the empire into two, the eastern and the western Roman Empire." "He appointed a ruler of each to be called Augustus, each of them with a Caesar under him." "But these desperate measures could only postpone, they couldn't avert the collapse." "After the abdication of the emperor Diocletian, there took place a chaotic struggle for the succession." "The victor that emerged was Constantine, the son of one of the rulers whom Diocletian had appointed." "Constantine- one of the truly remarkable and complex figures of history." "A soldier, a statesman, both pragmatic and idealistic." "A story is told that on the eve of the battle that placed him in power," "Constantine had a vision." "In the sky he saw a cross and the words "in hoc vince"" ""through this, conquer"." "That is what he proceeded to do." "In a short time, the entire empire was under his control." "Over the years, Christians had remained steadfast and determined." "Their numbers had grown in the face of roman anarchy and repression." "Now, when Constantine needed dedicated support to rebuild the empire, he turned to the Christians for assistance." "He made Christianity his own religion, the Christian movement an ally of the state in reestablishing order throughout the roman world." "In the year 330, on the site of the ancient city of Byzantium, the emperor Constantine dedicated nova roma, New Rome, as eastern capital of the empire." "It was from New Rome, soon to be called Constantinople, that Constantine's successors were to reach out and force obedience to the state." "By the end of the 4th century, polytheism was all but outlawed, so, too, were certain forms of Christianity." "An imperial religion had to be universal- catholic." "It could not tolerate dissent." "Christian bishops, once victimized by police, soon were giving the police commands." "Man:" "Those persons who deviate, even in a minor point of doctrine, from the tenets of the catholic religion shall be considered heretics." "Second Man:" "Their polluted contagions shall be expelled from the cities and driven forth from the villages." "First Man:" "There shall be one catholic worship, one salvation." "Eban:" "Within this world, the Jewish people occupied a unique position." "Even after 200 years, the common roots of Christianity and Judaism were apparent to all." "Christians and Jews shared most of the same holy days." "Their religious services were parallel in many ways, with readings from the scriptures and psalms sung to "Jewish" music." "It is perhaps remarkable that the emperors did not outlaw Judaism altogether." "It was tolerated, but it was put in an inferior status." "Intermarriage between Christians and Jews was forbidden." "Conversion to Judaism was punishable by death." "Over the course of the following centuries, the imperial edicts grew harsher and the anti-Jewish laws more repressive." "But the empire was in its final stages of decline." "Roman border defenses were weakening." "In the final decades of the 4th century, a wave of people invaded from Asia." "The Hunni, they were called- the Huns." "Their hordes broke upon Europe, driving other tribes before them in terror." "Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Huns ravaged the Balkans from Italy to the Black Sea." "The eastern and western halves of the empire were isolated from each other." "The roman government was thrown into chaos." "Man:" "For 20 years and more, the blood of Romans has been shed daily between Constantinople and the Julian Alps." "Eban:" "These words are from a letter written in the year 396." "Man:" "Rome has to fight within her own borders not for glory but for bare life." "Rome's army, once victor and lord of the world, now trembles with terror at the sight of the foe." "The roman world is falling." "Eban:" "The city of Rome, itself, was besieged." "and in the year 410, it was sacked by the army of the Goths." "There was nothing left that could be called the Roman Empire." "Its eastern half withstood the onslaught and survived- but with a new identity and a new name, the Byzantine empire." "Its western half was fragmented and destroyed, broken into areas of rule that would eventually shape the map of modern Europe." "In provincial towns and villages, the natives no longer looked to faraway Rome." "They found whatever protection they could among themselves." "They ceased to be Romans and became instead franks, burgundians, britains- local peoples." "The one group that stood apart in this European world were the Jews." "In the few communities where they lived, they were considered roman citizens, living with the privileges and disabilities given them by a Rome that no longer existed" "A Rome whose only remaining representative was a bishop affectionately known as the "father"" "The pappa, the "pope"." "The great dome of St. Peter's dominates the roman sky." "But for more than 1,000 years before this cathedral ever existed, the bishops of Rome were a stabilizing influence in a turbulent and chaotic age." "Invaders and counter-invaders swept in waves across Italy." "They came and went, but the bishops of Rome remained." "Long after the roman emperors had fled, long after the senate had ceased to exist, long after one civil government after another had collapsed, the institution of the church remained." "And with it, there also remained the recollection of Rome as the capital of an empire." "As in the present time, the papacy had a great symbolic influence." "By this, I mean a capacity to exercise authority without coercive power." "But from 590 onward, the influence of the papacy became much more than symbolic." "It became tangible, it became