Table of Contents

Topical ContentsPrefaceUsing this BookA Note on Chinese Romanization1. Early Civilizations of Southwestern Asia and Northeastern AfricaPrimary SourcesUsing Primary Sources: The Laws of HammurabiThe Epic of GilgameshThe Laws of HammurabiHymn to the PharaohHarkhuf, Egypt’s Southern NeighborsThe Old Testament—Genesis and ExodusThe Aton Hymn and Psalm 104: The Egyptians and the HebrewsVisual SourcesUsing Visual Sources: The “Royal Standard” of UrSumer: The “Royal Standard” of UrEgyptian Wall Paintings from the Tomb of MennaThe Environment and the Rise of Civilization in Southwestern Asia and Northeatern AfricaSecondary SourcesUsing Secondary Sources: The Agricultural RevolutionRobert J. Braidwood, The Agricultural RevolutionWilliam H. McNeill, The Process of CivilizationHerbert J. Muller, Freedom in the Ancient World: Civilization in SumerBarbara S. Lesko, Women of Egypt and the Ancient Near East2. India to C.E. 500Primary SourcesThe Lawbook of Manu: The Caste SystemThe MahābhārataThe Lawbook of Manu: Marriage and Sexual ActivityThe KāmasūtraThe Book of Sermons: The Teachings of JainismThe Book of Later Instructions: Janian IdealsThe Life of Buddha: The Origins of BuddhismThe Mahayana Tradition: The compassion of a BodhisattvaVisual SourcesGateway at SānchīGeography and Linguistic Divisions: The Indian SubcontinentSecondary SourcesJonathan Mark Kenoyer, The Ancient City of HarappaA. L. Basham, Aspects of Ancient Indian CultureW. Norman Brown, Cultural Continuity in India3. China, to C.E. 500Primary SourcesThe Analects: The Confucian SchoolA Confucian Poem: The Role of WomenBuddhist Song: The Stages of a Woman’s LifeMencius: How to Be a Good RulerHan Fei Zi (Han Fei Tzu), Eminence in Learning: the Legalist SchoolDaoist Writings: “The Wise Judge” and “Social Connections” Visual SourcesSalt MiningA Chinese HouseChinese BureaucracyChina’s Warring StatesSecondary SourcesEvelyn S. Rawski, Kinship in Chinese CultureRichard J. Smith, China’s Cultural Heritage4. The Mediterranean Basin: Greek CivilizationPrimary SourcesHomer, The IliadSemonides of Amorgos, Poem on WomenXenophon, Constitution of the LacedemoniansThucydides, the History of the Peloponnesian War: Athens during the Golden AgeSophocles, AntigonePlato, The RepublicHippocrates, Medicine and MagicVisual SourcesTrade, Culture, and ColonizationMigration and ColonizationThe Women’s QuartersSecondary SourcesAnthony Andrews, The Greeks: SlaveryFinley Hooper, Greek Realities5. The Mediterranean Basin: Roman Civilization and the Origins of ChristianityPrimary SourcesPolybius, Histories: The Roman ConstitutionDiodorus of Sicily, The EthiopiansPliny the Younger, Letters: the Daily Life of a Roman GovernorThe Gospel According to St. MatthewSt. Jerome, The Fall of RomeVisual SourcesThe Geographic and Cultural EnvironmentCommerce and Culture East and WestCarved Gemstone: Augustus and the Empire TransformedTomb Decoration: Death and Roman CultureSecondary Sources Gillian Clark, Roman WomenCarl Roebuck, The World of Ancient Times: The Appeal of ChristianityA. H. M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire6. The Rise of IslamPrimary SourcesThe Qur'anHasan al-Basrî, Letter to ‘Umar II: Islamic AsceticismAvicenna, Autobiography of an Islamic ScholarUsāmah Ibn-Munqidh, Memoirs: Cultural InteractionsVisual SourcesManuscript Illuminations: Scenes from the Life of MuhammadThe Spread of Islam in AfricaSecondary SourcesIra Lapidus, The Expansion of IslamW. Montgomery Watt, The Muslim Pattern of ConquestAlbert Hourani, The Islamic WorldPeter Brown, the Eastern Orientation of Islam7. India and Southeast Asia, 500-1500Primary SourcesMuhammad Mujir Wajib Adib, The Key to Paradise: Islam in IndiaMuhammad Baquir Khan, The Four Legs of the RealmBarni, Governmental AppointmentsGuru Nanak, SikhismNguyen Khac Vien, Traditional VietnamZhou Daguan (Chou Ta-Kuan), An Account of CambodiaVisual SourcesTrade along the Shores of the Indian OceanThe Borobudur Stupa: An Oceangoing ShipWomen and the SultanSecondary SourcesPercival Spear, Islam in IndiaRichard Eaton, India the “Honey Jar” and the Lure of TradeThan Tun, The Traditional Burmese Legal System8. China and Japan, 500-1500Primary SourcesWang Daokun (Wang Tao-k’un), The Biography of Zhu Jiefuy (Chu Chieh-Fu): Merchants in ChinaThe Lady Who Was a Beggar: Women in Chinese SocietySecret Societies in ChinaKitabatake Chikafusa, The Records of the Legitimate Succession of the Divine Sovereigns: Japanese UniquenessTales of Uji: Dishonest PriestsBan Zhao (Pan Chao), Lessons for WomenVisual SourcesCulture, Politics, and Power in Tang China 618-907Zhang Zeduan (Chang Tse-tuan), Riverside Scene in Qing Ming (Ch’ing Ming) FestivalThe Glory of the SamuraiSecondary SourcesJacques Gernet, Daily Life in China in the 13th Century Ichisada Miyazaki, The Imperial Examination SystemJeffrey P. Mass, Women in Early JapanPhilip Snow, The Maritime Expeditions9. The Mongols, the Turks, and the Middle East, 1000-1500Primary Sourcesal-Jāhiz, Turks and ArabsWilliam of Rubruck, Mongol Gender RelationsAhmed ibn Arabshah, Timur the Great AmirKritovoulos, Mehmed the ConquerorVisual SourcesCruelties of ConquestMīr Sayyid ‘Alī, Life in the Camp: The Nomadic TentPower in Central Asia and the Middle EastSecondary SourcesCharles Halperin, Chinggis KhanThomas T. Allsen, Mongol ImperialismMorris Rossabi, The