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Instructor: Yang Li
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 Outline

1 Syllabus
P MEMBERS
2 Brief introduction to this course

3 Grading policy
 01
NEUQ 2024---2025 Autumn

Syllabus
Syllabu
s 1 Objectives

2 Reference Books

3 Course Plan

4 Course Format
 Objectives

1 This history records three stages This course is designed to

P MEMBERS
in the development of Western help students learn about the
civilization: the Classical period, development course of
the Middle Ages and the Modern Western civilization from
period. Greek classical civilization to
2 It is divided into the source of
Western civilization, the Middle Ages, modern industrial
the innovation of ideas, the storm of civilization...
political revolution and the industrial
civilization.
 Objectives

Meanwhile,
P MEMBERS
It aims to strengthen students’ view
of world culture from multiple It is also intended to help students
perspectives. Only when we learn, to strengthen cultural exchanges
understand and master the and cooperation between countries
development of Western civilization, and ethnic groups.
can we look at Western culture from
a correct perspective.
 Reference Books

P MEMBERS
 马克 · 凯什岚斯基，帕特里克 · 吉尔里，帕特里夏 · 《 A Brief History of Western
Civilization: The Unfinished Legacy 》 北 京 ： 中 国 人 民 大 学 出 版
社， 2008.10.
 《》（第 6 版）大连：东北财经大学出版社， 2011 年 9 月
 《》， 2020
 Course Plan

Classical and 4 Ch7 Postmodernism 4 hours

Ch1 hours
Hellenistic Greece
The Medieval Age The End of the Cold
P MEMBERS
Ch 4 Ch8 War and New
4 hours
2 hours
Global Challenges
Ch Renaissance
4 Exam
3 hours
final exam

Ch Enlightenment
4
4 hours

Ch Industrial Age
4
5 hours

Ch Modernism
4
6 hours
 Course Format

Teamwork
P MEMBERS
 Lectures, Group Discussions, Group Presentations

 请假必须有正规假条，如事发紧急不能提供假条，事后必须补上，否则按旷课处
理。事假每次扣 1 分，病假每次扣 1 分；
 缺课累计学时超过大纲规定的计划学时数三分之一取消考试资格。
 Grading Policies

Teamwork
P MEMBERS
Attendance 25%
Assignment 25%
Class Performance 25%
Class Quiz 25%
Final Exam 70%
I. INTRODUCTION
THE IDEA OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
• I. THE WEST IS AN IDEA.
• II. WESTERN CIVILIZATION IS AN IDEA, TOO.
• III. PROGRESS & CIVILIZATION
• I. The West is an Idea.
• “Western” cities appeared first outside the “West”, in the Tigris and
Euphrates river basins in present-day Iraq and Iran (Middle East)
• Until the 16th century C.E., the western end of the Eurasian landmass was
the crucible in which disparate cultural and intellectual traditions of the
Near East, the Mediterranean, and northern and western Europe were
smelted into a new and powerful alloy. Then, “the West” expanded by
establishing colonies overseas and by giving rise to the “settler societies”
of the Americans, Australia and New Zealand, and South Africa.
• II. Western Civilization is an Idea, too
• It belongs to no particular place.
• Its location has changed since the origins of civilization (the cultural and
social traditions characteristic of the city).
• Western technology for harnessing nature, Western forms of economic and
political organization, Western styles of art and music are dominant
influences in world civilization.
• III. Progress & Civilization
• It is simply the triumphal story of progress, the creation of a better world ?
• It is a progressive decline from a mythical golden age of the human race ?
 CHAPTER 1
THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS

