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      ISBN 978-0-393-93287-4

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Perspectives from the Past

Primary Sources in Western Civilizations: From the Ancient Near East through the Age of Absolutism

Overview | Contents | Editions | Formats
 

    Preface for Instructors

    Preface for Students

    Where to Begin?

    CHAPTER 1 THE ORIGINS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATIONS

    1. “Prehistory”: Neolithic Remains from Tell as-Sultan (Jericho)
    2. from Atrahasis: An Account of the Great Flood
    3. from The Epic of Gilgamesh
    4. TWO IMAGES OF SUMERIAN RULERSHIP (C. 2480 B.C.E.)
    5. Laws from Ancient Mesopotamia
    6. from Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Urim
    7. Letters of Royal Women of the Old Babylonian Period
    8. from The Instructions of Ptah-hotep
    9. THE NARMER PALETTE (C. 3100 B.C.E.)
    10. The Story of Sinuhe
    11. from The Book of the Dead
    12. Harper’s Songs

    CHAPTER 2 GODS AND EMPIRES IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

    1. Akhenaton’s Hymn to the Aton
    2. A Letter from Tell el-Amarna
    3. THE EGYPTIAN KING AND SUBJECT PEOPLES (C. 1380 B.C.E.)
    4. from The Letters of Deir el-Medina
    5. CARGO FROM THE ULU BURUN SHIPWRECK (C. 1300 B.C.E.)
    6. EGYPTIAN BATTLE WITH THE SEA PEOPLES (C. 1150 B.C.E.)
    7. from The Book of Ezekiel: Phoenician Trade in the Hebrew Bible
    8. from The Book of I Kings: Solomon’s Construction of Yahweh’s Temple in Jerusalem
    9. from The Annals of Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria
    10. THE ASSYRIAN ATTACK ON LACHISH (701 B.C.E.)
    11. Herodotus from The Histories: Customs of the Persians
    12. from The Torah: Laws
    13. from The Book of Amos: Prophecies
    14. from The Book of Jeremiah: Prophecies
    15. from The Book of Isaiah: Prophecies
    16. An Aramaic Letter from Elephantine

    CHAPTER 3 THE GREEK EXPERIMENT

    1. Homer from The Odyssey
    2. ORIGINS OF THE GREEK ALPHABET (C. 500 B.C.E.)
    3. Hesiod from Works and Days
    4. Spartan Society and Values
    5. Hippocrates from “On Airs, Waters, and Places”
    6. Herodotus from The Histories: The Second Persian Invasion of Greece
    7. Thucydides from The Peloponnesian Wars
    8. Xenophon from Oeconomicus
    9. Sophocles from Antigone
    10. VASE DEPICTING A SLAVE (C. 450 B.C.E.)
    11. Plato from “Apology”

    CHAPTER 4 THE EXPANSION OF GREECE

    1. Plato from The Republic
    2. Aristotle from Politics
    3. Isocrates from “Panegyricus”
    4. Plutarch from “Life of Alexander”
    5. ERATOSTHENES’ MAP OF THE WORLD (C. 200 B.C.E.)
    6. HELLENISTIC ARCHITECTURE IN THE NEAR EAST (C. 175 C.E.)
    7. from The First Book of Maccabees
    8. Epicurus Principal Doctrines
    9. Lucretius from On the Nature of Things
    10. Epictetus from The Manual: Stoicism
    11. Hellenistic Authors Short Poems

    CHAPTER 5 ROMAN CIVILIZATION

    1. from The Twelve Tables
    2. Plutarch from Lives
    3. Diodorus Siculus from On Slavery in the Later Republic
    4. Cicero from On the Laws
    5. Juvenal from The Sixteen Satires
    6. A SCENE FROM A ROMAN-ERA ITALIAN HARBOR (C. 80 C.E.)
    7. Ovid from The Loves
    8. Apuleius from The Golden Ass
    9. Columella Management of a Large Estate
    10. Josephus from The Jewish War
    11. Tacitus from Germania
    12. A MUMMY FROM THE TIME OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (100 C.E.)

