Summary: The Key Aspects Of Western Civilization

Civilization: The West and the Rest, presented by Niall Ferguson, is a documentary in which Ferguson reveals what he calls the six killer applications which has helped Western civilization dominate over everyone else. These six applications are competition, science, property, medicine, consumerism, and work. Ferguson asks many questions over the course of the series as well as provides examples as to how Western civilization has surpassed other nations and empires. Ferguson’s main question in each episode is, “If we lose our monopoly over apps like these, could Western civilization be consigned to history.” This paper will analyze Ferguson’s questions and the examples he provides for the killer applications of competition, science, property, medicine, consumerism, and work, as well as his conclusions as to why the West has risen to the top, how the rest are passing up the West, as well as his conclusions to if the West can remain above the rest.

Ancient societies’ life practices such as Mesopotamia and Egypt are depicted in The Code of Hammurabi translated by Theophile J. Meek and in The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead translated by R. Faulkner. The King of Babylon, Hammurabi himself in 1700 BCE, wrote The Code of Hammurabi containing severe two hundred and eighty two law codes that the whole society was to follow. Similarly to law codes, The Egyptian Book of the Dead was used in the New Kingdom that is around 1550 BCE to around 50 BCE, it also served as a platform way of life emphasizing on the afterlife rather than the present as in The Code of Hammurabi. Both The Code of Hammurabi and The Egyptian Book of the Dead display the consequences of living a just or unjust life in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. Although, while in The Code of Hammurabi punishments varied concurring to your social status, unlike in Egypt, where the granting of an afterlife was attainable for all. Ultimately, in both civilizations consequences would arise accordingly on how the masses lived their daily lives, but both The Code of Hammurabi and The Egyptian Book of the Dead provides us with insight on how a each respective society was kept in order.

The past centuries saw a clear distinction between the Western civilization and the non-western culture. The western civilization composed of Greece, Romans, Byzantine Empire, and the European while the non-western civilizations included East Asia, Egypt, Persian Empire, Sassanid Empire, African Societies and Kingdoms, Incas, Mayans, Aztecs, and Mongols. For a long period, the western civilizations prevailed around the world. They influenced, lead and controlled others in various sectors such as medicine, clothing, business orientations, religion, and government. In this paper, I will be affirming my conviction that the western civilizations had unique attributes that made them more powerful than the non-western civilizations. I will also show how the western cultures were influenced by the spread of Christianity, and how the western cultures have maintained their great influence and power over the other societies even in the modern era.

Barry Strauss organizes his summary of the Trojan War by referencing Homer 's the Iliad and the Odyssey and compares it to the historical contexts of what he thinks happened. Most scholars agree that the Trojan War dates back around 1200 B.C. during the Bronze Age. The most popular tale of how the Trojan War starts is when Paris, Prince of Troy, goes to visit Sparta to mend relations. In Sparta, Paris is welcomed by Menelaus, King of Sparta and his beautiful wife Helen. According to ancient sources, Menelaus went to Crete for business and foolishly left Helen all alone with Paris (Strauss, 15). Afterward, Helen is seduced by Paris and flees Sparta to accompany him back to Troy, along with bountiful treasures.

The Trojan war was a ten year siege on the city of the city of Troy at the hands of the Greek forces led by a psychopathic king, Agamemnon. This conflict, which took place about 1200 B.C has become one of the most well known Greek mythology events in history. In the 13th century B.C, Troy and Sparta had stopped their wars and become allies, this was until Paris the youngest prince of Troy seduced Helen, the Queen of Sparta and left with her back to Troy. When Menelaos (The King of Sparta) found out what had happened, he vowed

Throughout time many civilizations and societies have come and gone. Every one of them was unique in their own way and had a different way of governing themselves. In this paper, I will be focusing on Hammurabi’s Code. Hammurabi’s Code is a series of laws that governed the Babylonian society back, when they were created, in 1780 BCE. The code was wrote by Hammurabi himself, back when he ruled the Empire of Babylon. The text itself explains why the code was created and why Hammurabi was chosen to write the code. The code then lists, in an organized fashion, all the rules that the society is to follow and what the punishments are if the rules are broken. Every rule is very specific about what is to happen if the rule has to be enforced. Hammurabi’s Code gives us an idea of how the justice system worked in the Babylonian society, how men and women in the society were treated, and how the religion was followed.

