The Rise and Fall of the Shang Dynasty

Two major elements in European culture a. Greco-Roman element b. Judeo-Christian element
Division One
Greek Culture and Roman Culture
Ⅰ. Greek Culture
Why should we study the Ancient Greeks?
The Greek culture is an origin of western culture
Greek culture has made to western society in the areas of art, literature, philosophy, drama, architecture and politics, astronomy
It shape today's western culture with notions of democracy and personal freedom
The most important reason to study the Greeks is for the opportunity to take small glimpses of history related to them, and try to better understand our humanity
1. The Historical context
a. Greek history began about 1200B.C. At that time, a war was fought between Greece and Troy. Armed Greek invaders hid themselves inside a large wooden horse. As the horse was brought into the Troy, the soldiers attacked and seized control. This war ended in the destruction of Troy. Maybe, Greek history began at that time. b. The High point of development of Greek Culture: the 5th century B.C. the successful repulse of the Persian invasion early in the century The Persian Wars began in 490 BC, and the Greek forces were superior and crushed the invasion at Marathon. In 480 BC, the Persians launched a second attack . This time, Persians sacked and ruined Athens. The Greeks later won a decisive military victory at Salamis, they defeated the Persian naval fleet
c. the Greek history flourished again in the second half of the 4th century B.C. In this time, Greece was ruled by Alexander, the king of Macedon. His armies went out to conquer large areas of Europe, Asia and Africa, spreading Greek culture wherever they found themselves.
d. the Greek history was broken again Alexander King died. The Roman conquered Greece in 146 B. C. In 197 BC, King Philip V lost to Roman forces in the war. The Roman military campaign overtook the Greek warriors, and Rome tried to incorporate Greek culture within its objects
2. Its social and political structures
A. Democracy （social） Athens was a democratic country. It means “all people are equal and all people have freedom” “all people” in the Greece meant only the adult male citizens and citizenship was a set of rights which a man inherited from his father. Women, children, foreigners and slaves were excluded. In other words, they had no rights. It is ironic that the Greek culture is given so much credit for ideas of democracy, because times of democracy seldom existed in Ancient Greece.
B. Greek regions ruled by a council and a king. (political) Their political structure was unstable because the kings often acted like tyrants to the citizens. The Aristocratic people, mostly landowners, served on the council. Many citizens were not fairly represented in this system. This caused tension, and in many cases political uprisings.
C. the Economy in Athens Depending on an immense amount of slave labor. These slavers worked on farms and in workshops and mines owned by their masters. In Greek society, there was harsh exploitation.
3. Homer
c. His works: A. The Iliad (伊利亚特 ) B. The Odyssey.(奥德赛 )
b. Main lyrical poets are Sappho and Pindar
5. Drama
a. in the early period, the play was performed at religious festivals
b. The real drama developed in the 5th century B.C.
d. Three tragic dramatists
1) Aeschylus (about 525—456 B.C.) 埃斯库罗斯
A. He is a tragic dramatist
B. His works:
Prometheus bound Persians
Agamemnon (The king of Mycenae and leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War)
阿伽门农：迈锡尼的国王，特洛伊战争中的希腊联军统帅
C. These plays only includes two actors and a chorus
D. His theme is about the heroes and heroines in completely human situations, there is no escape but death
E. His play are written in verse (poem)
F. He is well known for his vivid character portrayal and majestic poetry
2) Sophocles (about 496—406 B.C.)索福克勒斯
A. He is also a tragic dramatist
B. His works:
Oedipus the King
(A son of Laius and Jocasta, who was abandoned at birth and unwittingly killed his father and then married his mother.)
俄狄浦斯 ：莱厄斯和乔卡斯塔之子，在出生时即被抛弃，后在无意中杀害了他父亲尔后娶了他母亲 Electra厄勒克特拉 Antigone
安提戈涅是俄狄浦斯的女儿，她不顾国王克瑞翁的禁令，将自己的兄长，反叛城邦的波吕尼刻斯安葬，后被关在一座石洞里，自杀而死，而一意孤行的国王也遭致妻离子散的命运
C. He added a third actor and decreased the seize of the chorus in his play
D. He has had a strong impact on European literature.
The Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud’s term “the Oedipus complex” was also derived from Sophocles' play
3) Euripides (about 484—406 B.C.) 欧里庇得斯
A. He is a tragic dramatist
B. His works:
Medea (A princess and sorceress of Colchis who helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece, lived as his consort, and killed their children as revenge for his infidelity.)
