The Foundations of Western Civilization

The Great Courses

by Thomas F.X. Noble

Forty-eight thirty minute lectures explore 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, ranging from about 3000 B.C. to A.D. 1600. The lectures begin by asking just what "Western civilization" actually is, or what it has been thought to be. Throughout the lectures, there are reflections on where Western civilization finds its primary locus at any given moment - beginning in the ancient Near East and moving to Greece, then to Rome; exploring the shape and impact of large ancient empires, including the Persian, Alexander the Great's, and Rome's; then moving on to Western Europe, and witnessing Europe's gradual physical and cultural expansion, into finally the globalization of Western civilization with the Portuguese and Spanish voyages of exploration and discovery.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Philosophy, Religion, Ancient History, Egypt

44 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Professor, Department of History, University of Notre Dame.

Medieval, Mediterranean, religious; the city of Rome, the papacy, late antiquity, the Carolingians, the West and Byzantium.

Reviews

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 5 out of 5]

History reveals itself through itself. Prof. Noble suggest that the listener imagine that they build a time machine and travel back in time to question where the epoch in history will go from that point onward without knowing the sequel, and the listener must always see that point in history through itself but realize that what often follows is not what would have been expected.

For example, the participants of the Reformation, circa 1517, never would have seen themselves as ‘a reformation’ at that point in time. They would not have initially seen themselves as transforming the world’s understanding of itself. Erasmus came first and planted seeds of humanist thought, the Netherlands was stepping away from the Habsburg Empire’s yoke or soon would be, the ‘meaning’ of a simple placing of a ’95 Theses’ on the Wittenburg Castle church was understood on that Halloween as only as far as the nail that placed it on the wall and at best would lead to a lively discussion on topics mostly centered around indulgences. Luther has no idea what it would ‘mean’ or that it would lead to a Bible written in the German vernacular by Luther ultimately leading to a uniting of Germany through a common language based culture but not yet a united Germany itself and then a 30 year war (1619 – 1649) splintering Europe and turning Germany into a battleground which will take Germany 100 years to recover from allowing England and France to exert hegemony beyond their fiefdoms and so on. The meaning of the past as it happened through today’s eyes gets filtered by what the participants thought about themselves as they experienced their happenings through what they believed their world had been telling them previously.

History reveals itself through itself and it gives us the necessary wisdom to understand when it is presented as intelligently as these lectures do. Prof. Noble mentioned that our understanding of love of wisdom moved from a grammar to logic to rhetoric for the understanding of philosophy, roughly a pre-scholastic (grammar) to scholastic (Peter Lombard, Peter Abelard, St. Thomas Aquinas, logic) to a renaissance (Florence, Dante and Petrarch, rhetoric). Of course, during each period they never understood themselves in those terms and all of these concepts and thinkers are presented with greater details in multiple lectures.

I can’t build a time machine and I don’t want to go back to a time period that did not have indoor plumbing, but I do want to understand history in order to understand the meaning of today. I have no idea why some of the other reviewers seem to think this lecture was too simple. The Professor tells his story by way of a factical consideration while fitting his narrative into a ‘big history’ framework. I never grow tired about learning about my place in the universe thus leading to an uncovering of meaning for myself, and I think the approach the professor uses is the most appropriate for that purpose.

To understand who we are today and where we might be going, one first must understand the foundations that explain our building blocks. I do not need names of kings, or wars or bridges fought over or places I never heard of in lands that I know almost nothing about in order to understand history correctly. I need to understand the threads that make us who we are today woven in such a way that I can give meaning to what is happening today by understanding the foundations that brought us here.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr Noble builds a house...a big, sturdy house with many, many rooms that are only partially finished. And, like any new house, you can't wait to get those rooms filled with as much decoration and detail as possible...books for the library, food in the pantry, beds in the bedroom...you get the idea.
That's how I view this fine set of lectures (audio download) dealing with the basis of our (the US in particular) origins...our form of civilization. This is a survey course, intended to provide a framework that traces the origins of how we came to be how we are; from neolithic origins to the reformation...just before the US became the US.
Dr Noble covers the material in three basic chunks...classical (Sumer through Rome), medieval (including religious evolution), and geopolitical (emergence of the nation-states)... with enough detail to whet your appetite to drill deeper and learn more about each period of time...each interesting individual. This is my second-time through these lectures. After the first go-around, I decided to fill in those details by listening to more detailed lectures from a variety of professors (from Brier to Harl to Daileader to Armstrong) and found it even more fascinating...even a little addictive. This last revisit was no less satisfying.
Prof Noble presentation style is pleasant and enthusiastic. Other reviewers have commented on some of his foibles (we all have them, don't we), but I choose to focus on his content. After all, these are lectures not a performance, and we, as students, have the responsibility to follow-up on our own those details we might find lacking.
Recommended for the history student...it's possible to find a sale and coupon that costs you a bit over $0.50/lecture (I did)...a good investment to be sure.