political, it became temporal, because 590 was the date of the consecration of the great pope," "Gregory the great, Gregory the first." "Gregory came to power as the last vestige of roman rule slipped away in the west." "The bishops of far-off Constantinople could no longer enforce their will in Europe." "Theirs became the eastern orthodox faith." "In the west, Gregory guided the bishops of Christian Europe and helped to shape a catholic church based in Rome." "This was to be the central institution of European life, keeping alive the remnants of roman knowledge and culture in a time that would come to be known as the middle ages." "In the east, near the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, life continued, unaffected by the disasters that had struck imperial Rome." "While Rome struggled against wave upon wave of invasions, the Persian empire reached a golden age of art and culture." "Near the ancient city of Babylon was the major center of Jewish life in this day." "Half a million Jews maintained a presence began more than a 1,000 years before." "Here the descendants of the Jews deported by Nebuchadnezzar had established major centers of learning and rabbinic study." "The Jews of Babylonia shared in this rich culture, and they flourished." "In the Babylonian academies of Jewish learning, rabbis discussed and analyzed the ancient texts of their people." "They studied the Torah and the Mishnah." "Over the centuries, the discussions of the rabbis were remembered and passed on to later generations of students." "In Galilee, other academies of scholars carried on a similar process." "What resulted was a body of literature like no other ever produced." "The scholars in Galilee and Babylon created a monumental source of Jewish culture known as the Talmud." "They wrote commentaries on the Bible, and then commentaries on the commentaries, and then they commented on all of that." "And thus, they produced a rich, copious, voluble, chaotic, but vivid body of writing, containing literature, legend, and law." "a page of the Talmud in Hebrew and Aramaic goes on and on, forever, without any periods or commas or points of punctuation." "The Talmud cannot be read." "It has to be studied." "It has to be learned." "Study, learning- that is what the word Talmud means." "In form, the Talmud is a discussion of the Mishnah, which was produced in Galilee." "At the center is a passage from the Mishnah." "Surrounding it is a running dialogue of the rabbis' remarks and their arguments, along with stories, legends, and miscellaneous teachings." "There are precise legal discussions of ceremonial, civic, and moral duties." "There are maxims, popular proverbs, prayers, parables, and fables of Jewish and heathen folklore." "It is a storehouse of information on law, history, medicine and astronomy, on science and magic, on commerce and agriculture." "This very original and unsystematic way of teaching was described by one of the rabbis in a commentary on Genesis, Bra'shit Rabba." "I quote, "It is all like an impenetrable thicket of reeds." ""what does the clever man do?" ""he cuts a path and enters," ""and then he cuts more reeds and penetrates further." ""In the end, he has made a clearing, and others begin to enter by following his path. "" "The Talmud become an entire culture in itself and although one group of Jews, the Karaites, rejected its authority, for orthodox Jews everywhere, it became the central theme of life and thought unto this very day." "In the course of time, the study of the Talmud became consecrated as an act of virtue, a symbol of devotion to God." "The world of the Jews had grown by dispersion." "Their communities extended from Persia to Morocco and Spain, from Central Europe to the Sahara." "Their central idea had triumphed, the idea of the unity of God, and therefore, the coherence of nature and of human destiny." "That idea lived on in their biblical texts and Talmudic writings." "and through Christianity, it had become the normative principle of the Mediterranean world." "So Christians and Jews were in antagonism." "But between Judaism and Christianity, there was a deep underlying consensus about the purpose and direction of human destiny." "That consensus was now to be enlarged." "a vigorous militant assertion of it would spring out of the blazing desert sands of the Arabian peninsula." "Arabia- this arid land extended eastward beyond the reach of empires." "Across its wastes, caravans passed, carrying goods from India and Africa to the settled lands of the Mediterranean." "Its tribal people combined the worship of their ancient deities with Judaism and Christianity." "At the beginning of the 7th century in the city of Mecca in Arabia, a merchant named Muhammad had a vision." "In it, the angel Gabriel commanded him to spread word of the one God to all the Arab peoples." "In the streets and markets of Mecca, he called upon his listeners to submit utterly to the will of God." ""Islam", the new religion would be called, literally, "the submission"." "His preachings were rejected violently in Mecca, and after escaping a plot on his life in the year 622, he fled to the city of Medina." "Muhammad was not a man to be easily thwarted." "He collected an army of 10,000 men and marched to Mecca, which he conquered." "What now happened was almost beyond belief." "The armies of Muhammad and of his successors, the cholefah, as they were called, the caliphs, captured one after the other," "Damascus, Jerusalem, Egypt, Baghdad, Persia." "The armies of Islam fought their way to the gates of Byzantium before being stopped." "Throughout Asia Minor, Christian communities