Historians don't call it that, for pretty much this reason. Edit: Had to double check to confirm, but the phrase doesn't have to do with morals or science anyway. The people who started using that term simply meant that we don't have many surviving records from that time. Which is beside the point, but still.
There are recorded superstitions. Often local medicine women and midwives were put to death as "witches" by the Church. The Church killed anyone who was pagan or went against its dictate.
Which sucks, but isn't the same as racial bigotry based on skin color in the modern sense, which appears to be what you were alluding to. Edit: Double checked, eeep, neglected to quote far enough back in my first comment. Still, we're back to "The view that things just get worse the further back in time you go cannot be supported".
Edit again: It took me about half an hour, because I got distracted, but I have confirmed what I thought when I first read your comment - burnings of suspected "witches", heretics, and others is primarily something we see in the modern period, peaking during the Reformation. Protestants were much more enthusiastic about witch-burnings than Catholics. The Inquisitions in Spain and Portugal, iirc (not double checking because this isn't the medieval period and therefore isn't relevant) were more worried about Jews.
no subject
Historians don't call it that, for pretty much this reason. Edit: Had to double check to confirm, but the phrase doesn't have to do with morals or science anyway. The people who started using that term simply meant that we don't have many surviving records from that time. Which is beside the point, but still.
There are recorded superstitions. Often local medicine women and midwives were put to death as "witches" by the Church. The Church killed anyone who was pagan or went against its dictate.
Which sucks, but isn't the same as racial bigotry based on skin color in the modern sense, which appears to be what you were alluding to. Edit: Double checked, eeep, neglected to quote far enough back in my first comment. Still, we're back to "The view that things just get worse the further back in time you go cannot be supported".
Edit again: It took me about half an hour, because I got distracted, but I have confirmed what I thought when I first read your comment - burnings of suspected "witches", heretics, and others is primarily something we see in the modern period, peaking during the Reformation. Protestants were much more enthusiastic about witch-burnings than Catholics. The Inquisitions in Spain and Portugal, iirc (not double checking because this isn't the medieval period and therefore isn't relevant) were more worried about Jews.
The Romans crucified people prior to AD.
That's not the Middle Ages, and not relevant.