Wow, an interesting thread, really!
I think this might be a very interesting topic if we dig deeper into it, but we have to start somewhere. The classification you did seems just fine: very good, both of you, I agree with all you said about the late Númenor resembling Roman Empire in its latter days, as well as the ancient cultures. And I like very much the "Charles the Great" comparison, Macalaure
To the Dark Ages thing - here your opinions seem to differ a little bit; perhaps I might add my own little bit. I'm leaving out what do we imagine under the term "Dark Ages" and I'm totally leaving out what Tolkien thought about the Dark Ages, since this would be sufficent for a whole thread
But generally, I think we might find a "dark age" in the Middle-Earth: you are right that Gondor and Arnor followed Númenor very closely, but you are forgetting about Angmar and the fall of Arnor. I think at least Rhudaur and the lands south of Baranduin had their "dark ages" in very similar way as we know them. Well, more or less.
What I think I have more to add to is the taking of First and Second age. I agree with assigning the, how elempi says, "pre-historic" cultures to the First Age. Nevertheless, I am not quite sure of the Old Testament times, as elempi assigns it to Second Age and Macalaure to the First Age. From my point of view, you are both right. If you consider the first civilizations in the Fertile Crescent, you'd assign most of them to the First Age. We always had two very significant civilisations in here from the beginning: the Egypt and the Mesopotamia in general (represented by various bigger state formations) which were important in the "global" sense (them being the centers of the world of that time), and between them the little and insignificant nations, also the nation of Israel from some time. Each of these nations had a "cultic nature" at that time - and they relied on it very much. As Tolkien wanted (he himself says it), we don't have any signs of "cultic age" between the Middle-Earth's nations. But we have the similarities to these cultures (btw - I just noticed, how do the words "cult" and "culture" fit together?
), as elempi said, "with its readiness to punish with death, its ready correlation of word to deed, its oaths, its remoteness, and other aspects". The Old Testament, I think, is the connection between this and the following age. Genesis? Definitely First Age. Typical. Exodus? Still the First Age. But starting with the history of Israel's cognition of their God, the remoteness ends. These are not just myths like Gilgamesh and the other ones. Israel recognizes the world not just as a place where unknown higher forces play their games with mortals, but they find their own place in the world. Yes, many things remain or change but slowly, but the nation has something more now. It knows that their God cares for them for sure - and none of the surrounding nations had this, their gods came and gone. This is much like the Númenorean age: the people of Edain also had became closer to the Powers, they were not remote from them as they used to be. Thus, this is not just First, but also the Second Age. Númenor is definitely Old Testament for me - the era of Kings, the priesthood (! we have no other mentionings of something like priesthood or rites except on Númenor), you could track the history of Númenor with its ups and downs not just in its resemblance of the Roman Empire but also with the ups and downs of Israel with dark times when they strayed away from the paths of their God (when there always just a part of the nation remained untouched - you could track this as far as the foundation of Arnor and Gondor).
Speaking of the rites in both Old Testament and Númenor, one example for all (Unfinished Tales, A Description of the Island of Númenor):
Quote:
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Near to the centre of the Mittalmar stood the tall mountain called the Meneltarma, Pillar of the Heavens, sacred to the worship of Eru Ilúvatar. (...) Thrice only in each year the King spoke, offering prayer for the coming year at the Erukyermë in the first days of spring, praise of Eru Ilúvatar at the Erulaitalë in midsummeer, and thanksgiving to him at the Eruhantalë at the end of autumn.
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Compare with Exodus 23,14-18, orders given to Moses:
Quote:
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty)
And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
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I can imagine more rites like this existing at Númenor, thus, I'd assign the old Israel (who had the Torah - the patriarchs of course would not) to the Second Age. But Genesis with all the tales of creation and all the "first-time-model" tales, as well as the history of the exodus from Egypt which to me resembles the final episodes of the First Age like Eärendil&co., would be mirrored in Tolkien's world in the First Age.