For this reason, Pope Loe IX led other church officials in implementing reform efforts that would see ensure that the church could get back its lost power. For this reason, Pope Loe IX gave orders to the Roman Catholic clergy to dismiss the church officials that had taken part in selling church offices, and to renounce their wives (McKay et al., 2014). The orders were essential for ensuring that the church could control the corruption that was becoming rampant in the church. The measures were also essential for sending a message to the secular leaders, which was presumably an indication that they were working on regaining their lost power. After the death of Pope Leo, Gregory VII, Leo’s successor, continued with the reform work based on his ideological foundation (McKay et al., 2014). One of the reforms was the expelling of secular influence within church and the papal institution, which led to the expansion of the papal powers. such reforms solved the problems that the church was facing, which means that they were appropriate for the realization of the predetermined

The Israelite civilization dates back to between 1300 and 1200 BCE when they settled in Canaan from Mesopotamia. This was considered their homeland. The Israelites developed from the Cannanites, since their civilizations began together along with the Jebusites. They faced a lot of struggles, but after migrating to Egypt, and being separated into two kingdoms, they kept the faith that they would someday return to their homeland. The greatest achievements of the Israelites was their architecture, monotheistic religion, Ten Commandments, and their military. However, they were not enough to save the civilization. They fell due to the decline in leadership within the civilization, and attacks and conquest from the Assyrians and Babylonians.

b. “spare the rod and spoil the child” along with other quotes led to the idea of showing greater love and tenderness to your children.

Around the time of 1792 to 1750 B.C.E., a man by the name of Hammurabi was the ambitious ruler of Babylon. During his reign, he established a compilation of laws that assigned penalties based on retribution, thus creating a list of socially structured regulations centered around the idea that a person who commits a crime must be punished proportionally. Hammurabi’s code is proof of the division amongst the nobles, commoners and slaves in the time period, as well as evidence of the power that the men had over the women.

The governing legal, moral and religious codes of ancient civilizations were written and enforced by a minority that exercised power and authority over the majority. This minority consisted of priests, rulers and elites with established power and influence in society. In these codes of early civilizations, there was an overarching emphasis on maintenance of structure and order in society. Simply put, while these codes reflect the conditions, needs and values of the times in which they were formulated, they also unveil the authors’ agendas to preserve their power by maintaining the status quo. Therefore, these codes acknowledge and uphold the prevailing social, gender and racial inequalities as natural conditions of human existence and reveal the manifold biases present in early civilizations.

Niall Ferguson’s thesis in his book “Civilization: The West and the Rest,” is to explain and prove why western civilization has exceeded the accomplishments of other nations throughout history up until present day. He attributes this world dominance to six “killer applications” the west had adopted and advanced beyond the means of any other civilizations. These applications were: competition, science, private property, medicine, consumption, and work.

Western Civilization from 1589 to 1914 had many specific changes that contributed to the structure of the western world before World War I. In the absolutism state sovereignty is embodied in the person of the ruler. Kings were absolute kings and were resposible to no none except god. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries absolute rulers had to respect the fundamental laws of their land. They had to control competing jurisdictions, institutions or groups that were interested in their territory. They regulated religious sects. France of Louis was the classic model of absolutism. Louis XIV, " the sun king," was a devoted Catholic who believed that god had estalblished kings as rulers on the earth. The French language and culture became

In the readings, there are many trends regarding ancient concepts of law, government, and social structure. The code of Hammurabi played a significant role in Mesopotamian law, while the Nile River had a large part in the development of Egyptian civilization. In addition, the Hebrews moved toward pure monotheism and the Persians enhanced the Near Eastern model of monarchical government. “The evidence reveals that on the one hand, peoples then living in the Near East, Africa, and the Mediterranean developed their own distinctive beliefs, mythologies, customs, and sense of identity. On the other they shared many attributes such as large populations, the use of writing, devotion to religion, and economies based on trade and agriculture.” (Lualdi, 15) Overall, each society had similarities and differences in their way of life, but some are key to showing the maturation of the area as a whole.

Western Civilization has had a tremendous influence on many different cultures worldwide. From the Hispanic cultures in South and Central America, to the Caribbean islands, and also to the various exotic African countries, and even to the distinguished cultures that reside in the continent of Asia. In many ways than one, these cultures have been molded to be as westernized as they could possibly be without losing their traditional customs indefinitely. They’re religion, fashion sense, and family structures have all been altered in some form so that it could resemble the western nation’s patriarch. Countries in North America and Europe have for centuries traveled to different continents in the world and colonized many nations, as a result of that, many of the customs and traditions of those people have been shaped to be a bit more westernized.