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WORLD
history
a journey through ancient and medieval texts
Revised First Edition
Edited by Touraj Daryaee
University of California, Irvine
Bassim Hamadeh, CEO and Publisher
Michael Simpson, Vice President of Acquisitions
Jamie Giganti, Managing Editor
Jess Busch, Senior Graphic Designer
Marissa Applegate, Acquisitions Editor
Jessica Knott, Project Editor
Luiz Ferreira, Licensing Associate
Copyright © 2014 by Cognella, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying,
microfilming, and recording, or in any information retrieval system without the written
permission of Cognella, Inc.
First published in the United States of America in 2014 by Cognella, Inc.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
ISBN: 978-1-62131-973-3
Contents
Introduction1
Time, cosmos, and Creation
Creation According to the Yoruba
3
Genesis5
The Bundahishn
Popol Vuh
9
13
Mesopotamia, Levant & Egypt: Calculating, writing and reasoning
The Epic of Gilgamesh
15
Hammurabi Law Code
19
Feast at Calah
25
Genesis VI-VIII
27
Psalm 137
29
Egyptian Book of the Dead
31
Egyptian Poem: New Kingdom
33
The Hymn to Aton
35
Hymns to Indra
37
Hymn to Purusha
39
The Avestan Hymns to Mithra
41
Hymns to Soma
63
The Indo-iranian world
The Gathas of Zarathustra
65
Cyrus the Great
67
Isaiah 44–45
71
Darius I: Behistun Inscription
75
Story of Yima
77
The Bhagavadgita
83
King Ashoka’s Edict After the Battle of Kalinga
89
Kama Sutra: On Kissing
95
Greco-Roman World
Homer’s Iliad: The Wrath of Achilleus
97
Pre-Socratic Philosophy
99
Plutarch103
Herodotus: The Battle of Platea
105
Pericles’s Funeral Oration
111
Alexander the Great in Persia
117
Plutarch’s Account of the Assassination of Julius Caesar 123
The Deeds of the Divine Augustus
125
Juvenal: The Emancipated Women of the Early Roman
Empire131
The silk road cultures and history
From japan to armenia to egypt
Manichaean Hymns
133
The Gospel of Thomas
137
The Gospel According to Mary
139
Islamic civilization: asia and africa
Qur’an: ‘Sura 99: Eathquakes’ and ‘Sura 30: Romans’
141
Al-Kwarizmi: On Algebra
145
The Story of Husayn’s Death
147
Muslim View of the Crusaders and Europeans
151
Diagnosis of Small-pox
153
Medieval Pagan and Christian world
Tacitus: Germania
155
Viking Life
157
Giovanni Boccaccio: Decameron
159
Medieval Codes of Chivalry
163
Rules of Courtly Love
165
Asia: philosophy, religion and the state
The Buddha: Four Noble Truths
167
Confucius 169
Lao Tzu 171
Sima Qian
175
Samguk Sagi: Sol Kyedu and The Ten Injunctions
of Wang Kon
177
Prince Shôtoku’s Seventeen-Article Constitution 179
Cao Vuong (Cao Bien)
183
Introduction
H
istorians are still searching for the best way to imagine and describe the history of humanity. This is a daunting task, as each one of us—based on our
background, training and field of expertise—tend to have different notions
of history and its turning points. However, in the past three decades the field of world
history has steadily progressed, providing new means through which to understand the
many different periods, empires, cultures and economic systems. Of course, we study
history to understand who we are as humans, how we got here and why things are the
way they are. The manner in which we can better understand what women and men of
the past thought about themselves, their surroundings and the universe is to read their
own writings from various periods in world history.
Naturally, one cannot possibly have records of every epoch and every location in the
world, simply because not that much information has survived. Also, for the purposes of
a world history course in an academic setting, one can similarly not include too many
sources, as it becomes overburdening and tiresome. Hence, I have chosen a few sources
which I believe will aid in a deeper understanding of the lives of people around the world
from the third millennium BCE to the pre-modern period in Asia, Africa, America and
Europe.
My reasoning in providing a small number of sources is that one can gain much from a
single source if a professor or a teaching assistant evokes enough relevant questions relating
to the assigned textbook and the lecture. In this way, the student can gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter and the complexity of human society and its relevance to
Introduction | 1
2 | World History
our lives. I hope the students realize that the people’s affairs and issues in the past were not
very different from ours today, regardless of the technological advances in the past century
which have made the world a very different place. Yet, we must not pass judgment on the
ancients based on the standards and morals we hold today. The pre-modern Egyptians,
Persians, Greeks, Romans and the Chinese were the product of their time and were bound
by their geographical and cultural horizons. We simply should understand how they lived,
operated and saw their world, and notice the processes that brought about the world that
we live in today.
The way to use these sources is to first read the textbook, followed by the lectures, and
then read the sources in this book associated with the regions and time periods under
discussion. In addition to the explanations of the professor and the teaching assistant,
nowadays a search on the Internet should give the student enough background to the
text(s) in this world history reader. This search by the students themselves further encourages taking the first step in research, which in turn leaves a more indelible mark on one’s
mind than a simple explanation at the beginning of each source by the author. This is an
extra step for the student, but a valuable mechanism for learning.
Touraj Daryaee
University of California, Irvine