美狄亚(希腊神话中科尔喀斯国王之女, 以巫术著称, 曾帮助过伊阿宋取得金羊毛, 后来由于伊阿宋的背叛，杀死了自己的两个孩子)
Trojan Women Andromache (The faithful wife of Hector, captured by the Greeks at the fall of Troy.安德洛玛赫：特洛伊英雄赫克托耳的妻子安德洛玛刻在城邦被攻陷后，成了希腊爱庇尔王庇吕斯的女奴。庇吕斯爱上了她，以处死她的儿子为要挟，迫使她屈服
f. Comedy A. It flourished in the 5th century
B. The best write was Aristophanes
C. Aristophanes (about 450—380 B.C.) 阿里斯托芬
1. His works: He left eleven plays and includes Frogs, Clouds, Wasps, Birds and so on
6. Historical writing It started early in Greece
a. Herodotus (about 484---430) 希罗多德
A. He is called “father of history”
B. He wrote about the wars between Greeks and Persians
C. His historical works are wonderfully readable and full of anecdotes and digressions and lively dialogue.
D. He kept many traditional stories, which were not always accurate
E. His writing aim was “the great and wonderful deeds done by Greeks and Persians should not lack renown”
b. Three important philosophers in Greece
1) Socrates (about 470—399 B.C.) 苏格拉底
A. we have not clear record about him
B. we know him chiefly through what Plato recorded of him in the famous Dialogues
C. He is a son of a sculptor; perhaps himself is a sculptor in his early year

D. He liked to talk with people asking and answering questions here and there. This method of argument, by questions and answers, has come to be known as the dialectical method
E. He was ready to discuses anything in Heaven and earth
F. In 399 B.C., at the age of seventy, he was put trial on a charge of “injuring the city” because of his persistent questioning of people. The people thought that he insulted the God and corrupted the young. This trial was recorded by Plato in the dialogue The Apology of Socrates
G. At last, he was condemned to death because that he wouldn’t compromise. But before he died, he made a speech that reported by Plato

ⅡRoman Culture
1. The foundation of Rome
A. Roman conquered Greece in 146B.C. The marked is the burning of Corinth .
B. Greece was then reduced to a province of the Roman Empire.
From this time, Roman occupied the west half of Greece and spoke Latin
Greek was only spoken by Greeks in the east half
2. Roman History
A. The history of Rome can be divided into two periods before and after the year 27 B.C.
a. the first period: before the year 27 B.C., Rome had been a republic b. Two century later, the Rome became an Empire and reached its greatest extent in 2—3 century, encircling the Mediterranean, reaching Scotland in the north and spreading into Armenia and Mesopotamia in the east
c. In the Roman history ，there came two hundred years of peaceful time， which was guaranteed by the Roman legions(罗马军团)
d. In the Roman history， there came two hundred years of peaceful time， which was known as Pax Romana.(神圣罗马帝国)
C. The decline of Rome
a. It began to decline in the third century
3. Latin Literature A. Prose
1）Marcus Tullius Cicero (106—43 B.C.)西塞罗 a. He was well known for his oratory and fine writing style and played an important role in the Roman senate b. His legal and political speeches are models of Latin diction that called Ciceronian c. His eloquent, oratorical manner of writing has had an enormous influence on the development of European prose
2) Virgil (70—19 B.C.) 维吉尔
a. He was the greatest one of Roman poets
b. His epic: Aeneid
c. this poem tells of the wanderings of Aeneas after the sack of Troy.

Division Two
a. The ancestor of the Jews is the Hebrews
b. They called “Hebrews”， which means “wanderers”
c. About 1300 B.C.，the Hebrews came to settle in Palestine, know as Canaan at that time
The Great contributions made by Hebrews to the world civilization
a. the Hebrews history was recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible, which still later became the first part of the Christian Bible, which the Hebrews made one of the greatest contributions to the world civilization Bible The Old Testament
Bible is a collection of religious writings
The Bible was divided into two sections： A. the Old Testament B. the New Testament
The Old Testament is about God and the Laws of God.
The New Testament is about the doctrine of Jesus Christ
The New Testament is，in essence the four accounts ，written by the four disciples.
What is The Old Testament?
The Bible was divided into two sections：the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old Testament is about God and the Laws of God.
The word “Testament” means “agreement”， the agreement between God and Man.
1. The Pentateuch
What’s Pentateuch?
The Old Testament consists of 39 books, the oldest and most important of which are the first five books, called Pentateuch.摩西五经
Pentateuch contains five books：
Genesis (创世记)，Exodus (出埃及记)，Leviticus(利未记)，Numbers (民数记)，Deuteronomy (申命记)
1. The former body of church was known as Synagogues. 犹太教的会堂是教堂的前身
2. The Pentateuch is also called torah. 摩西五经的别称 Ⅲ Rise of Christianity two forceful beliefs which separated it from all other religions
One is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God(唯一的儿子) (God sent him to earth to live as humans live, suffer as humans suffer, and died to redeem mankind)
The other is that God gave his only begotten son (whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life)
The heart of Christianity is the life of Jesus the first English version of whole Bible was translated from the Latin Vulgate in 1382 and was copied out by hand by the early group of reformers (改革者) led by John Wycliffe
Milton‘s Paradise Lost (失乐园)
Bunyan’s Pilgrim‘s Progress，（天路历程）
Byron’s Cain，（该亚）
Hemingway‘s The Sun Also Rises（太阳又生起）
Steinbeck’s East of Eden. （东方伊甸园 ）
Division Three
The Middle Age the Middle ages
In European history， the thousand-year period following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century is called the Middle Ages, to be specific, from the 5th century to 15th century between ancient times and modern times.
