Sources Of The Western Tradition

I. The Ancient World 1. The Near East 1. Mesopotamian Protest Against Death; Epic of Gilgamesh 2. A Pessimistic View of Life; Mesopotamian Wisdom Literature 3. Mesopotamian Concepts of Justice; Code of Hammurabi 4. Divine Kingship in Egypt; Hymns to the Pharaohs; Guidelines for the Ruler 5. Religious Inspiration of Akhenaten; Hymn to Aton 6. Love, Passion, and Misogyny in Ancient Egypt; Love Poetry: The Instruction of Ankhsheshonq 7. Empire Builders; The Assyrian Empire: Inscription of Tiglathpileser I; The Persian Empire: Inscriptions of Cyrus and Darius I 8. The Myth-Making Outlook of the Ancient Near East; Personification of Natural Objects; Enuma Elish: The Babylonian Genesis 2. The Hebrews 1. Hebrew Cosmogony and Anthropology; Genesis 2. God's Greatness and Human Dignity; Psalm 8; Psalm 104 3. The Covenant and the Ten Commandments; Exodus: The Covenant, The Ten Commandments 4. Humaneness of Hebrew Law; Leviticus: Neighbor and Community; Deuteronomy: Judges, Witnesses, and Justice 5. Human Sinfulness; Genesis: The Origins of Sin; Job: The Problem of Undeserved Human Suffering 6. The Age of Classical Prophecy; Amos and Isaiah: Social Justice; Isaiah: Peace and Humanity 3. The Greeks 1. Homer: The Educator of Greece; Homer: The Iliad 2. Lyric Poetry; Sappho: Love, Passion, and Friendship 3. The Expansion of Reason; Hippocrates: The Sacred Disease: The Separation of Medicine from Myth; Thucydides: Method of Historical Inquiry; Critias: Religion as a Human Invention 4. Humanism; Pindar: The Pursuit of Excellence; Sophocles: Lauding Human Talents 5. The Persian Wars; Herodotus: The Histories 6. Greek Drama; Sophocles: Antigone 7. Athenian Greatness; Thucydides: The Funeral Oration of Pericles 8. The Status of Women in Classical Greek Society; Euripides: Medea; Aristophanes: Lysistrata 9. The Peloponnesian War; Thucydides: The Melian Dialogue 10. Socrates: The Rational Individual; Plato: The Apology 11. Plato: The Philosopher-King; Plato: The Republic 12. Aristotle: Science, Politics, and Ethics; Aristotle: History of Animals, Politics, and Nicomachean Ethics 13. Hellenistic Culture: Universalism and Individualism; Plutarch: Cultural Fusion; Epicurus: Self-Sufficiency 14. Greek Culture and the Jews in the Hellenistic Age; First Book of Maccabees: Jewish Resistance to Forced Hellenization; Philo of Alexandria: Appreciation of Greek Culture and Synthesis of Reason and Revelation 4. The Roman Republic 1. Rome's March to World Empire; Polybius: The Roman Army; Livy: The Second Punic War: The Threat from Hannibal 2. Exploitation of the Provinces; Cicero: Oration Against Verres 3. The Spread of Greek Philosophy to Rome; Lucretius: Denunciation of Religion; Cicero: Advocate of Stoicism; Cato the Elder: Hostility to Greek Philosophy 4. Roman Slavery; Diodorus Siculus: Slaves: Torment and Revolt 5. Women in Republican Society; Quintus Lucretius Vespillo: A Funeral Eulogy for a Roman Wife 6. The Decline of the Republic; Plutarch: Tiberius Gracchus; Cicero: Justifying Caesar's Assassination; Sallust: Moral Deterioration 5. The Roman Empire 1. The Imperial Office; Augustus: The Achievements of the Divine Augustus; Tacitus: The Imposition of One-Man Rule 2. Imperial Culture; Virgil: The Aeneid; Ovid: The Art of Love; Juvenal: The Satires 3. Roman Stoicism; Seneca: The Moral Epistles; Marcus Aurelius: Meditations 4. Roman Law; Justinian: Corpus Iurius Civilis 5. The Roman Peace; Aelius Aristides: The Roman Oration: The Blessings of the Pax Romana; Josephus: The Jewish War: "In Battle Nothing is Done Without Plan;" Tacitus: The Other Side of the Pax Romana 6. Third-Century Crisis; Dio Cassius: Caracalla's Extortions, Petition to Emperor Phillip; Herodian: Extortions of Maximinus 7. The Demise of Rome; Ammianus Marcellinus: The Battle of Adrianople; Salvian: Political and Social Injustice; Jerome: The Fate of Rome; Pope Gregory I: The End of Roman Glory 6. Early Christianity 1. The Teachings of Jesus; The Gospel According to Saint Mark; The Gospel According to Saint Matthew 2. Christianity and Greco-Roman