The West in the World, 4th Edition (Sherman)Chapter 1:
The Roots of Western CivilizationChapter Summaries
This chapter traces the rise of civilizations in the Middle East over a period of three thousand years, and the contributions these cultures and empires made to Western civilization. In Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Mediterranean, we see the development of agriculture and technology accompanied by the emergence of great cities and stratified societies. Art, religion, warfare, law, and, most importantly, writing gained sophistication as these ancient cultures interacted with each other. The ideas of the earliest civilizations were taken up by the cultures that followed. Writing was crucial because it facilitated this process of cross-fertilization.
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