A Little History of the World

    
of
    

TRANSLATED BY CAROLINE MUSTILL

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON

      
P
REFACE

  1   
O
NCE
U
PON A
T
IME
The past and memory – Before there were any people – Dragon-like creatures – Earth without life – Sun without earth – What is history?

  2   
T
HE
G
REATEST
I
NVENTORS OF
A
LL
T
IME
The Heidelberg jaw – Neanderthal man – Prehistory – Fire – Tools – Cavemen – Language – Painting – Making magic – The Ice Age and the Early Stone Age – Pile dwellings – The Bronze Age – People like you and me

  3   
T
HE
L
AND BY THE
N
ILE
King Menes – Egypt – A hymn to the Nile – Pharaohs – Pyramids – The religion of the ancient Egyptians – The Sphinx – Hieroglyphs – Papyrus – Revolution in the old kingdom – Akhenaton’s reforms

  4   
S
UNDAY
, M
ONDAY
Mesopotamia today – The burial sites at Ur – Clay tablets and cuneiform script – Hamurabi’s laws – Star worship – The origin of the days of the week – The Tower of Babel – Nebuchadnezzar

  5   
T
HE
O
NE AND
O
NLY
G
OD
Palestine – Abraham of Ur – The Flood – Moses’ bondage in Egypt and the year of the departure from Egypt – Saul, David, Solomon – The division of the kingdom – The destruction of Israel – The prophets speak – The Babylonian Captivity – The Return – The Old Testament and faith in the Messiah

  6   
I C-A-N R-E-A-D
Writing with the alphabet – The Phoenicians and their trading posts

  7   
H
EROES AND THEIR
W
EAPONS
The songs of Homer – Schliemann’s excavations – Sea-raider kings – Crete and the labyrinth – The Dorian migration – The songs of the heroes – Greek tribes and their colonies

  8   
A
N
U
NEQUAL
S
TRUGGLE
The Persians and their faith – Cyrus conquers Babylon – Cambyses in Egypt – Darius’s empire – The Ionian revolt – The first Punitive Expedition – The second Punitive Expedition and the Battle of Marathon – Xerxes’ campaign – Thermopylae – The Battle of Salamis

  9   
T
WO
S
MALL
C
ITIES IN
O
NE
S
MALL
L
AND
The Olympic Games – The Delphic Oracle – Sparta and Spartan education – Athens – Draco and Solon – The People’s Assembly and tyrants – The time of Pericles – Philosophy – Sculpture and painting – Architecture – Theatre

10   
T
HE
E
NLIGHTENED
O
NE AND HIS
L
AND
India – Mohenjo-Daro, a city from the time of Ur – The Indian migrations – Indo-European languages – Castes – Brahma and the transmigration of souls – ’This is you’ – Prince Gautama – The Enlightenment – Release from sufffering – Nirvana – The followers of the Buddha

11   
A G
REAT
T
EACHER OF A
G
REAT
P
EOPLE
China in the time before Christ – The emperor of China and the princes – The meaning of Chinese writing – Confucius – The importance of practices and customs – The family – Ruler and subject – Lao-tzu – The Tao

12   
T
HE
G
REATEST
A
DVENTURE OF
A
LL
The Peloponnesian War – The Delphic War – Philip of Macedon – The Battle of Chaeronea – The decline of the Persian empire – Alexander the Great – The destruction of Thebes – Aristotle and his knowledge – Diogenes – The conquest of Asia Minor – The Gordion Knot – The Battle of Issus – The conquest of Tyre and the conquest of Egypt – Alexandria – The Battle of Gaugamela – The Indian expedition – Porus – Alexander, ruler of the Orient – Alexander’s death and his successors – Hellenism – The library of Alexandria

13   
N
EW
W
ARS AND
N
EW
W
ARRIORS
Italy – Rome and the myth of Rome’s foundation – Class warfare – The twelve tablets of the law – The Roman character – Rome’s capture by the Gauls – The conquest of Italy – Pyrrhus – Carthage – The First Punic War – Hannibal – Crossing the Alps – Quintus Fabius Maximus – Cannae – The last call to arms – Scipio’s victory over Hannibal – The conquest of Greece – Cato – The destruction of Carthage

14   
A
N
E
NEMY OF
H
ISTORY
The Emperor Shih Huang-ti of Ch’in – The burning of the books – The princes of Ch’in and the naming of China – The Great Wall of China – The Han ruling family – Learned officials

15   
R
ULERS OF THE
W
ESTERN
W
ORLD
Roman provinces – Roads and aqueducts – Legions – The two Gracchi – Bread and circuses – Marius – The Cimbri and the Teutones – Sulla – Gladiators – Julius Caesar – The Gallic Wars – Victory in the civil war – Cleopatra – The reform of the calendar – Caesar’s murder – Augustus and the empire – The arts

16   
T
HE
G
OOD
N
EWS
Jesus Christ – The teachings of the Apostle Paul – The Cross – Paul preaching to the Corinthians – The cult of the emperor – Nero – Rome burns – The first Christian persecutions – The catacombs – Titus destroys Jerusalem – The dispersal of the Jews

17   
L
IFE IN THE
E
MPIRE AND AT ITS
F
RONTIERS
Tenements and villas – Therms – The Colosseum – The Germans – Arminius and the battle in Teutoburg forest – The Limes – Soldiers and their gods – Trajan’s expeditions in Dacia – Marcus Aurelius’s battles near Vienna – Warrior-emperors – The decline of Italy – The spread of Christianity – Diocletian’s reforms – The last Christian persecution – Constantine – The founding of Constantinople – The division of the empire – Christianity becomes the religion of the state

18   
T
HE
S
TORM
The Huns – The Visigoths – The Migrations – Attila – Leo the Great – Romulus Augustulus – Odoacer and the end of antiquity – The Ostrogoths and Theodoric – Ravenna – Justinian –
The Pandects of Justinian
and the Agia Sophia – The end of the Goths – The Lombards

19   
T
HE
S
TARRY
N
IGHT
B
EGINS
‘The Dark Ages’? – Belief and superstition – Stylites – Benedictines – Preserving the inheritance of antiquity – The importance of the northern monasteries – Clovis’s baptism – The role of the clergy in the Merovingian kingdom – Boniface

20   
T
HERE IS NO
G
OD BUT
A
LLAH, AND
M
UHAMMAD IS
H
IS
P
ROPHET
The Arabian desert – Mecca and the Kaaba – Muhammad’s background and life – Persecution and flight – Medina – The battle with Mecca – The last sermon – The conquests of Palestine, Persia and Egypt – The burning of the Alexandrian library – The siege of Constantinople – The conquests of North Africa and Spain – The battles of Tours and Poitiers – Arab culture – Arabic numerals

21   
A C
ONQUEROR WHO
K
NOWS
H
OW TO
R
ULE
The Merovingians and their stewards – The kingdom of the Franks – Charlemagne’s battles in Gaul, Italy and Spain – The Avars – Battles with the Saxons – The
Heldenlieder
– The crowning of the emperor – Harun al-Rashid’s ambassadors – The division and decline of the Carolingian empire – Svatopluk – The Vikings – The kingdoms of the Normans