The Western Humanities, Volume 1

by Matthews, Roy T.; Platt, F. Dewitt

• ISBN13: 9780072556308
• ISBN10: 0072556307
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-05-15
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

This chronologically organized introduction to the Western humanities (art, music, history, literature, and drama) establishes the historical context of each era before the arts are discussed. Hundreds of illustrations appear throughout the text, "Personal Perspectives" boxes bring to life the events of the day, and brief sections at the end of each chapter describe the cultural legacy of the era discussed. Volume I of The Western Humanities covers prehistory through the Renaissance.

Table of Contents

The Western Humanities, 5/e

Preface
Introduction: Why Study Cultural History?
A Humanities Primer: How to Understand the Arts

Chapter 1
PREHISTORY AND NEAR EASTERN CIVILIZATIONS

Prehistory and Early Cultures
The Civilizations of the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley: Mesopotamia
The Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian Kingdoms
The Cradle of Civilization
Writing
Religion
Literature
Personal Perspective: ''A Sumerian Father Lectures His Son''
Law
Art and Architecture
The Civilization of the Nile River Valley: Egypt
Continuity and Change over Three Thousand Years
A Quest for Eternal Cultural Values
Religion
Writing and Literature
Personal Perspective: ''The Instruction of Amenemope''
Architecture
Sculpture, Painting, and Minor Arts
Heirs to the Mesopotamian and Egyptian Empires
The Legacy of Early Near Eastern Civilizations
Key Cultural Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 1 Highlights

Windows on the World: 5000 - 500 B.C.

Chapter 2
AEGEAN CIVILIZATIONS: THE MINOANS, THE MYCENAEANS, AND THE GREEKS OF THE ARCHAIC AGE

Prelude: Minoan Civilization, 3000 - 1300 B.C.
Beginnings: Mycenaean Civilization, 1900 - 1100 B.C.
Interlude: The Dark Ages, 1100 - 800 B.C.
The Archaic Age, 800 - 479 B.C.
Political, Economic, and Social Structures
The Greek Polis: Sparta and Athens
The Persian Wars
The Emergence of Greek Genius: The Mastery of Form
Religion
Epic Poetry
Personal Perspective: Sappho, ''He Seems to Be a God''; Alcaeus, ''Longing for Home and Drinking Song''
Lyric Poetry
Natural Philosophy
Architecture
Sculpture
The Legacy of Archaic Greek Civilization
Key Cultural Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 2 Highlights

Chapter 3
CLASSICAL GREEK CIVILIZATION: THE HELLENIC AGE

General Characteristics of Hellenic Civilization
Domestic and Foreign Affairs: War, Peace, and the Triumph of Macedonia
The Perfection of the Tradition: The Glory of Hellenic Greece
Theater: Tragedy
Features of the Greek Theater
Encounter: The Representation of Blacks in Greek Art
Tragic Drama
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Theater: Comedy
Music
History
Natural Philosophy
The Pre-Socratics
The Sophists
The Socratic Revolution
Plato
Aristotle
Architecture
Sanctuaries
The Temple: The Perfection of the Form
Personal Perspective: Xenophon, ''Secrets of a Successful Marriage''
Sculpture
The Legacy of Hellenic Civilization
Key Cultural Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 3 Highlights

Windows on the World: 500 - 300 B.C.

Chapter 4
CLASSICAL GREEK CIVILIZATION: THE HELLENISTIC AGE

The Stages of Hellenistic History
The End of the Empire and the Rise of the States
The Arrival and Triumph of Rome
The Cities of Hellenistic Civilization
Pergamum
Alexandria in Egypt
Personal Perspective: Theocritus, ''Getting to the Concert on Time''
The Elaboration of the Greek Tradition: The Spread of Classicism to the Hellenistic World
Drama and Literature
Philosophy and Religion
Cynicism
Skepticism
Epicureanism
Stoicism
Fate and the Mystery Cults
Architecture
The Corinthian Temple
The Altar
Sculpture
Rhodes: Late Hellenistic Style
The Legacy of the Hellenistic World
Key Cultural Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 4 Highlights

