Annual Edition: Western Civilization: The Earliest Civilizations through the Reformation 14/15, 17e
Preface
Correlation Guide
Topic Guide
UNIT: The Earliest Civilizations
The World's First Temple, Sandra Scham, Archaeology, November/December 2008
Was the oldest man-made place of worship the seven stone circles erected and arranged over 25 acres by Neolithic people at Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey?
Uncovering Secrets of the Sphinx, Evan Hadingham, Smithsonian, February 2010
American archaeologist Mark Lehner has been working for many years to discover aspects and the meaning of the Sphinx. He believes that Pharaoh Khafre built the Sphinx to honor his father, Khufu, and it served to harness the sun's power to resurrect the soul of the pharaoh.
Journey to the Seven Wonders, Tony Perrottet, Smithsonian, June 2004
Though only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still stands, they still intrigue our imagination. Author Tony Perrottet details the Pyramids, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia. Why do these monuments still capture our thoughts after 2,000 years?
I, Pillar of Justice, Frank L. Holt, Saudi Aramco World, May/June 2009
The major focus of this article is Mesopotamia in the time of Hammurapi and the Law Code attributed to him. There are 282 laws enumerated along with the conditions and penalties for various offenses.
UNIT: Greece and Rome: The Classical Tradition
The Trojan War: Is There Truth Behind the Legend?, Trevor Bryce, Near Eastern Archaeology, September 2002
Thought for centuries to be a myth, evidence from a variety of textual and archaeological sources is giving new life to the idea that there is truth behind the legendary conflict between Greeks and Trojans at the very spot at which the poet Homer claimed the Trojan war took place.
Entertainment: Spartan Style, Elisa Queenan, Sparta: Journal of Ancient Spartan and Greek History, July 2009
It wasn't just men who participated in athletic contests and festival entertainments at Sparta, or were expected to maintain a regimen of physical exercises such as running, wrestling, and dancing. Women, too, were a vital part of that city's games.
The Historical Socrates, Robin Waterfield, History Today, January 2009
The popular image of Socrates as a man of immense moral integrity was largely the creation of his pupil, Plato. If we study the evidence of his trial, says the author, a different picture emerges, of a cunning politician opposed to Athenian democracy.
Good Riddance, I Say, Frank L. Holt, Saudi Aramco World, July/August 2008
Frank L. Holt uses a bit of broken pottery to enlighten us about daily life in fifth-century Athens. He explains how the political banishment called ostracism was used between two Athenian statesmen—Themistocles and Aristeides the Just.
Hannibal's Big Mistake, Richard A. Gabriel, Military History, November 2011
Why did Hannibal, the famous Carthaginian military commander in the Second Punic War with Rome who repeatedly defeated Rome's best armies, fail to win the war in the city of Rome itself?
Why Rome Fell, Richard Gabriel, Military History, September 2013
The reasons for the Roman Empire's demise in the West remain among the great unsettled historical debates. But Richard Gabriel argues that it is nevertheless possible to identify some of the primary forces that rendered the imperial government incapable of dealing with the lethal challenges that beset it.
UNIT: The Judeo-Christian Heritage
Did Captured ARK Afflict Philistines with E.D.?, Aren M. Maeir, Biblical Archaeolog Review, May/June 2008
What did the Bible mean by the statement that God afflicted the Phillistines with `opalim, which is usually translated as "hemorrhoids?" The author contends that the real meaning had to do with sexual function.
The Books of the Bibles in Early Christianity, Jordan Scheetz, Hervormde Teologiese Studies, 2012
Books like The Da Vinci Code made popular the idea that the list of books now found in the New Testament, and accepted by Christians as authoritative, was established by an Imperial fiat of the Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicea in 325 C. E. But is this view grounded in anything other than a wholesale disregard of what our earliest sources of knowledge about the canon tell us?
UNIT: Muslims and Byzantines
The Elusive Eastern Empire, Dionysios Stathakopoulos, History Today, November 2008
The author recounts the history of the Byzantine Empire, which began with Constantine the Great and lasted until the capital, Constantinople, was captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Great emperors such as Justinian and Heraclius are detailed along with the many problems in religion and foreign attackers.
Best of Enemies, Jonathan Harris, History Today, February 2013
Christian Byzantium and the Muslim Abbasid caliphate were bitter rivals. Yet, as Jonathan Harris explains, the necessities of trade and a mutual admiration of ancient Greece meant that there was far more to their relationship than war.
Where Mystery Meets History, Tom Holland, History Today, May 2012
The same spotlight of historical enquiry that scholars have long been using to shed light on the biblical past illuminates the origins of Islam and the impact that Judaism and Christianity had on Muhammad, his monotheism, and his vision of the nature of God.