    CHAPTER 6 CHRISTIANITY AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ROMAN WORLD

    1. from The Gospel of Matthew
    2. Constantine from An Oration
    3. from The Theodosian Code: Roman Law
    4. SAN PAOLO FUORI LE MURI, ROME (C. 385 C.E.)
    5. Ignatius of Antioch Letter to the Romans
    6. The Martyrdom of Polycarp
    7. St. Benedict from The Rule
    8. Ammianus Marcellinus from The History
    9. Gregory of Tours from History of the Franks
    10. St. Augustine from City of God and Confessions
    11. MOSAICS OF JUSTINIAN AND THEODORA, CHURCH OF SAN VITA, RAVENNA (C. 500 C.E.)

    CHAPTER 7 ROME’S THREE HEIRS: THE BYZANTINE, ISLAMIC, AND EARLY MEDIEVAL WORLDS

    1. Procopius from Secret History
    2. from Digenis Akritis
    3. Muhammad from The Qur’an
    4. al-Ṭabarī from The History
    5. DOME OF THE ROCK, JERUSALEM (C. 690 C.E.)
    6. Bede from A History of the English Church and People
    7. from The Lombard Laws: Rothair’s Edict
    8. Einhard from The Life of Charlemagne
    9. VISION OF THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM (C. 900 C.E.)
    10. Monastic Clamors, Curses, and Excommunications
    11. “The Wanderer”: Anglo-Saxon Poetry
    12. from Egil’s Saga: Viking Literature

    CHAPTER 8 THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE: ECONOMY, SOCIETY, AND POLITICS IN THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES, 1000–1300

    1. The Charter of Liberties for St. Omer
    2. from The Anonymous Treatise on Husbandry
    3. Medieval Commercial Contracts and Reports
    4. Anna Comnena from The Alexiad
    5. from The Anonymous Mainz Account
    6. The Magna Carta: English Constitutional Law
    7. Jean de Joinville from The Life of Saint Louis
    8. ILLUMINATED BIBLE, FRANCE (C. 1230)
    9. EKKEHARD AND UTA, NAUMBERG CATHEDRAL STATUES (C. 1250)
    10. from Las Siete Partidas: Castilian Law Code
    11. THE MEDIEVAL SEXUAL DECISION-MAKING PROCESS (C. 1275)

    CHAPTER 9 THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES: RELIGIOUS AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENTS, 1000–1300

    1. Gregory VII “To Herman of Metz, in Defense of the Papal Policy toward Henry IV”
    2. Pope Boniface VIII Papal Bull Unam Sanctam
    3. from Interrogation of Beatrice of Planisolles
    4. SALISBURY CATHEDRAL (1258) WITH SPIRE (1330)
    5. from Carmina Burana
    6. St. Francis from The Rule of 1223 and The Testament
    7. Hildegard of Bingen Letter to the Clergy of Mainz
    8. GOLD AND SILVER JEWELED BOOK COVER WEINGARTEN ABBEY, GERMANY (C. 1200–1232)
    9. Stephen of Bourbon from On the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit
    10. Jacobus de Voragine from The Golden Legend
    11. St. Thomas Aquinas from Summa Theologica
    12. from The Poem of the Cid

    CHAPTER 10 THE LATER MIDDLE AGES, 1300–1500

    1. Ibn Khaldûn from The Muqaddimah
    2. Giovanni Boccaccio from The Decameron
    3. THE TRIUMPH OF DEATH (C. 1340)
    4. Geoffrey Chaucer from The Canterbury Tales
    5. Jan Hus from The Church
    6. Dante Alighieri from The Divine Comedy
    7. Christine de Pisan from The Book of the City of Ladies
    8. THE ARNOLFINI MARRIAGE (1434)
    9. from The Trial of Jeanne d’Arc
    10. The Distribution of Wealth in Tuscany in 1427
    11. Pope Pius II from Commentaries