Chapter 5
ROMAN CIVILIZATION: THE PRE-CHRISTIAN CENTURIES

The Colossus of the Mediterranean World
General Characteristics of Roman Civilization
The Etruscan and Greek Connections
Rome in the Age of Kings, 753-509 B.C.
The Roman Republic, 509-31 B.C.
The Early Republic, 509-264 B.C.
The Middle Republic, 264-133 B.C.
The Late Republic, 133-31 B.C.
Growing Autocracy: Imperial Rome, 31 B.C.-A.D. 284
Pax Romana, 31 B.C.-A.D. 193
Civil Wars, A.D. 193-284
The Style of Pre-Christian Rome: From Greek Imitation to Roman Grandeur
Roman Religion
Language, Literature, and Drama
The First Literary Period, 250-31 B.C.
The Second Literary Period: The Golden Age, 31 B.C.-A.D. 14-200
Personal Perspective: Marcus, Son of Cicero, ''Changing My Ways''
The Third Literary Period: The Silver Age, A.D. 14-200
Philosophy
Stoicism
Neo-Platonism
Law
The Visual Arts
Architecture
Encounter: Roman Conquests and Romance Languages
Sculpture
Painting and Mosaics
Music
The Legacy of Pre-Christian Rome
Key Cultural Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 5 Highlights

Windows on the World: 300 B.C. - A.D. 500

Chapter 6
JUDAISM AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY

Judaism
The People and Their Religion
Egypt, Exodus, and Moses
The Kingdom of Israel
The Babylonian Captivity and the Postexilic Period
The Hellenistic and Roman Periods
Societal and Family Relationships
Personal Perspective: Flavius Josephus, ''The Destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem''
The Bible
Early Jewish Art and Architecture
Christianity
The Life of Jesus Christ and the New Testament
Christians and Jews
Christianity and Greco-Roman Religions and Philosophies
Christians in the Roman Empire
Personal Perspective: Vibia Perpetua, ''Account of Her Last Days Before Martyrdom''
Early Christian Literature
Early Christian Art
The Legacy of Biblical Judaism and Early Christianity
Key Cultural Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 6 Highlights

Chapter 7
THE CIVILIZATIONS OF LATE ROME, BYZANTIUM, AND THE EARLY MEDIEVAL WEST

The Last Days of the Roman Empire
Diocletian’s Reforms and the Triumph of Christianity, 284-395
The Great Persecution and Christian Toleration
Early Christian Developments
Christian Rome and the End of the Western Empire, 395-476
Personal Perspective: Paulina, ''Epitaph for Agorius Praetextatus''
The Transition from Classical Humanism to Christian Civilization
Literature, Theology, and History
The Fathers of the Church
Personal Perspective: St. Jerome, ''Secular Education; The Fall of Rome''
Church History
The Visual Arts
Architecture
Sculpture
Painting and Mosaics
Music
The Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantine Civilization, 476-1453
History of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Culture: Christianity and Classicism
The Orthodox Religion
Law and History
Architecture and Mosaics
The Early Medieval West
The Early Middle Ages: A Romano-Germanic Christianized World
Religion and Culture in the Early Middle Ages
Christianity: Leadership and Organization
Personal Perspective: Anna Comnena, ''The Arrival of the First Crusade in Constantinople''; Liudprand of Cremona, ''A Mission to the Byzantine Court''
Literature, History, and Learning
Music
Architecture
Painting: Illuminated Manuscripts

The Legacy of Late Rome, Byzantium, and the Early Medieval West
Key Cultural Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 7 Highlights

Windows on the World: 500-1000

Chapter 8
THE WORLD OF ISLAM, 630-1517

Muhammad, The Prophet
Imperial Islam
The Post-Muhammad Years
The Umayyad Dynasty
The Abbasid Dynasty
The Seljuk Turk Empire
Imperial Decline
Islam as Religion
Encounter: An International Community of Scholars
Medieval Islamic Culture
Scholarship
Literature
Poetry
Prose
Art and Architecture
Architecture
Painting
Personal Perspective: Abu’l-Faraj al-Isfahani, ''Marketing a Product''
Music
The Legacy of Medieval Islam
Key Cultural Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 8 Highlights

