The Humanistic Tradition, Book 1: The First Civilizations and the Classical Legacy

by Fiero, Gloria

• ISBN13: 9780072910070
• ISBN10: 0072910070
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-12-03
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

" The Humanistic Traditionis quite simply the finest book of its type. Fiero manages to integrate the political, cultural, and social history of the world into one coherent and fascinating whole. It is a masterpiece of scholarship . . . balanced, interesting, easy to read, and consummately beautiful. Our professors praise its accuracy and scope and our students unanimously say it is their favorite textbook." Sonia Sorrell, Pepperdine University The Humanistic Traditionfeatures a flexible, topical approach that helps students understand humankind's creative legacy as a continuum rather than as a series of isolated events. This widely acclaimed interdisciplinary survey offers a global perspective, countless illustrations, and more than 150 literary sources. Available in multiple formats, The Humanistic Traditionexplores the political, economic, and social contexts of human culture, providing a global and multicultural perspective which helps students better understand the relationship between the West and other world cultures.

Author Biography

Gloria Konig Fiero was born and raised in New York City. She earned her Masters degree in Art History at the University of California, Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Humanities at the Florida State University. She has taught Humanities, World History, and Art History for more than twenty-five years. She has written and lectured extensively on medieval and renaissance topics and on the arts of both East and West as they reflect the human condition. She currently divides her time between New Orleans, Louisiana, and New York City.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction: Prehistory and the Birth of Civilization	xiv
Prehistory	xiv
Paleolithic (``Old Stone'') Culture (ca. 7 million--10,000 B.C.E.)	xiv
Reading 1.1 The Story of Rock Picture Research	2	(8)
Neolithic (``New Stone'') Culture (ca. 8000--4000 B.C.E.)	4	(6)
The Birth of Civilization	10	(4)
The Evolution of Writing	10	(2)
Metallurgy	12	(1)
People and Nature	13	(1)
Myth and the Quest for Beginnings	13	(1)
Reading 1.2 Creation Tales	14	(3)
Glossary	15	(2)
PART ONE The First Civilizations	17	(50)
Timeline	18	(1)
Egypt: Gods, Rulers, and the Social Order	19	(17)
The Gods of Ancient Egypt	19	(1)
Reading 1.3 ``The Hymn to the Aten'' (ca. 1352--1336 B.C.E.)	19	(3)
The Rulers of Ancient Egypt	22	(9)
Theocracy and the Cult of the Dead	22	(8)
Akhenaton's Reform	30	(1)
Nubia and Ancient Egypt	30	(1)
Law in Ancient Egypt	31	(1)
The Social Order	31	(1)
Egyptian Women	32	(1)
The Arts in Ancient Egypt	32	(1)
Literature	32	(1)
Reading 1.4 Egyptian Poetry	33	(2)
The Visual Arts	33	(2)
New Kingdom Temples	35	(1)
Music in Ancient Egypt	35	(1)
Summary	35	(1)
Glossary	35	(1)
Mesopotamia: Gods, Rulers, and the Social Order	36	(22)
The Gods of Mesopotamia	37	(1)
Reading 1.5 From The Babylonian Creation	37	(2)
The Search for Immortality	38	(1)
Reading 1.6 From the Epic of Gilgamesh	39	(2)
The Rulers of Mesopotamia	41	(1)
The Social Order	42	(2)
Law and the Social Order in Babylon	42	(2)
Reading 1.7 From the Hammurabi's Code (ca. 1750 B.C.E.)	44	(1)
The Arts in Mesopotamia	45	(1)
The Hebrews	46	(2)
Reading 1.8a From the Hebrew Bible (Genesis)	48	(1)
Reading 1.8b From the Hebrew Bible (Exodus)	48	(2)
The Hebrew State and the Social Order	49	(1)
Reading 1.8c From the Hebrew Bible (Jeremiah)	50	(1)
The Babylonian Captivity and the Book of Job	51	(1)
Reading 1.8d From the Hebrew Bible (Job)	51	(3)
The Book of Psalms	53	(1)
Reading 1.8e From the Hebrew Bible (Psalms)	54	(1)
The Iron Age	54	(3)
The Assyrian Empire	55	(1)
The Persian Empire	56	(1)
Summary	57	(1)
Glossary	57	(1)
India and China: Gods, Rulers, and the Social Order	58	(9)
Ancient India	58	(1)
Indus Valley Civilization (ca. 2700--1500 B.C.E.)	58	(2)
The Vedic Era (ca. 1500--322 B.C.E.)	58	(1)
Hindu Pantheism	59	(1)
The Bhagavad-Gita	60	(1)
Reading 1.9 From the Bhagavad-Gita	60	(1)
Ancient China	61	(4)
The Shang Dynasty (ca. 1520--1027 B.C.E.)	61	(2)
The Zhou Dynasty (1027--256 B.C.E.)	63	(1)
Spirits, Gods, and the Natural Order	63	(2)
Daoism	65	(1)
Reading 1.10 From the Dao de jing (ca. 550 B.C.E.)	65	(1)
