So, hopefully, I can explain what I'm trying to ask accurately. I'm fascinated by ancient Rome and it always seems that we're finding out about new things from back in that period. I'm just wondering how much societies knew about ancient Rome, its people, its history, its stories, etc. throughout the period after its collapse and up until modern time.
Did European, Middle Eastern, African societies (or others) always have a great record, memory, etc. of what ancient Rome was like or did it fall into complete obscurity for centuries??
Did different societies have completely different knowledge of that ancient civilisation and their technology, etc. or was it all much the same knowledge that was passed on (or not)?
Cheers.
I can recommend some earlier threads on here about the knowledge of Ancient Rome in the Middle Ages.
Most recently, u/J-Force and u/qed1 (with myself asking some follow-up questions further down) discussed the mediaeval perception of ancient history and what sources they would have used in this thread. Our u/sunagainstgold (here) and u/toldinstone (here) have written about what people in the Middle Ages thought of the city of Rome and its ruins. The latter of these has also discussed the Byzantine view of their past in these two answers, and in this one where u/WelfOnTheShelf also makes a great contribution. Furthermore there are two older threads in our FAQ that are also worth reading, this by u/qed1 and this by u/bitparity.
I hope this is of use to you! Further answers are very appreciated, of course