“What Is the West?”
The Shifting Borders of the West.
Asking the Right Questions.
1. The Beginnings of Civilizations, 10,000-2000 BCE.
Culture, Agriculture, and Civilization.
The Birth of Civilization in Southwest Asia.
The Emergence of Egyptian Civilizations.
The Transformation of Europe.
Conclusion: Civilization and the West.
Justice in History: Gods and Kings in Mesopotamian Justice.
2. The International Bronze Age and its Aftermath: Trade, Empire, and Diplomacy, 1600-550 BCE.
Civilization of the Nile: The Egyptian Empire.
Civilizations of Anatolia and Mesopotamia: The Hittite, Assyrian, and Babylonian Empires.
The Civilizations of the Mediterranean: The Minoans and the Mycenaeans.
The End of the International Bronze Age and its Aftermath.
Conclusion: The International Bronze Age and the Emergence of the West.
Justice in History: Egyptian Tomb Robbers on Trial.
3. Persians, Hebrews, and Greeks: The Foundations of Western Culture, 1100-336 BCE.
Persia: An Empire on Three Continents.
Hebrew Civilization and Religions.
Greece Rebuilds, 1100-479 BCE.
The Classical Age of Greece, 479-336 BCE.
Conclusions: Classical Foundations of the West.
Justice in History: The Trial and Execution of Socrates the Questioner.
Encounters and Transformations: The Alphabet and Writing in Greece
4. The Hellenistic World and the Roman Republic, 336-31 BCE.
The Warlike Kingdom of Macedon.
Hellenistic Society and Culture.
Rome's Rise to Power.
Beginnings of the Roman Revolution.
Conclusion: Defining the West in the Hellenistic Age.
Justice in History: A Corrupt Roman Governor Is Convicted of Extortion.
The Human Body in History: Aphrodite of Melos: The Hellenistic Portrayal of the Perfect Female.
5. Enclosing the West: The Early Roman Empire and Its Neighbors: 31 BCE-235 CE.
The Imperial Center.
Life in the Roman Provinces: Assimilation, Resistance and Romanization.
The Frontier and Beyond.
Society and Culture in an Imperial Age.
Conclusion: Rome Shapes the West.
Justice in History: The Trial of Jesus in Historical Perspective.
Encounters and Transformations: The Roman City: Agents of Cultural Transformation.
6. Late Antiquity: The Age of New Boundaries, 250-600.
Crisis and Recovery in the Third Century.
Christianizing the Empire.
New Christian Communities and Identities.
The Break-Up of the Roman Empire.
Conclusion: The Age of New Boundaries.
Justice in History: Two Martyrdoms: Culture and Religion on Trial.
The Human Body in History: The Ascetic Alternative.
7. Medieval Empires and Borderlands: Byzantium and Islam.
Byzantium: The Survival of the Roman Empire.
The New World of Islam.
Conclusion: Three Cultural Realms.
Justice in History: “Judgment Belongs to God Alone”: The Battle and Arbitration at Siffin.
Encounters and Transformations: Ships of the Desert: Camels from Morocco to Central Asia.
8. Medieval Empires and Borderlands: The Latin West.
The Birth of Latin Christendom.
The Carolingians.
Invasions and Recovery in the Latin West.
The West in the East: The Crusades.
Conclusion: An Emerging Unity in the Latin West.
Justice in History: Revealing the Truth: Oaths and Ordeals.
Encounters and Transformations: Roland the El Cid.
9. Medieval Civilization: The Rise of Western Europe.
Two Worlds: Manors and Cities.
The Consolidation of Roman Catholicism.
Strengthening the Center of the West.
Medieval Culture: The Search for Understanding.
Conclusion: Asserting Western Culture.
Justice in History: Inquiring into Heresy: The Inquisition of Montaillou.
The Human Body in History: A Tale of Two Marys.
10. The Medieval West in Crisis.
A Time of Death.
A Cold Wind from the East.
Economic Depression and Social Turmoil.
An Age of Warfare.
A Troubled Church and the Demand for Religious Comfort.
The Culture of Loss.
Conclusion: Looking Inward.
Justice in History: The Trial of Joan of Arc.
The Human Body in History: The Black Death: The Signs of Disease.
11. The Italian Renaissance and Beyond: The Politics of Culture.
The Cradle of the Renaissance: The Italian City-States.
The Influence of Ancient Culture.
Antiquity and Nature in the Arts.
The Early Modern European State System.
Conclusion: The Politics of Culture.
Justice in History: Revenge as Private Justice.
The Human Body in History: The Natural and the Ideal Body in Renaissance Art.
Glossary.
Index.