Antiquity	Middle Ages	Renaissance
Religion	Ancient polytheisms.	Christianity (Roman Catholic) dominant in Western Europe; Jewish minority; Islam dominant in Middle East and northern Africa.	Christianity still dominant in Western Europe, but Roman Catholic monopoly broken up by Protestant Reformation.
Education	Mostly private, partly government-run.	Mostly run by Christian (RC) Church.	No longer dominated by Church.
Language	Latin and Greek.	Latin dominates for “high culture,” education, etc. early; vernaculars become increasingly important. Latin remains alive for intellectuals, continuously evolving.	Latin remains important, but no longer dominant. Intellectuals begin to regard the Latin of the Middle Ages as inferior to the Latin of Antiquity.
Literacy	Upper class people are expected to be not only literate, but well educated; tradespeople and artisans, military officers are often literate. Masses are illiterate.	In early MA, literacy is almost limited to men of the Church, upper class lay people are not expected to read and write. Literacy increases throughout the period.	After invention of printing ca. 1450, literacy begins to increase more rapidly, though it does not reach modern levels until late 19^th or early 20^th century.
Technology of writing.	Manuscript era (mainly papyrus roll).	Manuscript era (mainly parchment codex).	Print era.
Governance.	Roman Empire dominates Europe and entire Mediterranean world.	Europe defines itself as separate from Middle East and N Africa. Feudal system.	Feudal system is replaced by modern concept of territorial state.
Truth source.	Observation and human reason; variety of philosophical systems.	Authority; ultimately divine authority.	Observation and human reason.
Model for arts.	Art represents reality, though often idealized reality.	Art is more concerned to convey meanings than to represent reality.	Art represents reality, though often idealized reality.