I. BEFORE CIVILIZATION
II. MESOPOTAMIA: BETWEEN THE TWO RIVERS
III. THE GIFT OF THE NILE
IV. BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
• I. Before Civilization
• Civilization first appeared around 3500 years before the Common Era
(B.C.E.)
• Varieties of the modern species of humans, Homo sapiens, appeared over
100000 years ago and spread across the Eurasian landmass and Africa.
• The Paleolithic Era (ca. 600.000-10,000 B.C.E.) 旧石器时代 : people worked
together for hunting and defense.
• the Mesolithic Era.(ca. 10000-8000 B.C.E.) 中石器时代
• Sometimes around 5000 B.C.E., two of the most profound transformations in
human history arrived in North Africa: sedentarization; agricultural revolution.
• agriculture & control of nature & religion
• The ability to domesticate cattle and to cultivate barley, wheat and vegetables
changed human communities from passive harvesters of nature to active
partners.
• People in the Neolithic Era, (ca. 8000-6500 B.C.E) organized sizable villages.
( 新石器时代）
• The really revolutionary aspect of agriculture was that agriculture was portable.
• Ancestor worship practice; religious organizations;
• II. Mesopotamia: Between the two Rivers
• Until around 3500 B.C.E., the inhabitants of the lower Tigris and Euphrates lived in
scattered villages and small towns. (Sumer 苏美尔地区）
• Nomadic peoples & settled villages and towns : the city had become the dominant force in
the organization of economy and society.
• Uruk ( 乌鲁克） : urban life
In Neolithic times, social and economic differences within society had been minimal.
Urban immigration increased the power, wealth, and status of two groups:
1)the religious authorities who were responsible for the temples;
2) the emerging military and administrative elites.
slaves, peasants, soldiers/merchants/ workers, landowning free persons, priests and rulers.
• TOOLS: Technology and Writing
• Canals and systems of dikes; sailing ships; etc
• Pictograms 象形文字： by 3500 B.C.E., government and temple administrators
were using simplified drawings which were derived from stone/ clay
tokens to keep records.
• Cuneiform 楔形文字： cuneiform characters were used to represent concepts,
and they could be used to record any language.
• Sargon( 萨尔贡 ) and Mesopotamian Expansion
• The Akkadian Empire: Sargon built on the conquests and confederacies of the
past to unite, transform, and expand Mesopotamian civilization.
（ the first in a long tradition of Near Eastern rulers who sought to unite disparate
conquests into a true state ）
• All Mesopotamian states tended to undergo a cycle of rising rapidly under a
gifted military commander and then beginning to crumble under the internal
stresses of dynastic disputes and regional assertions of autonomy.
• Hammurabi & the Old Babylonian Empire
• The Code of Hammurabi 《汉谟拉比法典》
• Mathematics: Babylonians developed the most sophisticated mathematical
system known before the 15th.
• The Hittite Empire: a centralized state based on agriculture and trade.
• III. The Gift of the Nile
• Divine kingship was the cornerstone of Egyptian life.
• Women of ancient Egypt were more independent and involved in
public life than those of Mesopotamia.
• While trade, communication, and violent conquest characterized
Mesopotamian civilization, Egypt knew self-sufficiency, an inward
focus in culture, society and stability.
The Hyksos: ( 喜克索斯人） Hyksos overran the country and ruled the
Nile Valley
• The Egyptian Empire: Ahmose I forged an empire. ( south up the Nile;
east to the Red Sea)
Religious and Royal Consolidation under Akhenaten: (ruler of the
New Kingdom, Amenhotep IV) His monotheism attacked other cults to
consolidate royal power and to replace the old priesthoods with his own
family members and supporters.
IV. Between Two Worlds
The Hebrew Alternative: ( some of the Semitic people 闪米特人 ) Exodus 《出埃及记》 ; Moses;
David and Solomon brought the kingdom of Israel to its peak of power, prestige and
territorial expansion, and created a united state with Jerusalem as its capital.
(from a tribal to a monarchic society)
The Assyrian Empire: 亚述帝国 In 722 B.C.E., The Assyrians destroyed the kingdom of Israel.
Assyrian not only conquered but created an administrative system. (the most modern army
ever; professional armies instead of traditional armies of peasants/slaves)
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW

• How did urbanization, the invention of writing, and political

centralization first develop the area between the Tigris and
Euphrates River?
• How did the differing geographic conditions of
Mesopotamia and Egypt shape the civilization in each?
CHAPTER 2
THE GREEK PERIOD

I. GREECE IN THE BRONZE AGE TO 700 B.C.E.

II. ARCHAIC GREECE, 700-500 B.C.E.
III. CLASSICAL AND HELLENISTIC GREECE, 500-100
B.C.E.
IV. THE HELLENISTIC WORLD
I. GREECE IN THE BRONZE AGE TO 700
B.C.E.

