Early Western Civilization

4000–1000 B.C.E.

The roots of Western culture cut across distant lands and ancient societies. The five documents in this chapter expose the fundamental features of these early civilizations as they developed between the twentieth and tenth centuries B.C.E. The evidence reveals that on the one hand, peoples then living in the Near East, Africa, and the Mediterranean developed their own distinctive beliefs, mythologies, customs, and sense of identity. On the other, they shared many attributes, such as large urban populations, the use of writing, devotion to religion, and economies based on trade and agriculture. This unique mixture of cross-cultural similarities and differences forged the path for the future.