Chapters

1. History’s Story
2. Wanderers and Settlers: The Ancient Middle East to 400 B.C.
3. The Chosen People: Hebrews and Jews, 2000 B.C. to A.D. 135
4. Trial of the Hellenes: The Ancient Greeks, 1200 B.C. to A.D. 146
5. Imperium Romanum: The Romans, 753 B.C. to A.D. 300
6. The Revolutionary Rabbi: Christianity, the Roman Empire, and Islam, 4 B.C. to A.D. 1453
7. From Old Rome to the New West: The Early Middle Ages, A.D. 500 to 1000
8. The Medieval Mêlée: The High and Later Middle Ages, 1000 to 1500
9. Making the Modern World: The Renaissance and Reformation, 1400 to 1648
10. Liberation of Mind and Body: Early Modern Europe, 1543 to 1815
11. Mastery of the Machine: The Industrial Revolution, 1764 to 1914
12. The Westerner’s Burden: Imperialism and Nationalism, 1810 to 1918
13. Rejections of Democracy: The InterWar Years and World War II, 1917 to 1945
14. A World Divided: The Cold War, 1945 to 1993
15. Into the Future: The Contemporary Era, 1991 to the Present

• Epilogue: Why Western Civilization?

Primary Sources for Chapter 3
The Chosen People: Hebrews and Jews, 2000 B.C. to A.D. 135

Study Guide | Art History | Links

An Obscure History

Josephus’s Description of the Roman Sack of Jerusalem:  The defeat of the rebellious Jews.
Content Question: What are the various actions and reactions of the Romans?
Analysis Question: How does this imperial conquest compare to others?
Evaluative Questions: Does empire require such brutality? Does self-identity, as rebellious Jews sought, require political independence?

 

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The Tie that Binds

Some Laws in Leviticus:  Other rules of behavior in Judaism, beyond the Ten Commandments.
Content Question: What do these laws prohibit similar to and different from the Ten Commandments?
Analysis Question: How are such laws similar to the Code of Hammurabi?
Evaluative Questions: How easy is it to live by such laws? Does it depend on how one defines the details?

10 Commandments:  The foundation of the rules of behavior of Judaism, with some more.
Content Question: What are the main prohibitions of the laws beyond the Ten Commandments?
Analysis Question: How are such laws similar to the Code of Hammurabi?
Evaluative Questions: How easy is it to live by such laws? Does it depend on how one defines the details?

The full Hebrew Scriptures are available here and here (with interlinear Hebrew).

 

Primary Source Project Links

3. Sennacerib's Annalist verus Chronicles Writer about Divine Favor

3a. Micah versus Joel