Following the end of the Classical Age came the Dark Ages, an appellation given by the Renaissance scholar Petrarch. To capture this stagnant period the setting is nighttime, but that is not to say that there are no luminaries at work – such as Bede the Venerable and Bruriah the Scribe. While this period is oft labeled as a Dark Age in European history, it was, however, a high time for the Byzantine Empire, as evidenced by Hagia Sophia, and for others, this period was marked by the life of the prophet Muhammad and the subsequent Islamic Golden Age.
