Voyage Without a Harbor: The History of Western Civilization in a Nutshell
398
Voyage Without a Harbor: The History of Western Civilization in a Nutshell
398Paperback
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781491719220 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | iUniverse, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 02/05/2014 |
| Pages: | 398 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.89(d) |
Read an Excerpt
Voyage without a Harbor
The History of Western Civilization in a Nutshell
By David D. Peck
iUniverse
Copyright © 2014 David D. Peck, PhDAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4917-1922-0
CHAPTER 1
THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS
The march of humanity ... develops indubitably in the direction of a conquest of matter put to the service of the mind: increased power for increased action. But finally, and above all, increased action for increased being. — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man
Introduction
Almost every discussion of Western civilization focuses upon the abiding contributions of the ancient Greeks and Romans. That does not mean, however, that classical Greeks (see chapter 2) or Romans (see chapter 3) created Western civilization. The "march of humanity," as Chardin called the progression of civilization, began long before the first peoples known as Greeks appeared. Furthermore, the history of civilization is rather directly tied to the history of human technologies, or as Chardin stated, the "conquest of matter put to the service of the mind: increased power for increased action." Several indispensable civilizing technologies existed long before the appearance of Greek-speaking peoples in the regions of the Aegean Sea. These ancient civilizing technologies included stone and metalworking, language and writing, government and administration, religion and art. The story of Western civilization began with the emergence of such primitive technologies — in some cases long before the founding of the first cities and kingdoms, the first vestiges of civilization, in the West.
This chapter discusses the emergence of Western civilization, beginning with prehistoric stone toolmaking and continuing through the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Persia. The abiding contributions of these earlier civilizations are noted, but perhaps more importantly, readers may come to recognize the overarching patterns of civilization drawn from the ancient past that are evident in the Western world today.
The Ages of Humanity
Historians — unsurprisingly — often narrate the story of humanity on its broadest scale, as the story of technological progress. History is consequently often divided into technological ages, representing the ages of human civilization. Danish archeologist Christian Jürgensen Thompson (1788–1865) created a widely used three-stage system for classifying ancient human history:
• Stone Age (80,000–3500 BC)
• Bronze Age (3500–1200 BC)
• Iron Age (1200–500 BC)
The date ranges are not hyper-accurate, but represent a conceptualization of the ancient past based upon broad periods in the development of key technologies that allowed humans to develop culture and, eventually, civilization. Historians have added other ages to Thompson's list, describing more recent human developments:
• Industrial Age/Age of Industrialization (1750–1900, see chapter 8)
• Age of Information/Space Age/Atomic Age (1900 to the present, see chapter 9 and the conclusion)
Each age of human history is associated with some characteristic and fundamental technology or technologies: stone, bronze (an alloy made mostly of copper and tin), and iron (which required new forges to heat the metal to much higher temperatures in order to purify it). The period of time covered in this chapter (from 80,000 to about 500 BC) is discussed within Thompson's familiar three-ages scheme.
The Stone Age
Historians generally classify the period from 2.5 million years ago to 3500 BC as the Stone Age. Stone toolmaking characterized this period, together with its related impact on human social organization. The Stone Age is further subdivided into the Paleolithic, the Mesolithic, and the Neolithic eras. The Paleolithic era (meaning the "Old Stone Age") lasted from about 2.5 million BC to about 40,000 BC and was characterized by the manufacture of stone hand axes. The Mesolithic era (meaning "Middle Stone Age") lasted from about 40,000 BC until about 10,000 BC, or the end of the last major Ice Age, and witnessed new technologies, such as stone scrapers and projectile weapons (principally primitive spears). Toward the end of the Paleolithic, a new species of hominid emerged: Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens exhibited all of the characteristics of modern humans, including toolmaking. Later, at the beginning of the Mesolithic period, the first human hunter-gatherer societies formed. By the time the Mesolithic era ended, the first semi-settled agricultural communities formed. Historians speak of the emergence of language and culture near the end of this era, such as the Natufian culture of the ancient Near East. Significant as these collective achievements were, they pale when compared to the steady and profound technological advancements of the Neolithic era, the period when all of the core building blocks of civilization were created, as we shall see.
Neolithic Revolutions
The Neolithic Age lasted in the Near East from the end of the last Ice Age (about 10,000 BC) until about 3500 BC. Technological advancements made during the Neolithic Era successfully addressed two fundamental human needs, both of which are necessary for the establishment of complex societies and civilizations: first, a reliable source of healthy foods, and second, a reliable supply of potable water. The progressive domestication of animals and plants addressed food-related needs. During this time, the first animals were domesticated, as were the first plants, meaning that they were brought under human control, cultivation, and harvesting. Between 12,000 and 8500 BC, wheat, barley, beans, peas, and similar plants were domesticated successfully in the Near East. By about 7000 BC, cattle, goats, pigs, and chickens were domesticated. This process is referred to as the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution and is considered to be the period of the most profound technological innovation in history.