Learning; Tertullian: What Has Jerusalem to Do with Athens?; Clement of Alexandria: In Defense of Greek Learning 3. The Persecutions; Persecutions at Lyons and Vienne 4. Monastic Life; Saint Jerome: The Agony of Solitude in the Desert; Cassian of Marseilles: On the Dangers and Fruits of Solitude; Saint Benedict of Nursia: The Benedictine Rule 5. Christianity and Society; Clement of Alexandria: Christ the Educator; Saint Benedict of Nursia: The Christian Way of Life; Athenagoras: Sexuality and Family Life; The Apostle Paul: The Submissive Role of Women 6. Christian Demonization of Jews; Saint John Chrysostom: Discourses Against Judaizing Christians 7. Church and State; Pope Gelasius I: Letter to Emperor Anastasius 8. The Christian World-View; St. Augustine: The City of God II. The Middle Ages 7. The Early Middle Ages 1. The Byzantine Cultural Achievement; Theophylact Simocattes: The Value of Reason and History; Procopius: The Building of Saint Sophia 2. Islam; Muhammed: The Koran 3. Islam and Greek Learning; Avicenna: Love of Learning 4. Converting the Germanic Peoples to Christianity; Bede: History of the English Church and People; Einhard: Forcible Conversion Under Charlemagne 5. The Transmission of Learning; Cassiodorus: The Monk as Scribe 6. The Carolingian Renaissance; Einhard: Charlemagne's Appreciation of Learning; Charlemagne: An Injunction to Monasteries to Cultivate Letters 7. An Early Medieval Drama; Hroswitha: Abraham 8. The Feudal Lord: Vassal and Warrior; Galbert of Bruges: Commendation and the Oath of Fealty, Fulbert; Bishop of Chartres: Obligations of Lords and Vassals; Bertran de Born: In Praise of Combat 8. The High and Late Middle Ages 1. The Revival of Trade and the Growth of Towns; How to Succeed in Business; Ordinances of the Guild Merchant of Southampton 2. Theological Basis for Papal Power; Pope Gregory VII: The Second Letter to Bishop Herman of Metz and the Dictatus Papae 3. The First Crusade; Robert the Monk: Appeal of Urban II to the Franks; William of Tyre: The Capture of Jerusalem 4. Religious Dissent; Emperor Frederick II: Heretics: Enemies of God and Humanity 5. Medieval Learning: Synthesis of Reason and Christian Faith; Abelard of Bath: A Questioning Spirit; Saint Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologica 6. Medieval Universities; Geoffrey Chaucer: An Oxford Cleric; Student Letters; A Wandering Scholar: "In the Tavern Let Me Die" 7. The Jews in the Middle Ages; Albert of Aix-la-Chapelle: Massacre of the Jews of Mainz; A Decree by Pope Innocent III: The Libel of Ritual Murder; Maimonides: Jewish Learning 8. Troubadour Love Songs; Love as Joyous, Painful, and Humorous 9. The Status of Women in Medieval Society; Jacopone da Todi: Praise of the Virgin Mary "O Thou Mother Font of Love"; Christine de Pisan: The City of Ladies; A Merchant of Paris: On Love and Marriage 10. Medieval Contributions to the Tradition of Liberty; John of Salisbury: Policraticus: A Defense of Tyrannicide, Magna Carta 11. The Fourteenth Century: An Age of Adversity; Jean de Venette: The Black Death; Sir John Froissart: The Peasant Revolt of 1381; John Wycliffe: Concerning the Pope's Power; Marsilius of Padua: Attack on the Worldly Power of the Church 12. The Medieval World-View; Lothario dei Segni (Pope Innocent III): On the Misery of the Human Condition, The Vanity of This World; Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy III. Early Modern Europe 9. The Renaissance 1. The Humanists' Fascination with Antiquity; Petrarch: The Father of Humanism; Leonardo Bruni: Study of Greek Literature and A Humanist Educational Program 2. Human Dignity; Pico della Mirandola: Oration on the Dignity of Man 3. Break with Medieval Political Theory; Niccolo Machiavelli: The Prince 4. The Ideal Gentleman; Baldassare Castiglione: The Book of the Courtier 5. The Spread of the Renaissance; Francois Rabelais: Celebration of the Worldly Life; William Shakespeare: Human Nature and the Human Condition 10. The Reformation 1. A Catholic Critic of the Church; Desiderius Erasmus: In Praise of Folly 2. The Lutheran Reformation; Martin Luther: On Papal Power, Justification by Faith, the Interpretation of the Bible, and the Nature of the Clergy; Ulrich von Hutten: Resentment of Rome 3. The German Peasants' Revolt; The Twelve Articles; Martin Luther: Against the Peasants 4. Luther and the Jews; Martin Luther: On the Jews and Their Lies 5. The Calvinist Reformation; John Calvin: The Institutes, Ecclesiastical Ordinances, and The Obedience Owed Rulers 6. The Catholic Response to Protestantism; Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent; Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Aims and Rules for the Society of Jesus 7. Religious Persecution; Chronicle of King Francis I: Burning of Protestants in Paris; The Persecution of Anabaptists: The Examination of Elizabeth Dirks; Menno Simons: An Anabaptist Rejection of the Use of Force 11. Early Modern Society and Politics 1. The Age of Exploration and Conquest; Bernal Diaz del Castillo: The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico 2. Toward the Modern Economy: The Example of Holland; William Carr: The Dutch East India Company 3. The Jews of Spain and Portugal: Expulsion, Forced Conversion, Inquisition; Proceedings of the Spanish Inquisition: The Torture of Elvira del Campo; Damiao de Gois: The Forced Conversion of Portuguese Jews 4. The Atlantic Slave Trade; Seventeenth-Century Slave Traders: Buying and Transporting Africans; Malachy Postlethwayt: Slavery Defended; John Wesley: Thoughts Upon Slavery; Olaudah Equiano: Memoirs of a Former Slave 5. The Witch Craze; Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer: The Hammer of Witches; Johannes Junius: A Confession of Witchcraft Explained; Nicholas Malebranche: Search after Truth 6. The Court of Louis XIV; Duc de Saint-Simon: An Assessment of Louis XIV; Liselotte von der Pfalz (Elizabeth Charlotte d'Orleans): A Sketch of Court Life 7. Justification of Absolute Monarchy by Divine Right; Bishop Jaques-Benigne Bossuet: Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture; James I: True Law of Free Monarchies and A Speech to Parliament 8. A Secular Defense of Absolutism; Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan 9. The Triumph of Constitutional Monarchy in England: The Glorious Revolution; The English Declaration of Rights 12. The Scientific Revolution 1. The Copernican Revolution; Nicolaus Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres; Cardinal Bellarmine: Attack on the Copernican Theory 2. Expanding the New Astronomy; Galileo Galilei: The Starry Messenger 3. Critique of Authority; Galileo Galilei: Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina and Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems--Ptolemaic and Copernican 4. Prophet of Modern Science; Francis Bacon: Attack on Authority and Advocacy of Experimental Science 5. The Circulation of the Blood; William Harvey: The Motions of the Heart and Blood in Animals 6. The Autonomy of the Mind; Rene Descartes: Discourse on Method 7. The Mechanical Universe; Isaac Newton: Principia Mathematica 13. The Enlightenment 1. The Enlightenment Outlook; Immanuel Kant: What is Enlightenment? 2. Political Liberty; John Locke: Second Treatise on Government; Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence 3. Attack on Religion; Voltaire: A Plea for Tolerance and Reason; Thomas Paine: The Age of Reason; Baron d'Holbach: Good Sense 4. Epistemology and Education; John Locke: Essay Concerning Human Understanding; Claude Helvetius: Essays on the Mind and A Treatise on Man 5. Compendium of Knowledge; Denis Diderot: Encyclopedia 6. Rousseau: Political Reform; Jean Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract 7. Humanitarianism; Caesare Beccaria: On Crimes and Punishments; John Howard: Prisons in England and Wales; Denis Diderot: Encyclopedia: "Men and Their Liberty are Not Objects of Commerce;" Marquis de Condorcet: The Evils of Slavery 8. Literature as Satire: Critiques of European Society; Voltaire: Candide; Denis Diderot: Supplement to the Voyage of Bouganville; Montesquieu: The Persian Letters; Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels