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[Ultimatejoe]

At some point in one of the various Homosexual Marriage threads on the forum someone identied 5000 years of Western Culture and got this confused with the Judeo-Christian history. This got me thinking? [Matthew Perry]Could we be more wrong?[/Matthew Perry] Personally, I am tired of people making this mistake... however for some it is not a mere oversight.

Western History can be traced back to Hellenism, the expansion of GREEK culture throughout the Mediterranean, Egypt and the Middle East up to about 240 BCE (by which time Rome supplanted Hellenic institutions in most of these areas.)

From Hellenism came Roman culture; which gave birth to Christianity around the first century AD, and despite certain trials and tribulations; Christianity has unfortunately taken hold. Before Jesus walked the earth Judaism was not a profoundly important cultural influence on Western history. At best, "western" culture (unless you consider militarism, sodomy, slave ownership and the City State hallmarks of said culture) has existed for no more than 1900 years.

Why then do we treat Christianity and this "Western" culture as something that has been dominant far longer?