Summary	65	(2)
Glossary	65	(2)
PART TWO The Classical Legacy	67	(104)
Timeline	68	(1)
Greece: Humanism and the Speculative Leap	69	(37)
Bronze Age Civilizations of the Aegean (ca. 3000--1200 B.C.E.)	69	(3)
Minoan Civilization (ca. 2000--1400 B.C.E.)	70	(2)
Mycenaean Civilization (ca. 1600--1200 B.C.E.)	72	(1)
The Heroic Age (ca. 1200--750 B.C.E.)	72	(2)
Reading 1.11 From the lliad (ca. 850 B.C.E.)	74	(2)
The Greek Gods	76	(1)
The Greek City-State and the Persian Wars (ca. 750--480 B.C.E.)	77	(1)
Herodotus	78	(1)
Athens and the Greek Golden Age (ca. 480--430 B.C.E.)	78	(2)
Pericles' Glorification of Athens	79	(1)
Reading 1.12 From Thucydides' Peloponnesian Wars (ca. 410 B.C.E.)	80	(3)
The Olympic Games	81	(1)
Greek Drama	81	(2)
The Individual and the Community	83	(1)
The Case of Antigone	83	(1)
Reading 1.13 From Sophocles' Antigone (ca. 440 B.C.E.)	83	(10)
Aristotle on Tragedy	93	(1)
Reading 1.14 From Aristotle's Poetics (ca. 340 B.C.E.)	93	(1)
Greek Philosophy: The Speculative Leap	94	(1)
Naturalist Philosophy: The Pre-Socratics	94	(1)
Humanist Philosophy	95	(2)
The Sophists	95	(1)
Socrates and the Quest for Virtue	95	(2)
Reading 1.15 From Plato's Crito (ca. 390 B.C.E.)	97	(2)
Plato and the Theory of Forms	98	(1)
Reading 1.16 The ``Allegory of the Cave'' from Plato's Republic (ca. 375 B.C.E.)	99	(4)
Aristotle and the Life of Reason	102	(1)
Aristotle's Ethics	102	(1)
Reading 1.17 From Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (ca. 340 B.C.E.)	103	(2)
Aristotle and the State	104	(1)
Summary	105	(1)
Glossary	105	(1)
The Classical Style	106	(23)
Key Features of the Classical Style	106	(1)
Order and Proportion	106	(2)
Reading 1.18 From Vitruvius' Principles of Symmetry (ca. 46--30 B.C.E.)	108	(1)
Humanism, Realism, and Idealism	108	(1)
The Evolution of the Classical Style	109	(11)
Greek Sculpture: The Archaic Period (ca. 700--480 B.C.E.)	109	(1)
Greek Sculpture: The Classical Period (ca. 480--323 B.C.E.)	110	(3)
Greek Architecture: The Parthenon	113	(3)
The Sculpture of the Parthenon	116	(3)
The Gold of Greece	119	(1)
The Classical Style in Poetry	120	(1)
Reading 1.19 Sappho's Poems (ca. 590 B.C.E.)	120	(1)
Reading 1.20 From Pindar's Odes (ca. 420 B.C.E.)	121	(1)
The Classical Style in Music and Dance	121	(1)
The Diffusion of the Classical Style: The Hellenistic Age (323--30 B.C.E.)	122	(6)
Hellenistic Schools of Thought	124	(1)
Hellenistic Art	124	(4)
Summary	128	(1)
Music Listening Selection	128	(1)
Glossary	128	(1)
Rome: The Rise to Empire	129	(29)
The Roman Rise to Empire	129	(2)
Rome's Early History	129	(1)
The Roman Republic (509--133 B.C.E.)	129	(2)
Reading 1.21 Josephus' Description of the Roman Army (ca. 70 C.E.)	131	(4)
The Collapse of the Republic (133--30 B.C.E.)	132	(1)
The Roman Empire (30 B.C.E.--180 C.E.)	132	(2)
Roman Law	134	(1)
The Roman Contribution to Literature	135	(1)
Roman Philosophic Thought	135	(1)
Reading 1.22 From Seneca's On Tranquility of Mind (ca. 40 C.E.)	135	(1)
Latin Prose Literature	136	(1)
Reading 1.23 From Cicero's On Duty (44 B.C.E.)	136	(1)
Reading 1.24 From Tacitus' Dialogue on Oratory (ca. 100--105 C.E.)	137	(1)
Roman Epic Poetry	138	(1)
Reading 1.25 From Virgil's Aeneid (Books Four and Six) (ca. 20 B.C.E.)	138	(1)
Roman Lyric Poetry and Satire	139	(1)
Reading 1.26 The Poems of Catullus (ca. 60 B.C.E.)	139	(1)
Reading 1.27 The Poems of Horace (ca. 30--15 B.C.E.)	140	(1)
Reading 1.28a From Juvenal's ``Against the City of Rome'' (ca. 100--127 C.E.)	141	(1)
Reading 1.28b From Juvenal's ``Against Women'' (ca. 101--127 C.E.)	142	(1)
Roman Drama	143	(1)
The Arts of the Roman Empire	143	(13)
Roman Architecture	143	(7)
Roman Sculpture	150	(4)
Roman Painting	154	(2)
Roman Music	156	(1)
Summary	156	(2)
Glossary	157	(1)
China: The Rise to Empire	158	(13)
Confucius and the Classics	158	(1)
Reading 1.29 From the Analects of Confucius	159	(2)
Confucianism and Legalism	160	(1)
The Chinese Rise to Empire	161	(3)
The Qin Dynasty (221--206 B.C.E.)	161	(2)
The Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E.--220 C.E.)	163	(1)
The Literary Contributions of Imperial China	164	(1)
Chinese Prose Literature	164	(1)
Reading 1.30 From Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (ca. 100 B.C.E.)	165	(2)
Chinese Poetry	166	(1)
Reading 1.31 A Selection of Han Poems	167	(1)
The Visual Arts and Music in Han China	167	(2)
Summary	169	(2)
Glossary	170	(1)
Suggestions for Reading	171	(2)
Credits	173	(1)
Index	174