[Ray LaManna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good solid overview of the development of Western Civilization by a great scholar in the field.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was probably longer than it had to be - it went all the way up to 1492.
But each lecture was topical & interesting. I’d recommend this to anyone with an interest in this area.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been teaching Western Civilization for nearly twenty years now and I always enjoy listening to another expert talk about the development of the west. Noble gives a highly coherent account of why western culture is important and of the many factors that contributed to developing it. He doesn’t just spend his time discussing the major players—Greeks and Romans and the developing states of England and France. He takes the time to explore the important contributions of many of the smaller groups of ancient peoples like the Hebrews and the Phoenicians, and other European peoples such as the Holy Roman Empire, the Iberian kingdoms, the Islamic states, the Byzantines, the various Italian city-states and kingdoms. This gives a broad view of the developing political, economic, and intellectual developments that led to the creation of the western civilization we now know. This is a very good introduction to an important topic.

[Illiterate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Noble Is old-fashioned in his idea of civilization, neglect of interculturalism, tacit teleology, and American and Christian (Catholic?) biases.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've wanted to supplement my knowledge of the history of western civilization for many years, having had several poor history instructors in both high school and college. At least for me, history that is presented in an engaging manner is the most enjoyable. I don't need to be entertained, necessarily, but I do enjoy it when the instructor has an obvious passion (and deep knowledge) of the subject.

Professor Noble doesn't quite cut it for me. He clearly knows his subject, of course, but I found myself gradually increasing the speed of the presentation just to get through the individual sections. At 48 sections of 30 minutes each, this course needed a bit more of something to keep me interested.

In the end, I found myself no more knowledgeable of the history of western civilization than I was prior to listening to this course.

[Veronica Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good review of history.

[Terry Southard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course, because this was a survey course, it covers many things lightly. That is to be expected. This is the framework from which you can branch out and investigate things in more detail. I loved the course and loved the professor. Some have remarked on his "verbal tics" but I didn't notice anything untoward or distracting at all. Every professor has their own way of speaking and once you are a lecture or two in, it becomes immaterial. He was always enthusiastic about his subject and made me interested and enthusiastic as well. I'd listen to another of his courses in a heartbeat.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book, great book, but he keeps repeating himself, repeating himself

[Lilith Babilon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and well structured

[Walter Cavinaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lectures are a chronological step through western history. I really enjoyed being exposed to a flurry of facts that I can try to fit into the mould of theories I have been reading.

The first sections on ancient history, greek and roman history were the most enjoyable. As we got closer to today the lectures became more focused on important figures and Christianity. I am sure religion played a big part in shaping medieval society but I would have preferred looking at society through an economic lens.

If you are interested in getting a broad exposure to things, looking for something specific to dive into then I would recommend it. The speaker was easy to listen to. On the other hand, its very long and doesn't cover anything in a lot of depth.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Foundations of Western Civilization comprises 48 lectures that begin in ancient Sumer (3,000 BC) and end with the beginning of the Modern Age (ca. 1,600 AD). There are many common features among the cultures that preceded our own. Aggression, myth-making/religion, bureaucracy, family bonds, and total collapse seem ubiquitous. The life experience of any individual during this entire period was most often a function of the accidents of their birth -- their time and place. In comparison to almost every one of the human lives lived before ours, we are phenomenally lucky.

[Magen - Inquiring Professional Dog Trainer · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars I was very engaged with this course in the beginning, which was interesting since I very much disliked my two semesters of Western Civilization in college. I found the discussions fascinating and illuminating. It went beyond simply dates and names. It told a story about how civilizations first came to be.

However, once the discussion moved out of the ancient world, the subject matter was less interesting. It relied more heavily on dates and names. It covered too many topics and thus only scratched the surface of any of them. The topics that were covered in depth were covered to the point of nausem. There were no longer interesting stories and it began to feel more like a standard history course.

