Sources of World Societies, Volume 1

Chapter 1: The Earliest Human Societies, to 2500 B.C.E.

1-1 An Indian View of Creation

From the Rig Veda "The Creation Hymn" (ca. 600 B.C.E.)

1-2 The Yuchi People Explain Their Origins

YUCHI TRIBE OF NORTH AMERICA, In the Beginning (ca. 1929)

1-3 A Greek Description of the Elemental Forces

HESIOD, From Theogony (ca. 700 B.C.E.)

1-4 Clues about Early Human History in a Neolithic Grave

Double Burial from Mantua, Italy (ca. 6000-5000 B.C.E.)

1-5 Artistic Expression in the Paleolithic Era

Cave Painting of a Male and Female Deer (ca. 13,000 B.C.E.)

2-1 A Mesopotamian Quest for Immortality

From The Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2700-2500 B.C.E.)

2-2 Law and Order in Ancient Babylonia

HAMMURABI, Hammurabi’s Code: Laws on Society and Family Life (ca. 1800 B.C.E.)

2-3 Moses Leads the Hebrews from Egypt

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

2-4 An Assyrian Emperor’s Resume

ASHUR-NASIR-PAL II, Inscription (ca. 875 B.C.E.)

2-5 A Persian Emperor Proclaims his Righteousness

CYRUS OF PERSIA, Righteous Rule (ca. 530 B.C.E.)

3-1 Harrapan Urban Planning

A Residential Street in Mohenjo-daro (ca. 2500-2000 B.C.E.)

3-2 Suffering and Enlightenment

THE BUDDAH, The Buddha Obtains Enlightenment (ca. 530-29 B.C.E.)

3-3 The Search for Enlightenment in the Upanishads

From the Upanishads: On the Nature of the Soul (ca. 450 B.C.E.)

3-4 Social Mores in Ancient India

From The Laws of Manu (ca. 100 B.C.E.-200 C.E.)

3-5 Ashoka Makes His Will Known

ASHOKA, From Thirteenth Rock Edict (256 B.C.E.)

4-1 Art and Culture in Shang China

Detail of Ritual Vase known as the Tigress (ca. 1200 B.C.E.)

4-2 Confucius Offers Advice on Kingship

From Book of Documents (ca. 900-100 B.C.E.)

4-3 Confucian Maxims and Sayings

CONFUCIUS, From Analects (ca. 500 B.C.E. – 50 C.E.)

4-4 Laozi Offers Advice on Following the Way

LAOZI, From Dao De Jing: Administering the Empire (ca. 500-400 B.C.E.)

4-5 Han Fei Lays Out the Legalist View of Good Government

HAN FEI, The Five Vermin (ca. 250-25 B.C.E.)

5-1 Honor, Pride, and Anger in Ancient Greece

HOMER, From the Iliad: Achilles’s Anger and Its Consequences (ca. 750 B.C.E.)

5-2 Socrates Defends Himself Against Criminal Charges

PLATO, From Apologia (ca. 399 B.C.E.)

5-3 A Hellenistic King Embraces Hellenic Virtues

PLUTARCH, From Life of Cleomenes III (First Century C.E.)

5-4 A Hellenic Depiction of Physical Perfection

Zeus from Artemisium (ca. 460 B.C.E.)

5-5 A Hellenistic Depiction of Human Suffering

The Dying Gaul (ca. 230-220 B.C.E.)

6-1 The Romans Set Their Basic Laws in Stone

The Twelve Tables (ca. 450 B.C.E.)

6-2 Plutarch Describes a Man Who Would Be King

PLUTARCH, On Julius Caesar, A Man of Unlimited Ambition (ca. 44 C.E.)

6-3 A Roman Villa Sheds Light on Roman Religion

Initiation into the Cult of Dionysus (ca. 60-50 B.C.E.)

6-4 An Official Asks for Advice on Dealing with Christians

PLINY THE YOUNGER, Letters to and from the Emperor Trajan on Christians (111-113 C.E.)

6-5 A Christian Defends His Religion Against Roman Persecution

TERTULLIAN, From Apologia (ca. 197 C.E.)

7-1 A Chinese Historian Describes a Nomadic People

SIMA QIAN, From The Records of the Historian: On the Xiongnu (ca. 109-86 B.C.E.)

7-2 What Makes a Good Woman?

BAN ZHAO, From Lessons for Women (ca. 80 C.E.)

7-3 Cultural Fusion in Medieval Japan

Hachiman, Shinto God of War, in the Guise of a Buddhist Monk (ca. 1100-1300 C.E.)

7-4 Reconciling Buddhism with Traditional Chinese Values

HAN YU, From Lives of the Eminent Monks: Zhu Seng Du (ca. 550 C.E.)

7-5 Emperoer Wuzong Cracks Down on Buddhism

EMPEROR WUZONG, Edict on the Suppression of Buddhism (845 C.E.)

