One of Rome’s foundational myths centers on the dangers of unvirtuous women. In Virgil’s Aeneid, the Trojan Aeneas (who would come to found Rome later on) fell in love with a Carthaginian woman, . Aeneas’s lover, also called Elyssa, begged Aeneas to stay with her in Carthage forever. However, Aeneas’s true duty was to take his people away from Carthage and to found Rome. When Aeneas chose his duty over love, this Carthaginian woman cursed him and vowed that Carthage would give birth to an avenging spirit to destroy Aeneas and Rome. This woman’s attempts to obstruct her lover from his duty came to serve as the antithesis of the virtuous Roman woman.

The complicated political relations between England and France were exacerbated when the Norman, William the Conqueror, defeated Harold Godwinson at in 1066 and claimed the English throne (essentially giving control of the English kingdom to a Frenchman). William was fortunate, as Harold Godwinson’s army had been depleted during a major battle against his brother and Norway’s King Harald Hardrada in the previous weeks.

Muslim societies were polygynist (meaning that one man could marry multiple wives) and the Qur’an specified that a man could marry as many as four wives (in practice, many Muslim elites far exceeded that limit). After the first generation or so of Muslims, many societies borrowed a Persian and Eastern custom of secluding the wives of an elite married man into a secure location called a . While the man’s first wife tended to be free of this system, his other wives would remain forever secluded in their women’s quarters. The elite Muslim husband would visit this site for conjugal visits, but aside from his romantic visits, the women would never see another man aside from eunuchs (castrated males) who would guard the women.

The greatest division in Muslim history came with the Sunni-Shi’a Schism. The disagreement centered on the differences between the Shi’a – supporters of Ali who believed that the caliph must be a blood descendent of the Prophet Muhammad. The other group, the Sunni, emphasized the primacy of the Sunna (examples from Muhammad’s life) and stressed that the caliph did not necessarily have to descend from Muhammad. The Sunni faction was led by . Ali was assassinated (likely under orders of this figure) and this Sunni leader became caliph. This marked the end of the Rashidun Caliphate and the beginning of the Umayyad Caliphate.

Although Egyptian pharaohs were predominantly male, a handful of women ascended to the Egyptian throne (often having to display themselves with male features in art and iconography in order to justify their rule). Perhaps the most famous female Egyptian pharaoh was . She ruled as regent for her stepson, Thutmose III (who later tried to erase any record of her ever having ruled). During her reign she emphasized trading, sponsored artists and architects, and oversaw the building of a magnificent structure at Deir el Bahri.

Under the system of feudalism, vassals would be awarded for their service with a fiefdom – usually a landed estate known as a manor. The economic power of the warrior class rested on this manorial system, and peasants often worked the fields under a system known as manorialism. Commoners who were personally free but were bound to the land and unable to leave were known as .

One of the best examples of Hellenistic artwork was . In this sculpture, the Greek values of human dignity and emotion are on full display.

Muslim rule in Medieval India practiced a form of accommodation with many Indian customs and religions. For example, Hindus came to be viewed as protected peoples (alongside Christians and Jews) and non-Muslims could live peacefully (though in separate spheres) alongside Muslims by paying an additional tax for non-Muslims called the .

An Ancient Indian cosmological concept known as was the idea of the reincarnation of souls by the continual process of rebirth. This concept was used by Ancient Indian religions such as Brahmanism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

Part of the High Middle Ages in Europe, was a revival of Christian thought, the developments of Gothic art and architecture, and a literary flowering of epics, poems, and romances. It was characterized by the construction of Gothic Cathedrals, the rise of universities, the development of scholasticism, the growth of towns, and a variety of intellectual developments