• Islands of Peace
• Cretan society and religion
• The dark age
• Homer
• I. Greece in the Bronze Age to 700 B.C.E.
• 1.1 Islands of Peace:
3 distinct late Bronze Age cultures-----the Cycladic( 基克拉迪文明 ), the Minoan( 米诺斯文明 ),
the Mycenaean( 迈锡尼文明 )-----flourished in the Mediterranean before the end of the 12th
century B.C.E.
1.2 The Cyclades
Cycladic society was not concentrated into towns, nor was it warlike. Cycladic religion
focused on female deities.
This early society slowly faded, but influenced deeply Crete.
1.3 Minoan Crete
beginning around 2500 B.C.E., a centralized civilization in Crete
strongly stratified; not militaristic;
1.4 Mainland of War
Mycenaean palaces were strongly walled fortresses
• building ships
• trade developed quickly between Crete and the rest of the Mediterranean world.
• They were famous for the building of palaces.
• 1.5 the Dark Age (ca. 1200 B.C.E.-----700B.C.E.)
Mycenaean domination did not last for long. Around 1200 B.C.E.,
many of the mainland and island fortresses and cities were totally destroyed.
(catastrophic climatic changes? Volcanic eruptions? Natural disaster?
Overpopulation? Hostilities among Greek states?)
poorer, rural, more simply organized and more primitive level of culture
and society; a society of ironworkers
1.6 Homer: two epic poems: Iliad Odyssey
• II. Archaic Greece, 700-500 B.C.E. 希腊古风时代
a revolution in political organization, artistic traditions, intellectual values and social structures.

the first sign of radical change in Greece was a major increase in population in the 8 th century
B.C.E. ------
1. Population increase meant more villages and towns, greater communication among them and
more rapid circulation of ideas and skills;
2. the rising population placed impossible demands on the agricultural system of Greece;
3. greater division of labor and fundamental changes in political systems.
• 2.1 ethnos & polis
two forms of political organization developed:
 on the mainland and in much of the western Peloponnesus, people continued to live
in large territorial units (ethnos). The ethnos was governed by an elite or oligarchy
由大地主组成的精英或寡头政府统治
 on the shores of Aegean and islands was the polis or city-state. Each town was ruled
by a monarchy or an oligarchy. Political power was not the monopoly of the
aristocracy.
由君主或贵族统治的城邦
2.2 Warfare
in the Dark Age, warfare had been dominated by heavily armed aristocrats;
in the Archaic Age, such individual combat between aristocratic warriors gave way
to battles that were decided by well-disciplined ranks of infantrymen (phalanx) 步兵方阵
the democratization of war led to the democratization of political life.
• 2.3 colonists & tyrants
Beginning around 750 B.C.E., a new form of colonization began in the western
Mediterranean with the primary impetus to reduce population pressure at home.

New leaders opposed to aristocratic rule seized power (tyrants), which weakened the
power of aristocratic groups. But it depended for their success on the individual qualities
of the ruler.
2.4 art & culture
Olympia and Delphi were the two greatest Greek sanctuaries.
adaptation of Phoenician alphabet and Mesopotamian science, Near Eastern and
Egyptian painting and sculpture.
Calf-Bearer (ca.590 B.C.E.) 《》
• 2.5 a Tale of Three Cities
three different cities had become leading centers of Greek civilization:
Corinth developed into a commercial center in which the assembly of citizens was dominated
by an oligarchy;
Sparta developed into a state in which citizenship was radically egalitarian but restricted to a
small military elite. War was the center of Spartan life.
Athens: Athenian Tyranny------Hippias’s defeat ended the tyrants’ rule in Athens.
Athenian Democracy--Cleisthenes’ reform became the basis for Athenian democracy.
(reforms of Solon)
• III. Classical and Hellenistic Greece, 500-100 B.C.E.

