The story of CIVILIZATION

We finish the Bronze Age with the Indus Valley civilization. We've done Egypt. We've done Mesopotamia. Now we're doing the Indus Valley civilization. I'm going to look at three questions. First of all, what is it that makes the Indus Valley civilization

Three General Points About History We are doing Mesopotamia. This is the Bronze Age. Before I begin, I want to make three general points about the study of history and how civilizations develop. The first point is this: every culture has a mythology. Mythology is the collective worldview of the

The Great Pyramid The Great Pyramid was built about 2500 BC, that's 4,500 years ago, by a pharaoh named Khufu. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It's the only one that's still standing. From 2500 until 1400 CE,

Greeks and Romans I want to summarize and review what we've learned about Rome, compare and contrast it to the Greeks, and look forward on how the Romans and the Greeks will influence the development of Western civilization, including Christianity. The Romans and the Greeks are very different

After Caesar's Assassination The year is 44 BCE, and Julius Caesar has just been assassinated. There are 60 senators in the conspiracy, but the three main conspirators are Marcus Brutus, who is considered the leader of the conspiracy, Cassius and Decimus Brutus. After they assassinated Caesar, obviously Rome

Three Questions About Caesar Julius Caesar is considered the greatest historical figure of all time. He's also one of the most controversial. We're going to look at three questions about his life, and I want to provide an argument about his life. The first question we&

Rome and Its Neighbors Traditionally, we believe Rome was founded in the year 753 BC, but we don't know. That's just what tradition says. That's what the Romans believe. We actually don't know. Around this time, Rome is just a small, insignificant

Three Paradoxes A lot of what I will say will be controversial. Feel free to challenge me, feel free to ask for clarification, feel free to ask any questions. Here's my argument: Aristotle is a paradox. He is one of the mysterious figures in world history. He'

The Father-Son Dynamic We discussed the father-son dynamic between Philip II and his son Alexander. We said that the father is the founder and the builder of a great organization, and as such, he will have three particular characteristics unique to him. * First of all, he will exercise

Today we will be discussing how Greek culture spread around the world and how it came to dominate the Western world and became the basis of Western civilization. Normally Westerners understood this process as one of diffusion, meaning that Greek civilization was the best, and so everyone wanted access to