Oh yes, the Saudis are fascist shits that impose their uncivilised cruelty only because they sit on a lot of oil. I was going to say medieval cruelty, but the middle ages did'nt invent cruelty, in fact the so called 'dark ages' were a lot less dark than we like to think ! The Roman civilisation was flourishing in the Eastern empire, and the Western remnants were still a haven of culture and learning, just slowly fading as the power moved to Venice, which is a fair old step from Rome, but Venice had the advantage of being a seaport, and as trade grew in importance, land-locked cities declined. Just look at the most important city of modern times - London !