They lived in a dark age where they were guided in bigotry and were devoid of reason. They had no respect for anything.
We live in such a dark time today we could learn from there enlightened example.
Their treatment of women was criminal. It was all about power and money and if you didn't have any you were toast.
It is interesting how many people will talk about those who proceeded us. Some look up to them and some look down to them but in reality they were just people. They had the same range of emotions that we have the same opportunity for greatness or failure. Technologies stay the same but the heart really remains the same. That is why there is so much to learn from their successes and failures if we just look at them as individuals with the same potential that we have.