I think Noble did a decent job of trying to connect all the various topics under one theme. He tried to provide continuity and that is a significant challenge in this course. He tried to be broad enough to interest many people. In the end, I think this course would have been better if it had been broken up into two distinct courses - one on the early history and one on the later. The later part of western civilizations has so much to cover and it's not entirely clear how things that happened in say the 15th and 16th century are the foundations for western civilization. When does western civilization truly begin? If it begins when nation-states are formed, then there are many underpinnings of that process that were missing from this series. If it is at some earlier point, then why is there discussions of history up through the time of imperial empires? This was a serious problem for me and part of why I lost interest in this course. I would put the start of western civilization much farther back than this series did and I also find that time in history to be more fascinating since I know little about it. The discussions of the middle ages and romantic period were frustrating because they were so lacking in depth and said little more than most students get (or at least got) in high school history classes. Yes, there were gems in there that were not in history classes, but they were too few and far between to justify going into this era of history in this course.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the ancients to the age of exploration, Dr. Thomas Noble’s lectureship series on The Foundations of Western Civilization provides a sweeping overview of western history pointing in the direction of its influence on the modern world.

As an avid yet absolutely amateur scholar of the ancient world, I appreciated his perspective on which events were truly momentous and which were more convenient reference points. This series helped anchor a general chronology for me since college courses in western civ were a long time ago and pieces had become increasingly muddled. It also helped illuminate areas I want to investigate further as I realized I knew far less than I thought I did about, for instance, the formation of Spain as a single country.

Overall, I definitely recommend this series to anyone who also feels like they were just trying to get through gen. ed. requirements in college and are interested in a lively overview once more.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun to listen to. Great for the car or the gym. And now I know about ancient Rome and the Visigoths...

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview, filled in a lot of gaps in my history knowledge.

[Gay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well done.

[Gebo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Some of the other reviewers mentioned his odd speaking "tics", which I didn't notice and the vast amount of names and dates in the Middle Ages forward, which is par for the course. This is a long program that could have been longer. I wish it had more about the whole world's traditions.

I learned many things I "knew" about history were wrong, but I think the most mind blowing was that the "Dark Ages" is a moniker from a far later period of time and the people in those times didn't think of themselves that way. Also, there were quite a few technological and societal inventions from that period that drastically changed the world like mills and universities. Likewise, Rome didn't exactly fall, it sort of just broke into smaller pieces and the Roman laws and roads held up for quite a long time after it "fell". A great reminder that history is a lot more complicated than we normally give credit to it for being. Or Martin Luther's 95 Theses was more of an invitation to a lecture and debate than a large scale condemnation about the Catholic Church. The "condemnation" took place slowly over the course of a decade or so and happened as more people rallied behind protestant ideas.

It's also kind of a travesty that kids are taught highly ideologically constrained history that they only unlearn if they spend time in higher education.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a book, but an audio course (or video) from the Great Courses.

I got it from Audible (not a CD).

I have been a huge fan of the production company "The Teaching Company", and producer of this line of courses "The Great Courses" for decades, but have not listened to many courses this past few years.
(The company goes around and records course offerings. It initially offered courses some of the great college professors across the country, but now offers a wide variety of subjects by a wide variety of professors

I decided to start the year by going back and doing one of their survey courses.

It has been a long time since I have done a survey course on Western Civilization. (So long in fact, that the idea of teaching Western Civilization has (sadly) gone completely out of favor. (I have one teenage high school sophomore and one college freshman - and neither was offered a history course on Western Civilization. A tragedy of the times.)

This course is spectacular.
Divided in to 48 thirty minute lectures, it runs from the stone age to the Reformation. The presenter, who has a distinctive voice (took about 30 minutes to adjust to), is engaging, knowledgable, and delightful.

I can not recommend this enough, to everyone, at all ages.

[Alex Bulankou · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great history course refresher like this one is great once in a while as a reminder of our own lifetime's insignificance in the context of civilizations. It plays strange games with time and perception. Daily events that we deem important are specs when zoomed out to centuries and disappear altogether when we start looking at millenniums. However the opposite can also be observed, we live through historical culture shifts without noticing them, just like Romans happily lived though what we view as dramatic collapse of their empire without hardly seeing anything different in their lifetime. What does stop to fascinate me is how is it possible that out of the common heritage with only geographical boundaries like mountains , valleys and rivers determining the natural spread of the ancient tribes we end up with distinctly common heritage and yet so peculiar national identities, languages and customs. These lectures tell the story.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I began listening to this course, in 48 lectures of about 30 minutes each, I wondered if it would be a simple rehash of high school history or my basic college history course. It isn’t. As in the title, Professor Thomas F. X. Noble discussed what he views as the “fundamental” concepts and the people who formed the Western part of the world from the beginnings in Mesopotamia through the Reformation. It did not feel like a simple rehashing of history.

