Introduction 1
What Is World History?: An Introduction for Students of
the Premodern World 1
Questions and Connections: The World before c. 1500 C.E. 2
Geography and Periodization 2
Sources 5
Themes in Premodern World History 7
Civilization: A Student’s Introduction 10
The Evolution of the Term Civilization 11
>> 1. FERDNAND BRAUDEL, A History of Civilizations 11
The “Clash of Civilizations” 12
>> 2. SAMUEL P. HUNTINGTON, “The Clash of Civilizations?” 13
An Afrocentric Critique of Civilization 13
>> 3. CHEIKH ANTA DIOP, The African Origin of Civilization:
Myth or Reality 13
A Transnational Critique of Civilization Theory 16
>> 4. ANDRE GUNDER FRANK, Toward Humano- and Eco-centrism:
Unity in Diversity, Not Clash in Civilizations 17
Part 1
Interrogating the Origins and Development
of Civilization and City-State Societies
(c. 8000—600 B.C.E.) 19
Chapter 1 The Natural Environment and Human
Beings: Constraints and Advantages 24
The Importance of Geography in History 26
>> 5. FERNAND BRAUDEL, A History of Civilizations 26
The Physical Environment of Early Mesopotamia 27
>> 6. J. N. POSTGATE, Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy
at the Dawn of History 28
Gilgamesh and the Great Flood 29
>> 7. The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by N. K. Sandars 30
Hymn to Hapy 31
>> 8. Hymn to Hapy 32
iii
The Physical Environment of Mesoamerica 34
>> 9. Popol Vuh, translated by Dennis Tedlock 35
Chapter 2 The Origins of Agriculture and Civilization 38
The First Farmers 40
>> 10. JARED DIAMOND, Location, Location, Location:
The First Farmers 41
The Eloquent Peasant 43
>> 11. The Eloquent Peasant 44
Agriculture 45
>> 12. FRANCESCA BRAY, Agriculture 45
Complex Food Systems in Mesoamerica 47
>> 13. JOHN S. HENDERSON, The World of the Ancient Maya 47
Complex Food Systems in Africa 49
>> 14. DAVID L. SCHOENBRUN, We Are What We Eat: Ancient Agriculture
between the Great Lakes 50
Conversations with Ogotemêlli 52
>> 15. MARCEL GRIAULE, Conversations with Ogotemmêli:
An Introduction to Dogon Religious Ideas 52
Cultural Heroes and the Origins of Agriculture 53
>> 16. Han Shu 24, translated by Nancy Lee Swann 54
Chapter 3 The City: Its Origins and Nature 56
Early Mesopotamian Cities 58
>> 17. J. N. POSTGATE, Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy
at the Dawn of History 59
Uruk, a Mesopotamian City 60
>> 18. The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by N. K. Sandars 61
Cities in Mesoamerica 62
>> 19. OCTAVIO PAZ, Food of the Gods 63
>> 20. RICHARD M. LEVENTHAL AND CHARLES H. HOWARTH, JR., “Copan:
Ancient City of the Maya” 64
The Origins of the Polis 66
>> 21. ANTHONY SNODGRASS, Archaic Greece: The Age of Experiment 66
The Polis of Athens 68
>> 22. THUCYDIDES, History of the Peloponnesian War, translated by
Rex Warner 68
Humans as Polis Dwellers 69
>> 23. ARISTOTLE, The Politics of Aristotle, translated by
Ernest Barker 70
iv Contents
Chapter 4 Consolidation and Fragmentation of Power: The
Urban Context 72
The Unification of Egypt 74
>> 24. BARRY J. KEMP, Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization 74
The Memphite Theology 75
>> 25. Memphite Theology 76
Shang Oracle Bones 77
>> 26. DAVID N. KEIGHTLEY, Shang Oracle-Bone Inscriptions 77
The King of the Road 78
>> 27. ”The King of the Road”: A Self-Laudatory Shulgi Hymn 79
Lordship in Mesoamerica 80
>> 28. Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life, translated
by Dennis Tedlock 81
Citizenship in Ancient Greece 81
>> 29. ANTHONY SNODGRASS, Archaic Greece: The Age of Experiment 82
Constitution of the Athenians 83
>> 30. ARISTOTLE, Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens and Related Texts,
translated by Kurt von Fritz and Ernst Kapp 83
A North Indian City 85
>> 31. The Ra¯ma¯ yan.
a of Va¯ lm¯iki: An Epic of Ancient India,
translated by Robert P. Goldman 85
Chapter 5 Order and Chaos: Threats to Cities and
Civilization 87
Rise and Fall of the Ancient World 89
>> 32. CHESTER G. STARR, Rise and Fall of the Ancient World 89
The Laws of Ur-Nammu 91
>> 33. Laws of Ur-Nammu 91
Justice in the city 92
>> 34. PLATO, Protagoras and Meno, translated by W. K. C. Guthrie 93
The Judgment of the Dead 94
>> 35. The Judgment of the Dead 95
Warfare and Human Sacrifice 96
>> 36. Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life, translated
by Dennis Tedlock 97
The Curse of Agade 98
>> 37. The Curse of Agade 98
Nomads from the Steppes 100
>> 38. Shi Jing 178 100
Contents v
The Nomadic Point of View–The Case of Dinah 101
>> 39. Genesis 34, The New Oxford Annotated Bible 102
Part 1 Conclusion 104
Part 2
Transition and Transformation: From Islands
of Culture to Regional “World Systems”
(600 B.C.E.—300 C.E.) 107
Chapter 6 Ancient Religions: Cosmology, Cosmogony,
and Right Ritual 112
The Nature of Polytheism 114
>> 40. YEHEZKEL KAUFMANN, The Religion of Israel: From Its Beginnings
to the Babylonian Exile, translated by Moshe Greenberg 114
A Greek Account of the Birth of the Gods 117
>> 41. HESIOD, Theogony, translated by Richmond Lattimore 117
A Mayan Account of the Birth of the Universe 120
>> 42. Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life, translated
by Dennis Tedlock 120
Vedic Understandings of the Cosmic System 122
>> 43. The Laws of Manu, translated by Wendy Doniger 123
>> 44. The Ramayana, translated by R. K. Narayan 124
Humans and the Cosmos 125
>> 45. The Laws of Manu, translated by Wendy Doniger 125
>> 46. Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life, translated
by Dennis Tedlock 126
Contrasting Monotheism and Henotheism 129
>> 47. The Great Hymn to the Aten 129
>> 48. Psalm 104, The New Oxford Annotated Bible 132
Chapter 7 The Axial