Sources for Western Society, Volume 1

Please Note: Volume 1 includes Chapters 1-16, Volume 2 includes Chapters 14-30, and Since 1300 includes Chapters 11-30.

Preface

CHAPTER 1 Origins, to 1200 B.C.E.

1-1 A Mesopotamian Creation Myth

The Battle Between Marduk and Tiamat (ca. 2000-1000 B.C.E.)

1-2 The Quest for Eternal Life

The Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2750 B.C.E.)

1-3 Society and Law in Ancient Babylonia

The Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1780 B.C.E.)

1-4 A Declaration of Innocence

The Egyptian Book of the Dead (ca. 2100-1800)

1-5 Life Lessons from an Ancient Egyptian

The Precepts of Ptahotep (ca. 2650 B.C.E.)

1-6 AKHENATON, The Hymn to Aton (ca. 1350 B.C.E.)

1-7 Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur (ca. 2000-1700 B.C.E.)

2-1 The Hebrews Explain Creation

Book of Genesis (ca. 950-450 B.C.E.)

2-2 The Hebrew Law and Covenant

Exodus and Deuteronomy (ca. 950-450 B.C.E.)

2-3 Assyrian Kings Proclaim Their Greatness (ca. 1220-1070 B.C.E.)

2-4 CYRUS OF PERSIA, Ruling an Empire (ca. 550 B.C.E.)

2-5 Book of Samuel 8:1–10:27 (ca. 630-540 B.C.E.)

2-6 A Choice Between Good and Evil

ZOROASTER, Gatha 30: Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds (ca. 600 B.C.E.)

3-1 A Long Journey Home

HOMER, The Odyssey: Odysseus and the Sirens (ca. 800 B.C.E.)

3-2 Moral Instruction and Good Advice

HESIOD, Works and Days (ca. 800 B.C.E.)

3-3 A Clash of Loyalties

SOPHOCLES, Antigone (441 B.C.E.)

3-4 THUCYDIDES, The History of the Peloponnesian War: Pericles’s Funeral Oration (ca. 400 B.C.E.)

3-5 PLATO, The Republic: The Allegory of the Cave (ca. 360 B.C.E.)

3-6 Choosing the Best State

ARISTOTLE, Politics: Democracy (ca. 340 B.C.E.)

4-1 Remembering a Legend

EPHIPPUS OF OLYNTHUS, On the Burial of Alexander and Hephaestion: Ephippus of Olynthus Remembers Alexander the Great (ca. 323 B.C.E.)

4-2 A Jewish Response to Hellenistic Rule

First and Second Books of the Maccabees (ca. 124-100 B.C.E.)

4-3 DIOGENES LAERTIUS, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers: Diogenes of Sinope, the Cynic (ca. 300-200 B.C.E.)

4-4 EPICURUS, The Principal Doctrines of Epicureanism (ca. 306 B.C.E.)

4-5 EPICTETUS, Encheiridion, or The Manual (ca. 100 C.E.)

4-6 A Greek View of Byzantium

POLYBIUS, A Greek Historian Describes Byzantium’s Contribution to Regional Trade (ca. 170-118 B.C.E.)

5-1 The Moral Roots of the Republic

LIVY, The Rape of Lucretia (ca. 27-25 B.C.E.)

5-2 Roman Family Values

POLYBIUS, The Histories (ca. 160-140 B.C.E.)

5-3 An Effort to Resolve Social Conflict

The Laws of the Twelve Tables (449 B.C.E.)

5-4 Life in a Roman City

SENECA, The Sounds of a Roman Bath (ca. 50 C.E.)

5-5- APPIAN OF ALEXANDRIA, The Civil Wars (ca. 100 C.E.)

5-6 PLUTARCH, On Julius Caesar, a Man of Unlimited Ambition (ca. 44 B.C.E.)

6-1 Romans and Barbarians

TACITUS, Germania (ca. 100 C.E.)

6-2 A Roman Seeks the Aid of an Egyptian Goddess

APULEIUS, The Golden Ass: The Veneration of Isis (ca. 170 C.E.)

6-3 The Gospel According to Matthew: The Sermon on the Mount (28 C.E.)

6-4 PAUL OF TARSUS, Epistle to the Romans (ca. 57 C.E.)

6-5 Anti-Christian Sentiment

The Alexamenos Graffito (ca. 100 C.E.)

7-1 Church and State in Late Antiquity

SAINT AMBROSE OF MILAN, Emperor Theodosius Brought to Heel (390)

7-2 Rules for Monastic Living

SAINT BENEDICT OF NURSIA, The Rule of Saint Benedict (529)

7-3 Contrasting the Works of God with Those of Men

SAINT AUGUSTINE, City of God: The Two Cities (413-426)

7-4 Converting the Germanic Tribes to Catholicism

GREGORY OF TOURS, History of the Franks (593-594)

7-5 EMPEROR JUSTINIAN, The Institutes of Justinian (529-533)

7-6 PROCOPIUS OF CAESAREA, The Secret History (ca. 550)

8-1 A Muslim Describes the Conquest of Spain

IBN ABD-EL-HAKEM, The Conquest of Spain (ca. 870)

8-2 An Arab Account of the Frankish Defense of Gaul

ANONYMOUS ARAB SOURCE, The Battle of Poitiers (ca. 732)

8-3 WILLIBALD, Saint Boniface Destroys the Oak of Thor (ca. 750)

8-4 CHARLEMAGNE, Capitulary for Saxony (ca. 775-790)

8-5 Instructions for Royal Envoys

CHARLEMAGNE, General Capitulary for the Missi (802)