I was surprised that Noble spent about ten minutes, at most, on the Crusades and then almost an entire lecture on Martin Luther. He saw the Crusades as mostly a French event which did not affect the West that much while Martin Luther changed the Western world.

Noble’s presentations were more chatty than formal, and were easy listening. I enjoyed the course and after spending 48 almost consecutive days listening to it, I feel almost at a loss that it is over.

[John Biddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good, college level survey course, introducing the important aspects of how western civilization came to be what it is. It's a series of 48 half hour lectures covering from ancient Sumer (3000 BC) to the beginning of the modern era (1600 AD). As a survey course the focus is on breadth rather than depth but I thought Professor Noble did a good job in selecting what to cover as well as how much to weight them. He also linked them together well, and not just by chronology.

I certainly learned more than enough for this to have been worth my time. Another reviewer went to town on the professor's verbal delivery, but IMHO Professor Noble was quite easy to listen to, always clear and I thought he did a terrific job. These are lectures, not a reading from a book, and to have so much detail at the ready is remarkable. If this subject interests you, don't hesitate to listen to this course.

[Dave McCracken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb 48 lectures starting with early records of civilization along the confluence of the Euphrates & Tigris rivers to exploration and empires of the 16th to 19th centuries, and everything in between.
Professor Thomas Noble narrates captivating stories throughout the many eras of western civilization, development, destruction, and reformation that is gripping in detail and nuance.
Generally, the common history is discussed at every level, however, Prof. Noble delves into the details of commoners' daily life and the effects of grand events occurring around them, side by side with the nuances of great leaders and their antagonists. His approach to history certainly was enlightening to me, as he described why the Dark Ages were not really dark at all.
Highly recommended narrative history for those interested in learning how various civilizations, time periods, and great events tied together over vast timeframes and distances.

[Don Heiman · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Foundations of Western Civilization”Prof Thomas Noble 48 lecture Teaching Company course was released in 2002. The lectures and 303 page course guide cover the Sumerian Period 2500 BC through the Middle Ages 1600 AD. The lectures feature 3 religious Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. They also feature Greek revival art-architectures, period literatures, reformations, and social economics over a 4,500 year period. I found the course guide presentations on the birth of Byzantium, medieval political traditions, and scholastic vernacular cultures fascinating. The course guide maps, timelines, and glossary of terms are foundational to understanding the evolution of Western Civilization. When the course was released Prof Noble was Professor of History and Director of Medieval History at the University of Notre Dame. (P)

[Brett Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine overview of Western Civ, starting with the birth of civilization itself at Sumer, through to the Greeks, Hebrews, Romans, Christianity, Dark Ages, Renaissance, Reformation, and Scientific Revolution. Complete with 194 pages of lecture notes, maps, a glossary, and bibliography with countless titles to explore. Surprisingly, there is no mention of the Enlightenment. Granted, this is a course all its own, but so is every other of the 48 lectures, each on a particular aspect of history.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the best lecture on western civilization from The Great Courses, but this is still good. I might have missed it, but for a lecture on "western" civilization, I never caught on how the Sumerian and Egyptian culture carried over to the cultures like the Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, Francs, and other very intertwined cultures. The strength of this series is that the lecturer spends multiple lectures on both Greece and Rome, getting into various topics like philosophy, literature, culture, and so on.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good recap of the important events of the last couple of hundreds years. The professor does a nice job of selecting and recapping important events. Even if you already know about the events, the prof does a nice job of putting them in context . The only problem I had was the obligatory apology tour where the prof apologized for the wrongs of westerners. It was unnecessary and hurt the overall story being told.

[Fabian Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always been interested in Ancient History, especially the origins of Western Civilization but I never had a good understanding of it. After this lecture series, I feel like the fog has cleared and I can see the map of Western Civilization from the ancient Sumerians all the way to the 1600s.

Extremely glad I listened to this. Would recommend to anyone who isn’t already familiar with this period. It was also a very enjoyable listening experience.

[Micheál McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastico. Loved every minute of it. The professor's lecture series gives you a solid backbone of human history, with a western focus of course. He gives the perfect amount of information for general understanding and recommends books to read and teas up topics for self exploration. Great format

This took me around 9months to finish, averaging around 1 lecture per week so it felt like being back in university

Tempted to go straight into part 2