Illustrations of history

One thing that's always resonated with me is the comparison of the Greek Dark Age (1200-800 BCE) with the later European Dark Ages (~500- ~1000 AD, though both the term and the exact range are extremely contentious).

In the Greek Dark Age, there was considerable technological innovation and advancement - but the organized polities of the period had fallen apart so totally that the surviving societies cannibalized the works of their predecessors and sometimes regarded the achievements of their ancestors as outright mythical or impossible to replicate by human hands. Organization makes many seemingly-impossible things possible.

Likewise, in the European Dark Ages, there was considerable technological innovation and advancement - but the Roman Empire had fallen apart so totally that the surviving societies cannibalized its works and sometimes regarded its achievements as outright mythical or impossible to replicate by human hands.

It really is a post-apocalypse society. Fascinating stuff.

A lot of it did survive during the Byzantine era and big industrial projects such as harbours and bridges were still being built. People would have kept it and maintained it but the black plague and famine destroyed the population and economy. These ancient megaprojects need a large population to maintain and a lot of money, neither of which was available.