Status of Women under Mongol RuleAlbert Habib Hourani, Muslim Arabs and OthersC. E. Bosworth, The Mongols and the Ottoman Turks 10. The Struggle for Order in the West: Europe’s Middle Ages, 500-1300Primary SourcesThe Institutes of Justinian: Byzantium and the Legacy of Roman LawFeudal Contracts and ObligationsPope Gregory VII, Letters: Secular and Ecclesiastical AuthorityReginald of Durham, The Life of Saint Godric: A Merchant AdventurerGratian, The Decretum: Medieval Women—Not in God’s ImagePope Urban II, The Opening of the CrusadesSt. Francis of Assisi, The Rule of St. FrancisVisual SourcesIllustration from a Gospel Book: Christianity and Early Medieval CulturePol de Limbourg, Medieval LifeContraction and Expansion in the Middle AgesSecondary SourcesHenri Pirenne, Mohammed and Charlemagne: The Beginnings of Medieval CivilizationJo Ann McNamara and Suzanne F. Wemple, Sanctity and Power: The Dual Pursuit of Medieval WomenJacques Le Goff, Medieval ValuesRobert Browning, The Byzantine Empire: Defeat, Decline, and ResilienceDavid Herlihy, Ecological Conditions and Demographic Change11. Transitions in the West, 1300-1500Primary SourcesGiovanni Boccaccio, the Decameron: The Plague in FlorenceThe Goodman of Paris: Instructions on Being a Good WifeFrancesco Petrarch, A Letter to Boccaccio: Literary HumanismPeter Paul Vergerio, On the Liberal ArtsChristine de Pizan, The City of LadiesNiccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVisual SourcesThe Triumph of DeathHans Holbein, Wealth, Culture, and DiplomacyJan van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride: Symbolism and the Northern RenaissanceUnrest in the Late Middle AgesFood and CrimeSecondary SourcesWilliam L. Langer, A Psychological Perspective of the Black DeathJacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in ItalyPeter Burke, The Myth of the Renaissance12. Civilizations of Sub-Saharan Africa and the AmericasPrimary SourcesIbn Battuta, A Muslim’s View of the African Kingdom of MaliChronicles of an Ethiopian KingJoāo dos Santos, Ethiopia Oriental: Courtly Life in an African KingdomPieter de Marees, Political Practices in West AfricaPedro Cieza de Leon, The Chronicle of Peru: The IncasHuman Poma, A Peruvian Chief’s Description of Inca SocietyBernal Diaz del Castillo, Memoirs: The AztecsVisual SourcesWest African GoldweightsThe Western Sudan in the 14th Century: Trade Routes and PoliticsMayan Woman and ChildrenThe Americas in 1490Secondary SourcesRoderick James McIntosh, Developing West African StatesInnocent Pikinayi, The Origins of Great ZimbabweJohn Noble Wilford, The Earliest AmericansGary Nash, Red, White and Black, the Peoples of Early AmericaRoxanne D. Ortiz, Indians of the Americas: A Geopolitical Analysis13. Global Encounters and Cultures in Conflict, 1500-1700Primary SourcesAzurara, The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of GuineaAfonso I of Kongo, Africa and Europe: The Problems of AlliancesTomé Pires, The Suma OrientalFrancesco Carletti, Women and Poverty in JapanDiego Munoz Camargo, The Aztec Account of the Conquest of MexicoLaws of the Burgos: the Spanish Colonize Central and South AmericaDavid Pietersz, Voyages from Holland to America: The Dutch Colonize North AmericaJorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, A Voyage to South America: Caste and Race in Latin America Visual SourcesExploration, Expansion, and PoliticsA Buddhist Temple: European Views of AsiaThe Conquest of Mexico as Seen by the AztecsSecondary SourcesRichard B. Reed, The Expansion of EuropeAlan Taylor, Epidemics and Environmental Change in the AmericasMorris Rossabi, Muslims in Ming ChinaJohn K. Fairbank and Ssu-yu Teng, China’s Response to the WestJean-Pierre Lehmann, Europeans Arrive in JapanM. L. Bush, The Effects of Expansion on the Non-European World14. Europe’s Early Modern Era, 1500-1789Primary SourcesMartin Luther, Justification by FaithConstitution of the Society of JesusJames I, The Powers of the Monarch in EnglandThe House of Commons, The Powers of Parliament in EnglandPeter the Great, Decree on the Invitation of ForeignersVisual SourcesLuther and the New TestamentSebald Beham, Luther and the Catholic Clergy DebatePeter Paul Rubens, Loyola and Catholic ReformPieter Brueghel, the Elder, The HarvestersThomas Hobbes, The Leviathan: Political Order and Political TheoryJean-Honoré Fragonard, Happy Accidents of the SwingSecondary SourcesEuan Cameron, What Was the Reformation?Marilyn J. Boxer and Jean H. Quataert, Women in the ReformationPeter Laslett, The World We Have Lost: The Early Modern FamilyJerome Blum, Lords and PeasantsJohn Roberts, The Ancien Régime: Ideals and Realities15. Asia, 1500-1700Primary SourcesYamaga Sokō, The Way of the SamuraiEkiken Kaibara, Greater Learning for WomenHabbah Khātūn: A Woman’s Voice in IndiaFrançois Bernier, Travels in the Mogul Empire: Politics and Society in IndiaVillage Life and Government in ChinaGhiselin de Busbeceq, The Ottoman Social OrderVisual SourcesTulsi the Elder, Bandi, and Madhu the Younger, Akbar Inspecting the Construction of Fatehpur-SikriArchitecture and the Imperial CityExpansion of the Ottoman Empire, 1520-1639Secondary SourcesV. P. S. Raghuvanshi, Marriage, Caste, and Society in IndiaPeter Mansfield, The Ottoman Empire and Its SuccessorsJonathan Spence, Hard Times and the Fall of China’s Ming Dynasty

