Throughout the recorded history of the Mediterranean, historians have observed multiple changes and continuities in culture due to several political transformations between 200 and 1000 CE. Some of the political transformations include the split between Western Rome and Eastern Rome c. 280 CE, Constantine’s adoption of Christianity in 312 CE, the fall of Western Roman in 476 CE, and the schism of the Christian Church into Western Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox in 1054 CE. Cultural changes of the Mediterranean World between 200 and 1000 CE that resulted from important political transformations were the Great Schism of Christianity, the increase of conversions to Christianity and the change of architecture, …show more content…
Some of their disagreements were over the Pope’s authority, the addition of “and the son” to the Nicene Creed, and the celibacy of priests. Before the split of the church, both the West and the East were under one church, Christianity. The Pope had authority over the West and the four Patriarchs of the East had authority over the East. However, there were always many conflicts between the two sides. After the split, there were two new churches, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. The Eastern Orthodox Church severed all ties with the Roman Catholic Church. After the split, both churches could do whatever they wanted, so there were no more conflicts and ordinary Christians went about their life. A similar schism occurred in Islam in the same time period. After Muhammad’s death in 632 CE, there were succession problems. Some muslims thought Abu Bakr was a good successor to Muhammad, while other Muslims thought Ali should have become caliph instead of Bakr. This caused the split of Islam into Sunni and Shia, Sunni are Muslims who favor Bakr, while Shia are the ones who favor Ali. Just as Christianity in Rome was split in half, so