The Arab Invasions, Eamonn Gearon, History Today, June 2011
What was the nature of the conquests of the Islamic Empire throughout Northern Africa in the seventh and eighth centuries and how did they contribute to the cultural shifts and conflicts which occurred between the Byzantine, Arab, and Berber societies during the period?
Islam's First Terrorists, Clive Foss, History Today, December 2007
The Kharijites emerged in the late seventh century and caused chaos during the Arab civil wars. Although they flourished in chaotic times and were able to set up a few states, none of these states lasted. Their insistence on democracy undermined a strong leadership, while their fanaticism led to internal splits.
UNIT: The Medieval Period
The Church in the Middle Ages, Marius Ostrowski, History Review, December 2006
When the Roman Empire fell in the fifth century, it was the Christian church that gained immense power and held it for a millennium. The church brought together politics, religion, warfare, and culture, which lasted until the Reformation.
What Did Medieval Schools Do for Us?, Nicholas Orme, History Today, June 2006
When the Roman Civilization evaporated in England during the fifth century, learning inclined more toward the monasteries, where Latin Grammars were developed to teach those who knew no Latin. By the twelfth century, school became what we would call modern: they moved away from the monasteries, had full-time teachers, and were more in number. Many more children—boys and girls—were literate.
What Hundred Years War?, Ian Mortimer, History Today, October 2009
By challenging the very idea of a continuous Anglo-French medieval war, Ian Mortimer reveals the remarkable complexities of a series of distinct conflicts that began with a prophecy and ended with an English dynasty seeking the approval of God.
The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople, Jonathan Phillips, History Today, May 2004
What caused the knights of the Fourth Crusade to sack Constantinople and establish a Latin Empire, which lasted from 1204 to 1261? Jonathan Phillips says that it was a clash of cultures—the Byzantines saw themselves as superior to the West and the Westerners saw the Byzantines as effeminate and duplicitous.
How a Mysterious Disease Laid Low Europe's Masses, Charles L. Mee Jr., Smithsonian, February 1990
The great Bubonic plague of the fourteenth century destroyed a third of Europe's population and had profound psychological, social, religious, economic, and even artistic consequences. Charles Mee spells out the causes, symptoms, and effects of the epidemic that altered medieval life.
Positively Medieval, Stephen Cooper, History Today, May 2013
Stephen Cooper provides arguments that we should resist using "medieval" as another word for backward. The fifteenth century, in particular, was a time of remarkable progress and enlightenment.
Rich Pickings from Medieval Pilgrims, Adrian Bell and Richard Dale, History Today, January 2013
The economic importance of pilgrimages and shrines in the Middle ages and how the various means (including "miracles") of promoting these institutions, which were a lucrative source of income for the Medieval Church, have some striking parallels with modern marketing tactics and techniques.
UNIT: Renaissance and Reformation
The World, the Flesh and the Devil, Robert W. Thurston, History Today, November 1, 2006
Thurston surveys the history of witch hunting and the misogyny that accompanied it and how Dominican monk Heinrich Kramer's linking of demonology to heresy provided a powerful intellectual justification for the trial and execution of thousands of women.
Christian Humanism: From Renaissance to Reformation, Lucy Wooding, History Review, September 2009
Christian Humanism had key features such as internationalism (or traveling scholars), correspondence between scholars, one language—Latin—a sound biblical knowledge, and a desire for education.
The Luther Legacy, Derek Wilson, History Today, May 2007
Martin Luther has been seen as an advocate of individual freedom, intellectual repression, nationalism, spirituality, and secularism. But, as Derek Wilson says, this did not make Luther a dry philosopher but a flesh-and-blood fallible human being. He was a theologian who lived his theology.
Who Was Henry VIII and When Did It All Go Wrong?, Suzannah Lipscomb, History Today, April 2009
The author says that what we know today of King Henry VIII is a false picture. We take our understanding of Henry in his last days and use it as a blueprint for his life and his reign—his character flaws were not manifest until late in his life.
Women in War, John A. Lynn, Military History, October 2007
In the armies of sixteenth-century Europe, there was a woman for every man: the tasks performed by camp women were prostitution, laundry, meal preparation, commerce, and heavy camp labor. The import of women in the field is recounted by John A. Lynn.
The King's Good Book, Derek Wilson, History Today, January 2011
Translated in 1611, the King James Authorized Version of the Bible is still the best known and most widely used English Bible in the world. But why was it produced? What role did religious controversy and doctrinal difference between the Church of England and Reformation Catholicism play in its development?