Chapter 9
THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES: THE CHRISTIAN CENTURIES

Feudalism
The Feudal System and the Feudal Society
Peasant Life
The Rise of Towns
The Feudal Monarchy
The French Monarchy
The English Monarchy
The Holy Roman Empire
The Papal Monarchy
Medieval Christianity and the Church
Encounter: Pagan Vikings versus Christian Europeans
Christian Beliefs and Practices
Religious Orders and Lay Piety
Personal Perspective: Abelard and Heloise, ''My Sorrow and My Loss''
The Age of Synthesis: Equilibrium Between the Spiritual and the Secular
Learning and Theology
Cathedral Schools and the Development of Scholasticism
Peter Abelard
The Rise of the Universities
Intellectual Controversy and Thomas Aquinas
Literature
Monastic and Feudal Writing
Vernacular and Courtly Writing
Dante
Architecture and Art
Romanesque Churches and Related Arts
Gothic Churches and Related Arts
Early Gothic Style, 1145-1194
High Gothic Style, 1194-1300
Music
The Legacy of the Christian Centuries
Key Cultural Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 9 Highlights

Windows on the World: 1000 - 1300

Chapter 10
THE LATE MIDDLE AGES: 1300 - 1500

Hard Times Come to Europe
Ordeal by Plague, Famine, and War
Depopulation, Rebellion, and Industrialization
The Secular Monarchies
The Papal Monarchy
The Cultural Flowering of the Late Middle Ages
Religion
Personal Perspective: Henry Knighton,''Political and Religious Rebels''
Theology, Philosophy, and Science
The Via Antiqua Versus the Via Moderna
Duns Scotus and William of Ockham
Developments in Science
Literature
Northern Italian Literature: Petrarch and Boccacio
English Literature: Geoffrey Chaucer
French Literature: Christine de Pizan
Art and Architecture
Late Gothic Architecture
Late Gothic Sculpture
Late Gothic Painting and the Rise of New Trends
Illuminated Manuscripts
The Print
New Trends in Italy: Giotto
Flemish Painting: Jan Van Eyck and Hans Memling
Music
The Legacy of the Late Middle Ages
Key Cultural Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
Suggestion for Listening
Chapter 10 Highlights

Windows on the World: 1300 - 1500

**Chapter 11
THE EARLY RENAISSANCE: RETURN TO CLASSICAL ROOTS, 1400 - 1494

The Renaissance: Schools of Interpretation
Early Renaissance History and Institutions
Italian City-States During the Early Renaissance
Florence, the Center of the Renaissance
The Resurgent Papcy, 1450-1500
The Spirit and Style of the Early Renaissance
Humanism, Scholarship, and Schooling
Personal Perspective: Laura Cereta, ''Defense of the Liberal Instruction of Women''
Thought and Philosophy
Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting
Artistic Ideals and Innovations
Architecture
Sculpture
Painting
Music
The Legacy of the Early Renaissance
Key Cultural Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
Suggestion for Listening
Chapter 11 Highlights

**Chapter 12
THE HIGH RENAISSANCE AND EARLY MANNERISM, 1494 - 1564

The Rise of the Modern Sovereign State
The Struggle for Italy, 1494-1529
Charles V and the Hapsburg Empire
Economic Expansion and Social Developments
From High Renaissance to Early Mannerism
Literature
Gaspara Stampa
Castiglione
Machiavelli
Painting
Leonardo da Vinci
Michelangelo
Raphael
The Venetian School: Giorgione and Titian
The School of Parma: Parmigianino
Sculpture
Personal Perspective: Giorgio Vasari, ''Michelangelo Has the Last Word''
Architecture
Music
The Legacy of the High Renaissance and Early Mannerism
Key Cultural Terms
Suggestions for Further Reading
Suggestions for Listening
Chapter 12 Highlights

APPENDIX
Writing for the Humanities: Research Papers and Essay Examinations
GLOSSARY
CREDITS
INDEX

** NOTE: Chapters 11 and 12 are repeated in both Volumes 1 and 2.