3.1 War & Politics in the 5th century B.C.E.

In face of the Persian army, the Greeks did not feel any sense of national or
ethnic unity.
• The Persian War: In 490 B.C.E., King Darius [dəˈraɪəs] invaded Greece. The
Athenians defeated the huge army of Darius at Marathon.
Marathon victory for Greece had three enormous consequences:
• 1. it established the superiority of the hoplite phalanx as the finest infantry
formation in the Mediterranean world.
• 2. Greeks expanded this belief in military superiority to a faith in the
general superiority of Greeks over the barbarians.
• 3. it enhanced the democratic reforms of Cleisthenes.
Athenians began to select chief officers not simply by direct election but by
lot.
Ostracism( 陶片放逐法 ) /ˈɑː.strə.sɪ.zəm/ was imposed on those who threatened to
undermine the constitution of Cleisthenes.

•Thermopylae: [θə'mɒpəli] Xerxes began a land assault on Greek and 300 Spartan
equals faced certain death with bravery.
•Salamis: [səˈlɑmiz] Greek vessels defeated Xerxes’ fleet
•3.2 The Athenian Empire
•The Delian League: Athens accepted control of the Delian League in 478 B.C.E.
•Athenian Imperialism: the Athenian empire was an economic, judicial, religious, and
political union which was held together by military might. Revolt, resignation from the
league, or refusal to pay the annual tribute resulted in brutal suppression.
•Private & Public life in Athens:
Athenian freedom was freedom in community, not freedom from community.
The essence of this freedom lay in their participation in public life within a complex
network of familial, social and religious connections.
Unity did not imply equality. Sovereignty lay with the people although the
aristocracy was strong.
Metics( 客籍民 ); Demagogues ( 民众领袖 ) ： real political leadership came from
generals/ popular leaders
• 3.3 Pericles ['perikli:z] & Athens
Athens’ system of radical democracy reached its peak under Pericles’ leadership
Pericles believed that the Athenian empire had to be preserved at all costs, which
drew Athens into deadly conflict with Sparta.
3.4 The Peloponnesian War 伯罗奔尼撒战争
a series of wars from 431 B.C.E to 421 B.C.E. and from 414 B.C.E. to 404 B.C.E.
The Archidamian War: two sides contracted peace in 421B.C.E.
The Sicilian Expedition: ended in disaster and Athens lost over 200 ships.
In 404 B.C.E., Sparta accepted Athens’s unconditional surrender.
•3.4 Athenian Culture in the Hellenic Age 古典时期的雅典文化
(the 5th and early 4th centuries B.C.E.)

The examined life: a primary characteristic of Athenian culture was its

critical and rational nature.
•The Ionian interest( 爱奥尼亚式自然哲学 ) in natural philosophy, the explanation
of the universe in rational terms, continued throughout the 5 th century
B.C.E., but philosophers began to turn their attention to the human world, in
particular to the powers and limitations of the individual’s mind and the
individual’s relationship with society.
•Heraclitus: /herə'klaitəs / 赫拉克利特
interested in the examination of the rational faculties; a search for ethics
based in reason; lead to a study of how to formulate arguments through logic.
• Heracleitus (about 540 --- 480 B.C.) believed fire to be the primary
element of the universe. He was the first dialectical philosopher and
greatly influenced Socrates and Plato.
You cannot step twice into the same river.
The sun is new everyday.
There is nothing permanent except change.
• Pythagoras [pai'θægərəs] 毕达哥拉斯 (about 580 --- 500 B.C.)
all things were numbers. He believed that number represented an
eternal, real and permanent world of the mind;
•The Sophists: the art of persuasion (rhetoric) was particularly
important in the political world of 5 th century B.C.E. Athens. ( Gorgias,
Protagoras, etc.)
•Socrates: “ Know thyself” An unexamined life
was not worth living.

The dialectical method( 辩证法 )--- method of

argument by questions and answers. Greek
philosopher who initiated a question-and-answer
method of teaching as a means of achieving self-
knowledge. Socrates was tried for corrupting the
minds of Athenian youth and subsequently put to
death (399).
• In historical writing:
• Herodotus: [həˈrɒdətəs] ( 希罗多德 ) his book of
inquiries into the origins and events of the
conflict between Greeks and Persians is
the first true history.
( “father of history”)
• Thucydides: ( 修昔底德 )
focused on the Greek world
and on political power and
recorded the Peloponnesian
War.
(the first social scientist)
• Athenian Drama: Plays formed part of the annual feast of Dionysus and dealt with mythic
subject matter largely taken from the Iliad and Odyssey.

