Civilization in the West. Volume I To 1715

Synopsis

Introduction: The Idea of Western Civilization. 1. The First Civilizations. Otzi''s Last Meal: Life and Death in Prehistoric Europe. Before Civilization. The Dominance of Culture. Social Organization, Agriculture, and Religion. Mesopotamia: Between the Two Rivers. The Ramparts of Uruk. Tools: Technology and Writing. Gods and Mortals in Mesopotamia. Sargon and Mesopotamian Expansion. Hammurabi and the Old Babylonian Empire. The Gift of the Nile. Tending the Cattle of God. Democratization of the Afterlife. The Egyptian Empire. Religious and Royal Consolidation under Akhenaten. Between Two Worlds. The Hebrew Alternative. A King Like All the Nations. Exile. Nineveh and Babylon. A Closer Look: Discovering the Pharaohs. Documents: The Code of Hammurabi. A Homesick Egyptian. The Kingdom of Israel. 2. Early Greece, 2500-500 B.C.E. Hecuba and Achilles: The Birth of Greek Civilization. Greece in the Bronze Age to 700 B.C.E. Islands of Peace. Mainland of War. The Dark Age. Archaic Greece, 700-500 B.C.E. Ethnos and Polis. Technology of Writing and Warfare. Colonists and Tyrants. Gender and Power. Gods and Mortals. Myth and Reason. Investigation and Speculation. Art and the Individual. A Tale of Three Cities. Wealthy Corinth. Martial Sparta. Democratic Athens. The Coming of Persia and the End of the Archaic Age. A Closer Look: The Agony of Athletics. Documents: Hector and Andromache. The Race of Iron. Two Faces of Tyranny. 3. Classical and Hellenistic Greece, 500-100 B.C.E. Alexander at Issus: The Spread of Greek Civilization. War and Politics in the Fifth Century B.C.E. The Persian Wars. Themopylae and Salamis. The Athenian Empire. Private and Public Life in Athens. Pericles and Athens. The Peloponnesian War. Athenian Culture in the Hellenic Age. The Examined Life. Understanding the Past. Athenian Drama. The Human Image. From City-States to Macedonian Empire, 404-323 B.C.E. Politics After the Peloponnesian War. Philosophy and the Polis. The Rise of Macedon. The Empire of Alexander the Great. The Hellenistic World. Urban Life and Culture. Alexandria. Hellenistic Literature. Art and Architecture. Hellenistic Philosophy. Mathematics and Science. A Closer Look: Technology and Innovation. Documents: The Two Faces of Athenian Democracy. Socrates the Gadfly. Greeks and Barbarians. Alexander Calls a Halt. 4. Early Rome and the Roman Republic, 800-146 B.C.E. Eternal Rome: From Village to Empire. The Western Mediterranean to 509 B.C.E. Merchants of Baal. The Western Greeks. Italy''s First Civilization. From City to Empire, 509-146 B.C.E. Latin Rome. Etruscan Rome. Rome and Italy. Rome and the Mediterranean. Republican Civilization. Farmers and Soldiers. The Roman Family. Social Effects of Expansion. Roman Religion. Republican Letters. The Crisis of Roman Virtue. A Closer Look: Hannibal''s Elephants. Documents: The Twelve Tables. Polybius Describes the Sack of New Carthage. Cato''s Slaves. 5. Imperial Rome, 146 B.C.E.-C.E. 192. The Altar of Augustan Peace: The Making of the Roman Empire. The Price of Empire. Winners and Losers. Optimates and Populares. The End of the Republic. The Crisis of Government. The Civil Wars. A Life Worth Leading. The Augustan Age and the Pax Romana. The Empire Renewed. Augustus''s Successors. Religions from the East. Jewish Resistance. The Origins of Christianity. Geographical Tour: A Tour of the Empire. The Western Provinces. The Eastern Provinces. The Culture of Antonine Rome. A Closer Look: A Day in the Pax Romana. Documents: The Reforms of Tiberius Gracchus. Cicero on Justice and Reason. Peter Announces the Good News. 6. The Transformation of The Classical World. A Bride''s Trousseau: The Marriage of Christianity and the Classical Tradition. The Crisis of the Third Century. Enrich the Army and Scorn the Rest. An Empire on the Defensive. The Barbarian Menace. Roman Influence in the Barbarian World. The Empire Restored. Diocletian the God-Emperor. Constantine the Emperor of God. The Triumph of Christianity. Imperial Christianity. Divinity, Humanity, and Salvation. The Call of the Desert. Monastic Communities. Solitaries and Hermits. A Parting of the Ways. The Barbarization of the West. The New Barbarian Kingdoms. The Hellenization of the East. A Closer Look: The Stainless Star of Wisdom''s Discipline. Documents: Tacitus on the Germans. Religious Toleration and Persecution. Love in the Two Cities. 7. The Classical Legacy in The East: Byzantium and Islam. From Temple to Mosque: The Continuity of Civilization in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Byzantines. Justinian and the Creation of the Byzantine State. Emperors and Individuals. Families and Villages. A Foretaste of Heaven. Iconoclasm. The Rise of Islam. Arabia Before the Prophet. Muhammad, Prophet of God. The Triumph of Islam. The Spread of Islam. The Islamic Conquest. Authority and Government in Islam. Umayyad and ''Abbasid Calphates. Islamic Civilization. The Byzantine Apogee and Decline 1000-1453. The Disintegration of the Empire. The Conquests of Constantinople and Baghdad. A Closer Look: Harems and Gynaiconites. Documents: The Justinian Code. The Qur''an. An Arab''s View of Western Medicine. 8. The West in the Early Middle Ages, 500-900. The Chapel at the Waters: The Western Empire Reborn. The Making of the Barbarian Kingdoms, 500-750. Italy: From Ostrogoths to Lombards. Visigothic Spain: Intolerance and Destruction. The Anglo-Saxons: From Pagan Conquerors to Christian Missionaries. The Franks: An Enduring Legacy. Living in the New Europe. Creating the European Peasantry. Rural Households. Creating the European Aristocracy. Aristocratic Lifestyle. Governing Europe. The Carolingian Achievement. Charlemagne and the Renewal of the West. The Carolingian Renaissance. Carolingian Government. Carolingian Art. Geographical Tour: Europe in the Ninth Century. England. Scandinavia. The Slavic World. Muslim Spain. After the Carolingians: From Empire to Lordships. Disintegration of the Empire. Emergence of France and Germany. Cluny. A Closer Look: The Jews in the Early Middle Ages. Documents: Two Missionaries. From Slave to Queen. Charlemagne and the Arts. 9. The High Middle Ages. The Royal Tombs at Fontevrault: A Queen and Her Kings. The Countryside. The Peasantry: Serfs and Freemen. The Aristocracy: Warriors and Heiresses. The Church: Saints and Monks. Crusaders: Soldiers of God. Medieval Towns. Italian Cities. Northern Towns. The Fairs of Champagne.