Origins of Western Civilization

Catalog description

This course explores the meaning of civilization as a stage in the development of culture and examines some of the considerable cultural achievements of the earliest civilizations that have contributed to the cultural legacy of the west. Of particular interest will be the religious and philosophical ideas concerning the world and the human condition, especially as revealed in its literature, architecture, and other fine arts produced by each civilization. The civilizations examined include those of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, and of the archaic and classical Greece.