Tragedies dealt with great men who failed because of flaws in their natures;
Comedies were more directly topical and political &made serious points in defense of democracy.
Satyr plays( 羊人剧 ) [ˈsætɚ] remained closest to the Dionysian cult.
• Great Athenian Tragedians:

Aeschylus: [ˈɛskələs] 埃斯库罗斯 Oresteia 《》 traces the fate of the family of

Agamemnon. Aeschylus is noted for his vivid character portrayal and
majestic poetry.
Works: Prometheus [prə'mi:θju:s] Bound, Agamemnon [ægə'memnən]
Sophocles: ['sɔfəkli:z] 索福克勒斯 the most successful of the 5th century
B.C.E. tragedians. His message is endurance, acceptance of human
responsibility and of the ways of gods.
• Works: Oedipus[‘e:dipəs] the King, Electra [i'lektrə] 《》 ,
Antigone [æn'tigəni:] 《》
• Euripides: [juə‘ripidi:z] 欧里庇得斯 passion rules his work.
• Works: Andromache [æn'drɔməki] 《》 , Medea [mi:'diə] 《》 Trojan
Women
Greek Comedy: Politics rules the world of Greek comedy. They focused
satire on the political and social issues of the moment.
Aristophanes [ˌærɪˈstɑfəniz] 阿里斯多芬
Works: Frogs, Clouds, Wasps and Birds
These plays are loose in plot and satirical in tone.
• Art
• In the late 6th century B.C.E., a reversal of the traditional black-figure
technique had revolutionized vase painting.
（在瓶饰绘画领域掀起了一场反叛传统黑绘技艺的革命 )
• Sculpture reflected the same development toward balance and realism
contained within an ideal of human form.
Phidias ( 菲迪亚斯 )sought a naturalism in the portrayal of the human
figure, which remained ideal rather than individual.
the greatest sculptural program of the 5 th century B.C.E. was the
reconstruction of the Athenian acropolis( 雅典卫城 ).
 The Red-figure
paintings
paintings on pottery that
have black background
and pink figure

The Black-figure
paintings
paintings on pottery that
have red background
and black figure
• Discus Thrower (by Myron in
about 450 B.C.)
• The relaxation and contraction
of the muscle were
successfully brought about; a
good sense of harmony and
the balance of opposites
• 3.5 From City-states to Macedonian Empire( 马其顿帝国 ), 404-323 B.C.E.
• 3.5.1 Politics after the Peloponnesian War
professional mercenaries gradually replaced hoplite citizen soldiers as the
backbone of the fighting force.
Spartan Imperialism( 斯巴达帝国主义 ): it established oligarchies to rule and a brutal tyranny
of 30 men took control in Athens.
In 371 B.C.E., Spartan power was broken by Thebes.
3.5.2 the rise of Macedon
Macedonia had long served as a buffer between the barbarians to the north and the
Greek mainland.
As Athens, Sparta, and Thebes fought each other to mutual exhaustion, Macedonia
under King Philip II ( 腓力二世 )moved into the power vacuum.
• In 338 B.C.E., Philip II established the League of Corinth. ( 科林斯联盟 )
It was no confederation of sovereign states, but an empire ruled by a king and
supported by wealthy citizens.
• The Empire of Alexander the Great ( 亚历山大大帝的帝国 )
Alexander captured the Persian capital and became the ruler of the
vast empire.(331)
By 275 B.C.E., three large kingdoms dominated Alexander’s former domain:
Egypt(Ptolemy I) ( 托勒密王朝 );
Seleucid kingdom [sɪˈlusɪd] (Seleucus)( 塞琉古王朝 );
kingdom ruled by Antigonus( 安提哥那王朝 ).
• In Egypt the Greek Ptolemies ruled from Alexandria.
• In the center of the old Persian Empire, the seleucid kingdom developed,
based on Babylon.
• In the northwest the Antigonid kingdom evolved, based in Asia Minor.
• Alexander’s conquests
brought Greek traditions of
urban organization to a wide
area, replacing indigenous
ruling elites with Hellenized
dynasties.
• But his successors never
integrated Greek culture and
the indigenous cultures of
their subjects.