    CHAPTER 11 COMMERCE, CONQUEST, AND COLONIZATION, 1300–1600

    1. William of Rubruck from On the Mongols
    2. Ibn Battuta from The Travels
    3. Doukas from Decline and Fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks
    4. Aşikpaşazade from History of the House of Osman
    5. “The Tale of the White Cowl”: A Russian Tale
    6. Alvise da Mosto Voyage to Africa
    7. Christopher Columbus Letter on His First Voyage
    8. SAPI-PORTUGUESE SALT CELLAR (C. 1500)
    9. Manuel I “The Letter Which the King, Our Lord,Wrote to the King and Queen of Castile, His Kin, Concerning the News of India”
    10. CONQUEST OF MEXICO, FLORENTINE CODEX (C. 1555)

    CHAPTER 12 THE CIVILIZATION OF THE RENAISSANCE, c. 1350–1550

    1. Leon Battista Alberti from I Libri della Famiglia
    2. Benvenuto Cellini from The Autobiography
    3. Giorgio Vassari from The Lives of the Artists
    4. Leonardo da Vinci from The Notebooks
    5. DRAWING OF A WOMAN’S TORSO
    6. Baldesar Castiglione from The Book of the Courtier
    7. PORTRAIT OF POPE LEO X AND TWO CARDINALS (1518)
    8. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola from “Oration on the Dignity of Man”
    9. Niccolò Machiavelli from The Prince
    10. Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam from Ten Colloquies
    11. Sir Thomas More from Utopia
    12. Marguerite de Navarre from The Heptameron
    13. Leo Africanus from “The Book of Grenada”

    CHAPTER 13 REFORMATIONS OF RELIGION

    1. Martin Luther 95 Theses
    2. Martin Luther from The Large Catechism, 1530
    3. “Statement of Grievances,” Diet of Worms, 1521
    4. THE GODLY MILL (1521)
    5. from The Trial of Klaus Hottinger of Zurich: Iconoclasm
    6. Sebastian Lotzer The Twelve Articles of the Peasants of Swabia
    7. THE ECSTASY OF ST. TERESA (1652)
    8. Katharina Schütz Zell from “Letter to Sir Caspar Schwenckfeld”
    9. John Calvin from Draft of Ecclesiastical Ordinances, September and October 1541
    10. John Calvin from Catechism of the Church of Geneva, Being a Form of Instruction for Children in the Doctrine of Christ, 1545
    11. St. Ignatius of Loyola from The Spiritual Exercises
    12. Francis Xavier from “Letter from India”
    13. St. Teresa of Avila from The Life of Teresa of Jesus
    14. from Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent
    15. Giovanni Michiel from A Venetian Ambassador’s Report on the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

    CHAPTER 14 RELIGIOUS WARS AND STATE BUILDING 1540–1660

    1. Reginald Scot from Discoverie of Witchcraft
    2. The Carmelite Mission to Persia from “Father Vincent: An Audience with ’Abbâs”
    3. THE PLUNDERING AND BURNING OF A VILLAGE, A HANGING, AND PEASANTS AVENGE THEMSELVES (1633)
    4. Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen from Simplicissimus
    5. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne from “It Is Folly to Measure the True and False by Our Own Capacity”
    6. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne from “Of Cannibals”
    7. Thomas Harrison “Speech from the Gallows”
    8. Blaise Pascal from Pensées
    9. THE SURRENDER OF BREDA (1635)
    10. Jacqueline Pascal from “Rule for Children”
    11. Jean Bodin from On Sovereignty
    12. Thomas Hobbes from Leviathan

    CHAPTER 15 ABSOLUTISM AND EMPIRE, 1660–1789

    1. Hugo Grotius from On the Law of War and Peace
    2. Thomas Mun from Discourse on England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade
    3. THE SYNDICS OF THE DRAPERS’ GUILD (1632)
    4. Jean-Baptiste Colbert A Memorandum, 1670
    5. Jean Baptiste Poquelin (Molière) from The Citizen Who Apes the Nobleman
    6. Coffee House Society
    7. Robert Filmer from Patriarcha
    8. THE MEETING IN LYONS (1625)
    9. John Locke from Two Treatises on Government
    10. PALACE AND GARDENS OF VERSAILLES (1668)
    11. Marquis de Vauban and Curé of Rumegies Early Modern Society
    12. Abbé Guillaume - Thomas Raynal from A Philosophical and Political History of the Settlements and Trade of the Europeans in the East and West Indies
    13. Adam Smith from The Wealth of Nations

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