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The Foundations of Western Civilization

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Overview

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Get the classic grand tour of ancient Western civilization in this sweeping course taught by an award-winning professor of history at Notre Dame.

Syllabus

  • 01: “Western,” “Civilization,” and “Foundations”
  • 02: History Begins at Sumer
  • 03: Egypt: The Gift of the Nile
  • 04: The Hebrews: Small States and Big Ideas
  • 05: A Succession of Empires
  • 06: Wide-Ruling Agamemnon
  • 07: Dark Age and Archaic Greece
  • 08: The Greek Polis: Sparta
  • 09: The Greek Polis: Athens
  • 10: Civic Culture: Architecture and Drama
  • 11: The Birth of History
  • 12: From Greek Religion to Socratic Philosophy
  • 13: Plato and Aristotle
  • 14: The Failure of the Polis and the Rise of Alexander
  • 15: The Hellenistic World
  • 16: The Rise of Rome
  • 17: The Roman Republic: Government and Politics
  • 18: Roman Imperialism
  • 19: The Culture of the Roman Republic
  • 20: Rome: From Republic to Empire
  • 21: The Pax Romana
  • 22: Rome’s Golden and Silver Ages
  • 23: Jesus and the New Testament
  • 24: The Emergence of a Christian Church
  • 25: Late Antiquity: Crisis and Response
  • 26: Barbarians and Emperors
  • 27: The Emergence of the Catholic Church
  • 28: Christian Culture in Late Antiquity
  • 29: Muhammad and Islam
  • 30: The Birth of Byzantium
  • 31: Barbarian Kingdoms in the West
  • 32: The World of Charlemagne
  • 33: The Carolingian Renaissance
  • 34: The Expansion of Europe
  • 35: The Chivalrous Society
  • 36: Medieval Political Traditions, I
  • 37: Medieval Political Traditions, II
  • 38: Scholastic Culture
  • 39: Vernacular Culture
  • 40: The Crisis of Renaissance Europe
  • 41: The Renaissance Problem
  • 42: Renaissance Portraits
  • 43: The Northern Renaissance
  • 44: The Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther
  • 45: The Protestant Reformation: John Calvin
  • 46: Catholic Reforms and “Confessionalization”
  • 47: Exploration and Empire
  • 48: What Challenges Remain?
  • By This Professor

Taught by

Thomas F. X. Noble

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4.4 rating at The Great Courses Plus based on 367 ratings

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