西方思想经典导读第一讲

Areas Covered by Ancient Greece
It
refers not only to the territory of the present Greek state, but also to those areas settled by Greeks: Cyprus, the Aegan coast of Turkey, Sicily and southern Italy, and the scattered Greek settlements on the coasts of what are now Albania, Bulgaria, Egypt, France, Libya, Romania, Spain, and Ukraine.

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The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and it developed over the next three millennia. Its history occurred in a series of stable Kingdoms, separated by periods of relative instability known as Intermediate Periods. Ancient Egypt reached its pinnacle during the New Kingdom, after which it entered a period of slow decline. Egypt was conquered by a succession of foreign powers in this late period, and the rule of the pharaohs officially ended in 31 BC when the early Roman Empire conquered Egypt and made it a province.
Other Cultures between the Two:
Between
these two areas there arose a number of smaller states, the most important of which were the Phoenician and the Hebrew states. The Phoenicians, a merchantile people, facilitated trade, established colinies, and spread Near Eastern culture. The Hebrews developed religious and ethical ideas that would be a foundation for both Christian and Islamic civilization.

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt.
The Main Contents:
Geography
Brief
History Significance Key figures and representative works
Ancient
Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times.
Classical
Period (500-336 BC) - Classical period of ancient Greek history, is fixed between about 500 B. C., when the Greeks began to come into conflict with the kingdom of Persia to the east, and the death of the Macedonian king and conqueror Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. In this period Athens reached its greatest political and cultural heights: the full development of the democratic system of government under the Athenian statesman Pericles; the building of the Parthenon(希腊的帕台农神庙) on the Acropolis; the creation of the tragedies of Sophocles（索福柯勒斯）, Aeschylus（埃斯库罗 斯） and Euripides（欧里庇得斯）; and the founding of the philosophical schools of Socrates and Plato.
The
word “Mesopotamia” is in origin a Greek name – “land between the rivers”, is a toponym for the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modernday Iraq, as well as some parts of northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and southwestern Iran.
Similiarities between the Two Cultures:
Both
were dependent on rivers and the rich soil deposited be periodic floods; Both had to develop and maintain organized systems of irrigation and flood control; Both eventually had powerful kings and a priestly caste; Both believed in all-powerful gods who played an active role in the world.
Difference between the Two Cultures:
Mesopotamia
was not as well protected geographically as Egypt and was thus more open to attack; The rivers Trigris and Euphrates were not as navigable, nor were the floods as regular as the Nile’s; So the culture of Mesopotamis reflected a sense of instability and pessimism in comparison to the stability and optimism that characterized Egyptians.
It
fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC and after his death it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire. Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthians. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia (particularly Assyria) coming under periodic Roman control. In 226 AD, it fell to the Sassanid Persians, and remained under Persian rule until the 7th century Arab Islamic conquest of the Sassanid Empire. A number of primarily Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD.
Mesopotamia
is characterized by constant warfare and a succession of shifting empires. Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. In the Iron Age, it was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. The indigenous Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians & Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. (阿契美尼德帝国).
Time:
5 to 6 thousand years ago and shortly after that at the end of the 4th millennium B.C. Geography: Mesopotamia near the Tigris and Euphrates River and Egypt around the Nile Siganificance: Although westerners are more ready to recognize their roots in Greek Civilization, actually western civilization was born in the ancient Near East.
Brief History:
The
history of Greece can be traced back to Stone Age hunters. Later came early farmers and the civilizations of the Minoan and Mycenaean kings. This was followed by a period of wars and invasions, known as the Dark Ages. In about 1100 BC, a people called the Dorians invaded from the north and spread down the west coast. In the period from 500-336 BC Greece was divided into small city states, each of which consisted of a city and its surrounding countryside.
From the Pre-Greek Time to Roman Period
The General Structure:
Pre-Greek
Period Greek Culture Roman Culture
Two Main Parts: Mesopotamian and Egyptian Culture