Primitive agricultural techniques reflected the hunter-gatherer social inheritance of the Mesolithic: seminomadic groups used slash-and-burn agriculture, which eventually gave way to permanent farms and related food-storage methods and facilities. Toward the end of the Neolithic, newly established settled communities with permanent field cultivation appeared throughout the Near East, and by 6,000 BC, the first large-scale granaries were built. The invention of pottery making and ceramics provided storage for wine and oil. In addition to agricultural improvements, human language emerged during this time, as did the mastery of fire and cooking. Humans at the end of the Neolithic were in general much better off than their predecessors.
The Age of Metals
Without the mastery of metalworking, there would be no civilization — at least not as we now know it. Think for a moment about how much of your world involves metals in one form or another. The origins of metallurgy stretch into the distant past, and one can imagine how early humans found stone useful — first as weapons and later as tools — but imagining how the first human decided that melting rocks would somehow make the world a better place poses a serious conundrum. Whoever discovered the uses of metals and however it was done, metalwork soon became essential to technological progress beyond its comparatively limited beginnings in stone.
The Bronze Age
The Bronze Age, a period in which civilizations relied upon bronze smelting and related technologies, lasted in the Near East from about 2800 to about 1200 BC. The technologies associated with the smelting and casting of metals emerged in Mesopotamia sometime around 6000 BC. The first efforts at metalworking involved softer metals with lower melting points, such as gold and copper. However, the very qualities that allowed gold and copper to be smelted made them inadequate for more demanding uses. By about 4000 BC, bronze was invented. Bronze is an alloy (an amalgam of more than one metal) made primarily from tin and copper. It is more durable than either and is comparatively resistant to corrosion, including saltwater corrosion (many ship propellers continue to be cast in bronze to this day). It was used to cast fittings for ships, hinges for doors and gates, and wheel hubs for chariots and for weaponry. The advent of bronze smelting played an important role in the emergence of civilization.
By the third millennium BC, nearly every society moving toward civilization used bronze. Obtaining the ores and the expertise necessary to work bronze posed a significant challenge, however. First of all, the knowledge and techniques of metal casting were guarded, and bronzesmiths customarily behaved as quasi priests, in some cases requiring religious initiation into their ranks before sharing their knowledge. Second, tin is rare compared to copper; consequently, societies short on tin had to engage in long-distance trade to manufacture bronze. Third, bronze melts at about 1,700ºF — depending on the ratio of alloys — requiring the construction and maintenance of high-temperature smelting furnaces. Consequently, bronze smelting and related technologies (such as mining) required a more specialized labor, prompted the establishment of sustained regional trade and economic exchange for the first time, and necessitated construction of permanent settlements with forges. Although Mesopotamia mastered bronze working first, by 2800 BC all four "hydraulic" (see below) civilizations had mastered the craft to one degree or another, justifying the connection between bronze-related technologies and the rise of civilization.
The Iron Age
Sometime toward the last half of the second millennium BC, a new type of smelting forge, called a bloomery, was invented. The bloomery provided the significantly elevated temperatures necessary to smelt and purify iron (2,795°F). Iron, like bronze, can be cast — that is, it can be melted, poured into a mold, and finished. Iron, however, may also be forged. Forging involves a process of repeated heating and cooling of the metal, combined with shaping and hardening by a blacksmith using a hammer and anvil. Forged iron had several notable advantages over cast bronze (or even cast iron): forged iron parts such as wheel hubs and door hinges maintained their true shape longer than bronze counterparts; iron tools were less brittle, had higher tensile strength, and were more flexible; and iron weapons held an edge longer. Although bronze casting continued through the Iron Age (1200–500 BC), emerging kingdoms depended upon incorporation of iron technologies and iron-related benefits. The biblical book of Judges, for example, indicates the military edge gained through the use of iron technologies: "They [the men of Judah] took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron" (Judges 1:19 NIV, emphasis added).
"Hydraulic" Civilizations
By 4000 BC, the fundamental agricultural and metal-based technologies discussed above appeared in the Indus River Valley (primarily located in modern Pakistan ) and by 2500 BC had made their way as far west as the British Isles. The first cities, however, appeared around rivers in the Near East, where irrigation-based agriculture capable of sustaining a large population was invented. The region of Mesopotamia (meaning "land between rivers") was the first to build and form a cohesive civilization. Egypt, the "gift of the Nile" as the Greek historian Herodotus later called it, followed shortly after, almost contemporaneously. By about 2000 BC, four foundational civilizations had been founded near major rivers and fertile plains in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and along the Yellow River in China. These are termed "hydraulic civilizations" due to their proximity to rivers and their use of irrigation and wet-farming techniques. The hydraulic civilizations mastered metalworking, in addition to essential agricultural techniques. Because Mesopotamia and Egypt are central to the story of Western civilization, we will focus on them.
Mesopotamia: The Cradle of Civilization
The region of Mesopotamia comprises the land bounded by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and their confluence, essentially following the borders of modern Iraq. Because the earliest civilizations are thought to have emerged there, historians call the region the "cradle of civilization," meaning the place where civilization was born and nurtured into maturity. Beginning in about 3500 BC, the land was first ruled by smaller city-states, then a series of kingdoms, and finally by the Persians (who originated outside Mesopotamia).
Mesopotamian civilization began with a people known as the Sumerians. Inhabiting the southern regions of the Tigris-Euphrates river valley, they founded several important cities in the area, such as Uruk (ca. 4000 BC) and Ur (ca. 3800 BC). These cities functioned as religious centers, provided markets and promoted trade, and offered increased protection for the inhabitants. The Sumerians are widely credited with the invention of several basic technologies associated with the rise of civilization: the wheel (as early as 5500 BC), the sail (ca. 3000 BC), writing (ca. 3000 BC), the "seeder plow" (ca. 2000 BC), and a numerical system eventually based upon the number sixty (ca. 2500 BC), associated today with the 360º circle and with time — sixty seconds and sixty minutes. The Sumerians are also thought to have been the first to master the technologies of metalworking (mining, smelting, casting, and crafting) that eventually ended the Stone Age and moved civilization into what is known as the Bronze Age (3500 to 1200 BC).
Kingdoms of Mesopotamia
By the early Bronze Age, numerous city-states arose in Mesopotamia, several with perhaps familiar names: Ur, Babylon, Damascus, Jericho, and Nineveh. Beginning as isolated villages, they became increasingly interconnected, particularly as local irrigation works multiplied within the larger Tigris-Euphrates aquifer. The rivers themselves became regional highways along which goods were increasingly exchanged, providing for better diet and occasional luxuries. The managerial sophistication and planning required to establish and govern the emerging cities encouraged the development of local monarchies, aristocracies, and supporting bureaucracies. Competition for water, food, and natural resources increased over time, and city walls and defensive towers became more common in the effort to protect one city from another. It was only a matter of time before one city conquered the others and created a regional kingdom. In fact, as the following list of kingdoms illustrates, Mesopotamia's open plains proved relatively easy to conquer but comparatively difficult to hold.
Akkad (2337–2154 BC)
During the third millennium BC, the city-states of Mesopotamia expanded, creating tension and, eventually, outright conflict. Sargon the Great (r. 2337–2279), ruler of Akkad, conquered nearby walled cities, bringing them under a single rule and creating what may be considered the world's first multicity kingdom. From his home city of Akkad, located in south-central Mesopotamia, he conquered the nearby city-states of Ur, Uruk, and Lagash, as well as regions as far away as the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the Persian Gulf in the southeast. Sargon's sons succeeded him as kings, establishing the dynastic principle of royal succession, and the Kingdom of Akkad lasted until 2154 BC.
Babylonia (1792–1157 BC)
The city-state of Babylon had been long overshadowed by its more powerful neighbors. But under its sixth king, Hammurabi (r. 1792–1750), it conquered several neighboring cities and established itself as the premier regional power, ruled thereafter by a series of capable dynasties. Perhaps the most famous innovation associated with Babylonia was the written legal corpus known as the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi inscribed a coherent set of laws in cuneiform upon stone stellae (pillars) and placed them throughout his kingdom. The code consisted of 282 laws. The subjects covered reveal the increasing complexity of Mesopotamian civilization during the Babylonian period: contracts (complex commercial arrangements and compensations for breach of contract), marriage and divorce, construction lawsuits (e.g., compensation for a house that collapses following construction by a professional builder), and the removal of a corrupt judge. Although probably not invented by Hammurabi, the code is famous for its well-known formulation of lex talionis (the law of retribution): "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." Although the stellae differ from region to region, the most famous, the "diorite stele," now housed in the Louvre museum in Paris, resembles an upward-pointing index finger. At the apex, or "fingernail," Hammurabi is shown receiving the law directly from the sun god Shamash, the divine source of justice. The Code of Hammurabi exerted a profound influence upon subsequent western legal codes down through the ages until the present. The kingdom begun by Hammurabi is often called "Old Babylonia" to distinguish it from the Chaldean Kingdom (or Neo-Babylonian Kingdom, below).
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Voyage without a Harbor by David D. Peck. Copyright © 2014 David D. Peck, PhD. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Preface, xi,Part I Ancient Origins,
CHAPTER 1 The First Civilizations, 1,
CHAPTER 2 Classical Greece, 33,
CHAPTER 3 Classical Rome, 75,
Part II The Creation of Europe,
CHAPTER 4 Emergence of Christendom, 111,
CHAPTER 5 The High Middle Ages, 151,
CHAPTER 6 Exploration, Renaissance, and Reformation, 183,
Part III Modern Times,
CHAPTER 7 Absolutism and the Age of Reason, 229,
CHAPTER 8 Age of Revolutions, 267,
CHAPTER 9 The World at War, 317,
Conclusion, 357,
Sources and Further Reading, 361,
Index, 371,