“Age of Faith”
1. Feudalism What is feudalism? The formation of Feudalism
Fiefs
In Feudalism，the ruler of the government redivided the large lands into small pieces to give to chancellors (有功的大臣) or soldiers as a reward for their service. These subdivisions were called fiefs. vassals In Feudalism, the ruler of the government redivided the large lands into small pieces to give to chancellors (有功的大臣) or soldiers as a reward for their service. The owners of the fiefs were call vassals.
Knighthood and Code of Chivalry
Pike
Dubbing (骑士头衔加冕仪式)
After a knight was successful in his trained and tournaments，there was always a special ceremony to award him with a title，knight. This special ceremony is called dubbing.
Knight trained for war by fighting each other in mock battles called tournaments.(模拟战场)
3. The Crusades
Historical background of coming into being of them
Crusades
a series of holy wars called crusades which went on about 200years. All the soldiers going to Palestine wore a red cross on the tunics as a symbol of obedience to God. There were altogether eight chief Crusades
Literary works were no longer all written in Latin. It was the starting point of a gradual transition of European literature from Latin culture to a culture that was the combination of a variety of national characteristics.
Beowulf (700—750 A.D)
Song of Roland (about the 12th century A.D.)
2. Dante Alighieri and The Divine Comedy
3. Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer
Division Four Renaissance and Reformation
Ⅰ Renaissance
Renaissance
Generally speaking, Renaissance refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th century.
The word “Renaissance” means revival (复兴), specifically in this period of history，revival of interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture.
Renaissance, in essence (从实质上讲), was a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars: made attempts (试图) to get rid of conservatism (保守主义思想) in feudalist Europe and introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie (资产阶级), to lift the restrictions (禁忌) in all areas placed by the Roman church authorities.(权利威信)
The Historical Background
After 396, the empire was divided:
The Byzantine Empire (the East)
The West
Renaissance started in Florence and Venice with the flowering of paintings, sculpture and architecture. It began early with painting
ⅡRenaissance in Italy
1. Historical Background Why dose the Renaissance take place first in Italy?
Two reasons
The development of it in Italy
1. in the late of 15th Florence (beginning) (the first center of it)
2. in the 16th it reached its height with its center moving to Milan, then to Rome, and created High Renaissance (1490-1530)
The beginning of 16th, Venice (come into being in full glory)
The end of 16th, declining (because of a series of wars among England, France and Spain) 2. The Rise of Humanism
The characteristics of it
1. the assertion of the greatness of man
(以人性反抗神性， 肯定人的尊严，权力，价值等） （人性既包括“自然属性” 也包括“认识自我和探索自然和社会的理性）
2.Pleasure is very important opposing stoicism
(肯定现实的享受，反对禁欲主义）
彼特拉克宣称，“我自己是凡人， 我只要凡人的幸福”
3.Advocating scientific research and opposing ignorance
4. Advocating unity of the country and opposing feudal division
The significances of it
1. making progress for the present and future of mankind
2. Shaking down the ideas of the feudalism and Christianity
3. New Literature
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313—1375) 卜伽丘
Francesco Petrarch (1304---1374) 彼特拉克
Sonnet 十四行诗 and canzoniers
Ⅲ. Reformation and Counter-Reformation
The Reformation
The Beginning of Reformation:
The Reformation was a 16th century religious movement as well as a socio-political movement.
It began as Martin Luther posted on the door of the castle church at the University of Wittenberg his 95 thesis.
The Demands of Reformists:
This movement which swept over the whole of Europe was aimed at :
A. opposing the absolute authority of the Roman Catholic Church
B. replacing it with the absolute authority of the Bible.
C. translating the Bible into their mother tongues. (this point is the essence of reformation)宗教改革的实质是：反对罗马天主教，直接形式是用母语翻译圣经) The demands of the reformists
D. Simplifying the rituals
E. Abolishing heavy taxes levied on their countrymen
F. Abolishing the indulgences,
1. Renaissance in France
Francois Rabelais (about 1483—1553) 拉伯雷
Michel Eyques de Montaihne (1533—1592) 蒙田 b. Literature Miguel de Cervantes (1547—1616) 塞万提斯
Don Quixote堂吉诃德
Ⅴ. Science and Technology during the Renaissance
1. Geographical Discoveries
Christopher Columbus (1451—1506)哥伦布
Bartholomeu Dias (1466?-1500)
迪亚士
Vasco da Gama (about 1460—1524) 伽马
Amerigo Vespucci (1457—1512)
伟斯沛奇·阿梅莉格
2. Astronomy
NIcolaus Copernicus (1473—1543) 哥白尼
Division Five The Seventeenth Century
ⅠThe duration of the 17th century
Ⅱ. Science
Invention of New Instruments
3. Thermometer by Galileo his one pupil made it become barometer
Ⅲ. Philosophy, Politics and Literature in England
Several scientists and philosophers
1. Francis Bacon
勒奈·笛卡尔
1. Rene Descartes(1596– 1650)
勒奈·笛卡尔
2. French Classicism
But French classicism of the 17th century was not conscious of being a classical revival.
Moliere (1622—1673) 莫里哀
Tartuffe