fled before the invincible sword of Islam." "The mountains of Cappadocia in modern Turkey still bear scars inflicted in that day." "Here, Christian refugees carved homes for themselves out of the raw rock of remote cliff sides." "Christianity, once the official religion of the entire Mediterranean, was forced into retreat." "Here, in a final hiding place, people of what had been the eastern Roman Empire found holy solace in the darkness of their caves." "A portion of the Byzantine empire would survive for centuries to come, but it had lost forever its sway over the southern and eastern Mediterranean." "The age that was now dawning would be known as the Arab age." "By the early 8th century, 100 years after the death of Muhammad, his faith, Islam, dominated vast areas from India all the way to Spain." "Across the transformed lands of Syria, Arabia, Egypt, and Persia, the successors of Muhammad sought to unite all men in a single community of Islam." "There was to be no priesthood, no hierarchy, no central capital." "The mosque, the place of worship, was to serve as the one gathering point for all men." "The adherents of this new faith would now scale great heights in literature, philosophy, art, architecture, and mathematics." "It is said that throughout his lifetime," "Muhammad spoke to his followers while in states of divine inspiration." "The words that he uttered were written down." "Eventually they would be collected into a single volume." "It would be known as the Koran, the sacred scriptures of Islam." "[man chanting in Arabic]" "Man:" "Come to prayer." "Come to prayer." "There is no God but the God." "There are 5 duties:" "prayer, almsgiving, fasting, the declaration of faith, and the pilgrimage to Mecca." "Eban:" "They are the 5 pillars of Islam." "5 times a day, the faithful turn towards Mecca, responding to the summons of the muezzin." "[speaking Arabic]" "There is no God but the God and Muhammad is his messenger." "By this central declaration of faith, the Muslim accepted all of the teachings of Muhammad and swore allegiance to the community of Islam." "It is written in the Koran..." "Man:" "We believe in God, and in that which has been sent down to us and sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and Jacob, and to the tribes, and that which was given to Moses and Jesus" "and the prophets of their lord;" "we make no division between any of them, and to him we surrender." "Eban:" "By the 8th century, 9 out of 10 Jews lived in the Islamic world." "Jewish communities from Persia in the east, across North Africa, to Spain in the west were linked by this international culture." "A new age was about to begin for the Jews of Arab lands." "With the conflict between Islam and the Byzantine empire," "Christian trade routes through Muslim lands were abandoned." "Until this time, the Jews had been known primarily as craftsmen- metalworkers, jewelers, dyers..." "Now, Jewish merchants gained prominence." "It was they who took over the trade routes that the Christians left behind." "Jewish merchants were the only ones permitted to travel freely in both Islamic and Christian lands." "More and more they dealt in goods, in cities that flourished along the caravan routes of North Africa and the Near East." "Already, there were Jewish settlements in countries ringing the Mediterranean." "Merchants traveling between them relied upon this communities for assistance and support." "The Jews of these communities benefited, in turn, from the trade the merchants brought them." "Step by step, working with their kinsmen, they established commercial ties between east and west, creating an international trade that linked the expanding territory of Islam with parts of the world as distant as England, India, and China." "Never before had Jews found themselves in such a position." "The effects of their new prosperity and prominence were to be far-reaching." "In the land of Spain, now under Islamic rule," "Jews joined enthusiastically with Muslims in developing what would become one of the great ages of Jewish and Islamic life." "Jews would share in the government, the scholarship, the arts and sciences of this new world." "To the north, Christian Europe was about to burst forth with creative energy, drawing upon the resources and scholarship of Jews from Mediterranean lands." "A new chapter of history for the Jews and for all the world was about to unfold;" "a chapter to be written on the continent of Europe." "800 years before, the Jews had seen their land destroyed, but they, themselves had persevered." "They had endured because their sense of purpose as a people remained undimmed." "They had adapted to life without a land of their own, and they had preserved their customs as an act of devotion to the one God, the God whose covenant in Sinai they still remembered, the God whose nature they still proclaimed to all the world." "800 years had witnessed the rise and fall of empires." "they had witnessed the changing fortunes of individual men and of entire peoples." "But throughout this period, one thing had survived and advanced with inevitable force:" "the belief in one God and in a moral law that applied to all mankind." "Starting as the unique concept of the Jewish people, it had come to be accepted in varying forms by most peoples throughout the Mediterranean region." "The paradox was that although Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were united by profound ethical and spiritual convictions, these 3 great religions remained in competition, sometimes in bitter competition, as the brilliant and troubled times of the Middle Ages" "would soon demonstrate."