WESTERN CIVILIZATION VOL. 1 FROM THE ORIGINS OF CIVILIZATION TO THE AGE OF ABSOLUTISM

The first volume of Perspectives on Western Civilization, covering the Neolithic Revolution through the early modern era, explores the major values which have come to define the civilization of the West. This innovative collection, using extensive selections from both primary and secondary literature, concentrates on the forms of everyday life and the various ways in which the good or righteous life has come to be defined in the course of this complex and multilayered civilization. Part 1covers ancient Sumeria, Egypt, and Israel and the formation of basic symbols and myths which underlay the civilization, followed by a discussion of the highly political world of the Greeks and Romans -- and the rise of Christianity within this world. Part 2 shows how a distinctive Christian civilization of the European Middle Ages developed out of the values of other-worldliness and ascetic ideals. In Part 3, the conflicts and continuities in late medieval civilization are traced through the early modern period, from the Renaissance to the development of the absolutist state.