About the Author

Dennis Sherman is Professor of History at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the City University of New York. He received his B.A. (1962) and J.D. (1965) degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and his Ph.D. (1970) from the University of Michigan . . He was Visiting Professor at the University of Paris (1978-79; 1985). He has received the Ford Foundation Prize Fellowship, the Council for Research on Economic History fellowship, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities. His publications include A Short History of Western Civilization, 8th edition (co-author); Western Civilization: Sources, Images, and Interpretations, 5th edition; World Civilizations: Sources, Images, and Interpretations, 2nd Edition (co-author); a series of introductions in the Garland Library of War and Peace; several articles and reviews on nineteenth-century French economic and social history in American and European journals, and short stories on literary reviews.



A. Tom Grunfeld is a professor of history at the State University of New York/Empire State College. He received his B.A. from the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury in 1972, his M.A. from the University of London/School of Oriental and African Studies in 1973, and his Ph.D. from New York University in 1985. He has received numerous travel and research grants from, among others, the National Endowment for the Humanities (1984), the Research Foundation of the City University of New York (1985), and the State University of New York and the Ford Foundation (1993). His publications include over 100 articles in periodicals published in over a dozen countries, The Making of Modern Tibet (1996), and On Her Own: Journalistic Adventures from the San Francisco Earthquake to the Chinese Revolution, 1917-1927 (1993), The Vietnam War: A History in Documents (with Marilyn Young and John Fitzgerald) (2001). He has lived and traveled extensively throughout Asia since 1966 and is a frequent commentator on Chinese and Tibetan matters for BBC Radio and CNN International.



David Rosner is Professor of History and Public Health at Columbia University and Co-Director of the new Program in the History of Public Health and Medicine at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. He received his M.S. in Public Health from the University of Massachusetts and his doctorate from Harvard in the History of Science and, until recently, was the University Distinguished Professor of History at the City University of New York. In addition to numerous grants, he has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, and a Josiah Macy Fellow. He has been awarded the Distinguished Scholar's Prize from the City University and recently, the Viseltear Prize for Outstanding Work in the History of Public Health from the APHA. He is author of A Once Charitable Enterprise (Cambridge University Press, 1982; Princeton University Press, 1987), and editor of Archives of Sickness, Epidemics and Public Health in New York City (Rutgers University Press, 1995) and Health Care in America: essays in Social History (with Susan Reverby). In addition, he has co-authored and edited with Gerald Markowitz numerous books and articles, including Children, Race, and Power: Kenneth and Mamie Clark's Northside Center (1996), Deadly Dust: Silicosis and the Politics of Industrial Disease (1991), Dying for Work: Safety and Health in the United States(1987), and "Slaves of the Depression": Workers' Letters about life on the Job (1987). Currently, he and Gerald Markowitz are working on a book on the boundaries between occupational and environmental health for the University of California Press.