8-1 Rules for a Religious Community

SAINT BENEDICT OF NURSIA, From The Rule of Saint Benedict: Work and Pray (529)

8-2 A Germanic People Create a Code of Law

The Law of the Salian Franks (ca. 500-600)

8-3 The Greed and Immorality of a Byzantine Emperor

PROCOPIUS, From the Secret History (ca. 550-562)

8-4 Constantinople's Crowning Glory

Hagia Sophia (537)

8-5 Einhard Describes Charlemagne, the Man

EINHARD, From The Life of Charlemagne (829-836)

9-1 Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Qur'an

MUHAMMAD, Qur'an (ca. 650)

9-2 Muhammad Signs a Treaty with the Jews of Medina

MUHAMMAD, The Constitution of Medina (ca. 625)

9-3 A Spanish Jew Visits Baghdad

BENJAMIN BEN JONAH OF TUDELA, From Book of Travels (ca. 1159-1172)

9-4 Geometry and Islamic Design

Great Mosque, Cordoba, Spain, and Gate of Al Hakam II, Detail (987)

9-5 A Muslim Scholar Explores the History of Islam

IBN KHALDUN, From Prolegomenon to History: On Shi'ite Succession (1377)

10-1 A Muslim Traveler Describes Ghana and Mali

ABU UBAYDALLAH AL-BAKRI, From The Book of Routes and Realms (ca. 1067-1068)

10-2 Fact and Fiction in an Account of Sub-Saharan Africa

ABU HAMID MUHAMMAD AL-ANDALUSI AL-GHARNATI, From Gift of the Spirit (ca. 1120-1170)

10-3 Leo Africanus Describes Timbuktu to a European Audience

LEO AFRICANUS (AL-HASAN IBN MUHAMMAD AL-WAZZAN AL-FASI), From The History and Description of Africa (1526)

10-4 A History of West Africa by West Africans

From Epic of Sundiata (ca. 1250)

11-1 An Artist Uses Archaeological Evidence to Imagine an Ancient City

Moundville (ca. 1000-1450 C.E.)

11-2 A Spanish Conquistador Describes Inca Government

PEDRO DE CIEZA DE LEON, From Chronicles: On the Inca (ca. 1535)

11-3 Diego Durán Describes Mexica Customs

DIEGO DURAN, From Book of the Gods and Rites (ca. 1576-1579)

11-4 The Rules and Objectives of a Maya Ball Game

ANTONIO DE HERRERA Y TORDESILLAS, On the Maya Ball Game Tlachtli (ca. 1598)

11-5 The Gods Challenge Two Maya Heroes to a Game of Tlachtli

FATHER FRANCISCO XIMENEZ, From 　Popol Vuh (ca. 1701-1703)

12-1 Observations on Mongol Rule in China

Epitaph for the Honorable Menggu (ca. 1272)

12-2 The Role of a Mongol Leader in Battle

RASHID-AL-DIN, Chinggis Khan Fighting the Tartars (ca. 1300)

12-3 A European Merchant Travels the Silk Road

MARCO POLO, From Travels: Description of the World (ca. 1298)

12-4 Hindu Description of the Ideal Wife

VATSYAYANA, From the Kamasutra: About a Wife (ca. 150-1200)

12-5 A Muslim Scholar Offers Guidance to His Fellow Believers

MAULANA BURHAN UD-DIN MARGHINANI, From Guidance: Alms, Marriage, and Testimony (ca. 1197)

13-1 Marriage and Female Virtue

MURASAKI SHIKIBU, From The Tale of Genji (ca. 1021)

13-2 The Experience of War in Feudal Japan

From The Tale of the Heike (ca. 1250)

13-3 A Chinese Sculptor Envisions Enlightenment

Figure of a Lohan, Yuan Dynasty (1260-1368)

13-4 The Islamic World as Seen from a Chinese Perspective

CHAU JU-KUA, On the Arab People of Quanzhou (ca. 1250)

13-5 Widowhood and Female Virtue in Medieval China

Widows Loyal Unto Death (ca. 1754)

14-1 The Pope Calls on Christians to Wage a Holy War

FULCHER OF CHARTRES, From A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem: The Call for Crusade (ca. 1100-1127)

14-2 A Muslim View of the Franks

ZAKARIYA AL-QAZWINI, From Monuments of the Lands: An Islamic View of the West (1275-1276)

14-3 The Virgin Mary in Popular Religion

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

14-4 Royal Power and the Rule of Law

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

14-5 A Scholastic Places Logic in the Service of Theology

THOMAS AQUINAS, From Summa Theologica: Can It Be Demonstrated That God Exists? (1268)

15-1 Petrarch Expresses His Admiration for Classical Works

PETRARCH, Letters (ca. 1354, 1360)

15-2 Pico Della Mirandola Argues for the Importance of Philosophical Debate

PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA, From On the Dignity of Man (1486)

15-3 A Female Renaissance Painter Examines Gender and Power

ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI, Susanna and the Elders (1610)

15-4 Luther Calls on the German Nobility to Break with the Catholic Church

MARTIN LUTHER, From Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520)

15-5 John Calvin Explains His Views on Faith and the Clergy

JOHN CALVIN, From Instruction in Faith (1537)

16-1 The World as Europeans Knew it in 1502

World Map (1502)

16-2 Columbus Defends His Accomplishments

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, Letter from the Third Voyage (1493)

16-3 Spanish Ambitions in the New World

THEODORE DE BRY, Columbus at Hispaniola (ca. 1590)

16-4 Cross-Cultural Communications and Conquest

BERNAL DIAZ DEL CASTILLO, From The True History of the Conquest of New Spain (1568)

16-5 Scenes from the Spanish Conquest of Mexica

From The Florentine Codex (ca. 1577-1580)