This course of 48 lectures explores the essential contours of the human experience in what has come to be called "Western civilization." From its humble beginnings in the ancient Near East to the dawn of the modern world, these presentations cover developments from about 3000 B.C. to A.D. 1600.

48 lectures on 8 discs, 2 discs in each container. In four containers (25 x 17 cm.).

pt. 1. lecture 1: "Western," "Civilization," and "Foundations" ; lecture 2: History begins at Sumer ; lecture 3: Egypt, the gift of the Nile ; lecture 4: The Hebrews, small states and big ideas ; lecture 5: A succession of empires ; lecture 6: Wide-ruling Agamemnon ; lecture 7: Dark Age and Archaic Greece ; lecture 8: The Greek polis, Sparta ; lecture 9: The Greek polis, Athens ; lecture 10: Civic culture, architecture and drama ; lecture 11: The birth of history ; lecture 12: From Greek religion to Socratic philosophy -- pt. 2. lecture 13: Plato and Aristotle ; lecture 14: The failure of the polis and the rise of Alexander ; lecture 15: The Hellenistic world ; lecture 16: The rise of Rome ; lecture 17: The Roman Republic, government and politics ; lecture 18: Roman imperialism ; lecture 19: The culture of the Roman Republic ; lecture 20: Rome, from Republic to Empire ; lecture 21: The Pax Romana ; lecture 22: Rome's Golden and Silver Ages ; lecture 23: Jesus and the New Testament ; lecture 24: The emergence of a Christian Church. pt. 3. lecture 25: Late Antiquity, crisis and response ; lecture 26: Barbarians and emperors ; lecture 27: The emergence of the Catholic Church ; lecture 28: Christian culture in late antiquity ; lecture 29: Muhammad and Islam ; lecture 30: The birth of Byzantium ; lecture 31: Barbarian kingdoms in the West ; lecture 32: The world of Charlemagne ; lecture 33: The Carolingian Renaissance ; lecture 34: The expansion of Europe ; lecture 35: The chivalrous society ; lecture 36: Medieval political traditions, I -- pt. 4. lecture 37: Medieval political traditions, II ; lecture 38: Scholastic culture ; lecture 39: Vernacular culture ; lecture 40: The crisis of Renaissance Europe ; lecture 41: The Renaissance problem ; lecture 42: Renaissance portraits ; lecture 43: The Northern Renaissance ; lecture 44: The Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther ; lecture 45: The Protestant Reformation, John Calvin ; lecture 46: Catholic reforms and "Confessionalization" ; lecture 47: Exploration and empire ; lecture 48: What challenges remain?