9-1 William the Conqueror Surveys His Kingdom

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: William the Conqueror and the Domesday Book (1086)

9-2 Placing Limits on Royal Power

KING JOHN OF ENGLAND, Magna Carta: The Great Charter of Liberties (1215)

9-3 A Pope and an Emperor Compete for Power

POPE GREGORY VII AND EMPEROR HENRY IV, Mutual Recriminations: The Investiture Controversy Begins (1076)

9-4 A Call for Crusade

ROBERT THE MONK OF RHEIMS, Urban II at the Council of Clermont (ca. 1120)

9-5 GUIBERT OF NOGENT/ANNA COMNENA, Peter the Hermit and the "People’s Crusade" (ca. 1108-1148)

9-6 ANONYMOUS OF MAINZ, The Slaughter of the Jews (ca. 1096)

9-7 A Muslim Historian Recounts the Crusades

ALI IBN AL-ATHIR, The Complete History (1231)

10-1 Life on a Medieval Manor

Manorial Records of Bernehorne (1307)

10-2 Medieval Workers

On Laborers: A Dialogue Between Teacher and Student (ca. 1000)

10-3 Life as a Medieval Guild Member

The Ordinances of London’s Leatherworkers (1346)

10-4 Medieval Clothing Laws

THE COMMUNE OF FLORENCE, A Sumptuary Law: Restrictions on Dress (1373)

10-5 IBN RUSHD (AVERROES), Religion and Philosophy (ca. 1190)

10-6 SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, Summa Theologica: Proof of the Existence of God (1268)

10-7 An Author Relates a Popular Religious Story

JACQUES DE VITRY, The Virgin Mary Saves a Monk and His Lover (ca. 1200)

11-1 The Psychological and Emotional Impact of the Plague

GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO, The Decameron: The Plague Hits Florence (ca. 1350)

11-2 A Town Chronicler Describes the Black Death

AGNOLO DI TURA, Sienese Chronicle (1348-1351)

11-3 Social and Economic Unrest in England

The Anonimalle Chronicle: The English Peasants’ Revolt (1381)

11-4 Popular Religious Responses to the Plague

Flagellants in the Netherlands Town of Tournai (1349)

11-5 CATHERINE OF SIENA, Letter to Gregory XI (1372)

11-6 The Debate over Joan of Arc’s Clothes (1429)

12-1 An Italian Admirer of the Classical Past

PETRARCH, Letter to Livy (1350)

12-2 Power Politics During the Italian Renaissance

NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI, The Prince (1513)

12-3 A Description of the Ideal Courtier

BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE, The Book of the Courtier (1528)

12-4 A Humanist Prescription for the Education of Princes

DESIDERIUS ERASMUS, The Education of a Christian Prince (1516)

12-5 A Female Author Argues for the Education of Women

CHRISTINE DE PIZAN, The Book of the City of Ladies: Against Those Men Who Claim It Is Not Good for Women to Be Educated (1404)

12-6 ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI, Susannah and the Elders (1610)

12-7 ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI, Judith and Holofernes (1612)

13-1 Martin Luther Takes a Stand

MARTIN LUTHER, Ninety-five Theses on the Power of Indulgences (1517)

13-2 Reformation Propaganda

HANS HOLBEING THE YOUNGER, Luther as the German Hercules (ca. 1519)

13-3 HEINRICH KRAMER, Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches) (1487)

13-4 JEAN BODIN, On the Demon-Mania of Witches (1580)

13-5 Calvin Defines His Protestant Vision

JOHN CALVIN, The Institutes of Christian Religion (1559)

13-6 Training the Soldiers of Christ

IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA, Rules for Right Thinking (1548)

14-1 Columbus Sets the Context for His Voyage

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, Diario (1492)

14-2 Cortés Describes the Conquest of the Aztecs

Hernán Cortés, Two Letters to Charles V: On the Conquest of the Aztecs (1521)

14-3 ALVISE DA CA’DA MOSTO, Description of Capo Bianco and the Islands Nearest to It: Fifteenth- Century Slave Trade in West Africa (1455-1456)

14-4 KING NZINGA MBEMBA AFFONSO OF CONGO, Letters on the Slave Trade (1526)

14-5 Circumnavigating the Globe

Navigation and Voyage Which Ferdinand Magellan Made from Seville to Maluco in the Year 1519 (1519-1522)

14-6 A Critique of European "Superiority"

MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE, Of Cannibals (1580)

15-1 A French King Establishes Limited Religious Toleration

HENRY IV, Edict of Nantes (1598)

15-2 An Argument for the Divine Right of Kings

JEAN DOMAT, Of the Government and General Policy of a State (1689)

15-3 The English Place Limits on Monarchical Power

The Bill of Rights (1689)

15-4 A Tsar Imposes Western Styles on the Russians

PETER THE GREAT, Edicts and Decrees (1699-1723)

15-5 THOMAS HOBBES, Leviathan (1651)

15-6 JOHN LOCKE, Second Treatise of Civil Government: Vindication for the Glorious Revolution (1690)

16-1 A New Model of the Solar System

NICOLAUS COPERNICUS, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1542)

16-2 A Defense of Science

FRANCIS BACON, On Superstition and the Virtue of Science (1620)

16-3 A Defense of a Sun-Centered Universe

GALILEO GALILEI, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany (1615)

16-4 CHARLES DE SECONDAT, BARON DE MONTESQUIEU, The Spirit of Laws: On the Separation of Governmental Powers (1748)

16-5 JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU, The Social Contract: On Popular Sovereignty and the General Will (1762)

16-6 A Philosophe Argues for Religious Toleration

VOLTAIRE, A Treatise on Toleration (1763)