World History Primary Sources

Sima Qian - Who, When, Where, What?

145 - 90 B.C.E. worked as court historian during the Han dynasty 206

B.C.E. 220 C.E. and compiled the first official history of China.

Herodotus - Who, When, Where, What?

450-420 BCE. Invented recording history starting with trying to understand the Persian Wars with the Greeks and Persians. He interviewed eye witnesses and wrote about the Spartans (strong willed)and the Persians (many) eventually leading to a Persian victory

SUNDIATA an epic of old Mali - Who, When, Where, What?

Griot Primary source that tells of the cultural significance of griots in African culture, how they are intertwined with the very existance of the people, generation by generation telling history through oral interpretation and music.

Bayeux Tapestry

70 meter long embroidered canvas of England’s conquest in 1066 by the Duke of Normandy over a ascension battle resulting in a William the Conqueror victory.

Elegies on the Fall of the City

Three elegies (serious poem) post Spanish conquest describing sky’s of fire as the world seems to end. 1519 - 1521

Hammurabi’s Code - Who, When, Where, What?

Established in 1755 BCE, Hammurabi’s code is a extensive Mesopotamian ”law” code detailed around the clockwork of daily Mesopotamian life with punishments like an eye for an eye among people of the same social rank. It was more of a handbook on what to do in certain situations or misharum (equity rulings)

A tale of two rivers - Mesopotamia + Egypt

The Euphrates river near Mesopotamia frequently flooded and caused the civilization to be heavily city-based while Egypt didn’t urbanize as well leading to building around the pharaoh’s court. Mesopotamia also developed extensive social organization to combat the river leading to the creation of a city-state to solve the environmental and political problems in Sumer + Mesopotamia. In Egypt the architectural layout was built around the abundance of the nile, lacking urgency needed to escape a flood.

Genesis - Establishing a Covenant with Humanity

First book in the Bible recounting humanity’s first interaction with Yahweh the Hebrew name of God. The god made a covenant (promise) to very devote Noah in a unreligious world. He floods the world telling Noah to build an ark, saving his family and repopulating the world with Noah’s devout teachings.

Exodus - Establishing a Covenant with a Chosen People

God rescues enslaved Israelites in Egypt by Moses parting the Red Sea, Egypt is destroyed and God creates the ten commandments laying the foundation of land.

Hymm to Inana

Written by a moon god high priestess, it depicts the worship of Inanna goddess of love and war in Mesopotamia.

The Epic of Gilgamesh - Flood

A mesopotamian story of Shurippak a city on the river Euphrates struck by a terrible flood after angering and annoying the local god Enlil through the clamour of humanity. He sends a flood destroying everything to reestablish order while telling a devout worshipper to build an ark.

The Upanishads: Karma and Reincarnation

A man’s actions based on their caste in this life determine his reincarnation in the next life until becoming one with brahman: the ultimate unhanging reality.

The Bhagavad Gita: Caste and Self

Best known Hindu literature from roughly 1500 BCE about god Krishna interacting with Arjuna around philosophical ideas like how people don’t truly die and he shouldn’t place his heart on such fleeting matters (fighting his kin + friends

)

Buddha’s Sermon

We shall not pursue sensual pleasure and self mortification but a path in between, the Eightfold Path: Right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. 1st Century BCE

Han Fei on Legalism - Who, When, Where, What?

A chinese noble and court noble during the Han dynasty who wrote about legalism a religion that rested strictly on obedience to the law. A government is only as strong as how it follows the law as nothing is above the law. The wrong will be defamed and the right will be commended. c. 230 BCE

Analects of Confucianism - Who, When, Where, What?

a Chinese ethical and philosophical system founded by Confucius that emphasizes social harmony, filial piety (respect for elders) and the cultivation of virtues like benevolence (Ren) and righteousness (Yi) through defined social roles, striving for personal and societal betterment, family structure and just good governance 551 BCE - 496 BCE

Laozi - Tao te Ching

When you take action the consequences will effect everything around you, to see something as beautiful is to see another as ugly, to do wu wei and follow the way of the dao is to allow everything to fall into place. 500 BCE

Polybius - Roman Republic

509 BCE-27 BCE