Western Heritage Midterm

1800 BC

Abram relocates from Ur (Genesis 12-17)

1770 BC

Code of Hammurabi / Enuma Elish

1300 BC

Exodus from Egypt

1000 BC

Reign of King David

589-587 BC

Babylonian Exile

167 BC

Maccabean Rebellion

499-479 BC

Persian War

490 BC

Battle of Marathon

490-431 BC

Athenian "Golden Age"

431-404

Peloponnesian War

431 BC

Pericles' Funeral Oration

399 BC

Death of Socrates

336-323 BC

Reign of Alexander the Great

509 BC

Republic of Rome established

264-146 BC

Punic Wars

133 BC

Assassination of Tiberius Gracchus

107 BC

Marian military reforms

44 BC

Assassination of Julius Caesar

43 BC

Assassination of Cicero

27 BC

Octavian heralded as "Augustus"

33 AD

Death of Jesus of Nazareth

48 AD

Paul writes epistle to "Galatians"

60-100 AD

Four canonical Gospels are written

202 AD

Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas

Enuma Elish

an ancient Babylonian creation myth; a seven-tablet epic that recounts the creation of the world and the rise of the god Marduk to supremacy among the Babylonian gods

- describes birth of gods from primordial chaos (waters)

- Marduk defeats Tiamat, using her body to create the heavens and the earth, establishing order

- historical context: likely composed during the reign of Hammurabi, it elevates Marduk over older gods, aligning with Babylon's political ascendancy

Genesis

the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament; it serves as a foundational text for Jewish and Christian theology, detailing the creation of the world, early human history, and the origins of the Israelite people

- God creates the world from chaos in 6 days, resting on the 7th (Sabbath)

- explaining the spread of humanity, sin, and diverse languages

- focus on the covenant between God and Abraham, extending through his descendants, laying the foundation for Israel's identity and relationship with God

- Genesis emphasizes monotheism, God's sovereignty, human responsibility, and the covenantal relationship between God and His chosen people. It addresses themes of order from chaos, divine justice, and human purpose

- likely edited during or after the Babylonian Exile, it reflects Israelite identity in contrast to surrounding cultures

1 and 2 Samuel

The book begins with the last judge and prophet anointing Saul as Israel's first king amid demands for centralized rule against Philistine threats

- Saul disobeys God, leading to his rejection

- David then becomes king

- David receives God's covenant, promising an eternal dynasty, but ultimately sins

- Prophet Nathan confronts him; David repents

- Preparations for Solomon begin

Thucydides: Pericles' Funeral Oration

Delivered in 431 BC during the first winter of the Peloponnesian War, this speech honors Athenians killed in battle

- praise of Athens itself

- Athens is a true democracy—rule by the many, not the few—where laws ensure equality, merit drives advancement, and citizens balance public duty with private freedom

- They fight not from compulsion but from courage and love of country, willingly sacrificing for a city that offers the fullest life

Plato: The Republic

- ideal state: philosopher kings

- justice: harmony in soul and city

- reason rules, spirit supports, appetite obeys

- reality: eternal forms, physical world: shadows

Aristotle: The Politics

- He argues that humans are "political animals" who naturally form communities—family, village, and ultimately the polis—to achieve the good life (eudaimonia), not mere survival

- The polis is prior to the individual, and its purpose is to foster virtue and happiness

- three correct forms that serve the common good (kingship, aristocracy, polity) and three perverted ones that serve the rulers (tyranny, oligarchy, democracy)

- polity—a mixed system dominated by a large, educated middle class—the best practical regime, blending democratic and oligarchic elements for stability

Epictetus: The Discourses

- Central is the dichotomy of control: some things are up to us (judgment, desire, aversion) and some are not (body, reputation, wealth)

- Virtue—wisdom, courage, justice, self-control—depends only on correct use of impressions and assent; everything else is indifferent

- citizens of universe not of just their city-state or polis

Polybius: The Histories

Explains how Rome conquered the Mediterranean world

- Rome's success, he argues, stems from its mixed constitution, blending monarchy (consuls), aristocracy (Senate), and democracy (people's assemblies and tribunes), creating stability through checks and balances

- Rome dominates through institutional excellence, historical inevitability, and disciplined pragmatism—lessons for any state seeking lasting power

Plutarch: Marcus Cato

- born a plebeian farmer from Tusculum, he rises through sheer discipline, eloquence, and old-Roman austerity to become consul (195 BCE), censor (184 BCE), and lifelong foe of luxury and Hellenization

- Plutarch paints him as the embodiment of mos maiorum—traditional Roman values: he works his own land, eats simple food, wears coarse clothes, and trains his son in hardship

- Cato is Rome's conscience—stern, self-made, and unyieldingly devoted to the old republic, even as it slips away

Cicero: On Duties

- defines duty (officium) as moral action rooted in the four cardinal virtues: wisdom (knowing truth), justice (giving each their due, never harming others), courage (enduring danger for the right), and temperance (self-control in all things)

- Duty has two forms: perfect duty (absolute moral law, e.g., honesty) and middle duty (contextual choice among goods, resolved by decorum—fitting action to person, time, and role)

- applies this to public life: statesmen must prioritize the res publica, avoid war unless just, and shun luxury

- "The good of the people is the highest law"; true expediency is identical with moral right.

Gospel of Matthew

- It opens with a genealogy tracing Jesus through Abraham and David, followed by his birth to the virgin Mary and flight from Herod

- Jesus' public ministry begins with baptism by John, temptation in the wilderness, and the Sermon on the Mount, where he deepens Mosaic law

- He performs healings, calms storms, and calls disciples, but faces growing opposition from Pharisees

- parables of the Kingdom reveal its hidden growth; teachings on community stress forgiveness

- he celebrates the Last Supper, is tried, crucified, and—after three days—rises, commissioning the disciples to "make disciples of all nations."

Gospel of John

- presents Jesus not as a mere teacher but as the eternal Word (Logos) who was with God and was God

- seven dramatic "I am" sayings

- seven signs (water to wine, healing the blind man, raising Lazarus) that point to his identity

- Jesus is the unique Son who reveals the Father; to see him is to see God, and to believe in him is to pass from death to eternal life

"The Martyrdom of Perpetua"

- Set in Carthage under Emperor Septimius Severus's persecution, it recounts the arrest of five catechumens

- she comes from a mixed-faith family, defies her father's pleas to recant, enduring family anguish and prison hardships—dark cells, rough guards, separation from her child—while finding solace in baptism, prayer, and visions

- The text celebrates their transcendence of class, gender, and suffering, portraying martyrdom as a second baptism and victory over the Devil

Tertullian: Prescription against Heretics

- a polemical treatise that employs Roman legal rhetoric to silence heretics without debating their doctrines

- argues that heresies, like fevers or sins of the flesh, are inevitable but self-condemning choices that pervert the apostolic faith; heretics must be shunned after one warning, as engaging them wastes time and risks corruption

- dismisses pagan philosophy as heresy's cradle

Clement: On Philosophy

- it weaves together biblical exegesis, Greek philosophy, Jewish traditions, and critiques of heresy in a deliberately unsystematic style to conceal profound truths from the uninitiated while training the "true Gnostic" in wisdom

- Philosophy is not Christianity's rival but its handmaid, irrigating the soul for the seeds of eternal truth, leading the faithful to gnosis as union with God

Thucydides

Pericles' Funeral Oration

Plato

The Republic

Aristotle

The Politics

Epictetus

The Discourses

Polybius

The Histories

Plutarch

Marcus Cato

Cicero

On Duties

Tertullian

Prescription against Heretics

Clement

On Philosophy