Sources for the History of Western Civilization

Michael Burger is a professor of history at Auburn University at Montgomery.

• Preface to the First EditionPreface to the Second EditionPreface to the Third EditionIntroduction for Students: An Example of How to Analyze a Primary Source1. The Descent of Ishtar2. The Code of Hammurabi3. The Enuma Elish4. Hymn to Aton5. First Book of Kings, 15–196. Book of Job 1–14, 21–24, 38–427. Homer, The Iliad8. Plutarch, Life of Solon9. Plato, The Symposium10. Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War11. Plutarch, Life of Alexander the Great12. Material Evidence Concerning the Greek World12.1. Vase (detail) (Sixth Century BC)12.2. The "Priam Painter," Hydria (c. 520–510 BC)12.3. Kylix (detail) (c. 520–510 BC)12.4. Kylix (detail), Attica (c. 490–480 BC) 12.5. Column Krater, Attica (c. 460 BC) 12.6. Funerary Vase (c. 440 BC)12.7.1. House on Slope of the Areopagus (Fifth Century BC): Probable Functions of Rooms12.7.2. House on Slope of the Areopagus (Fifth Century BC): Areas Used by Women and by Men12.8. Polycleitus, Doryphorus (c. 440–435 BC) 12.9. Caryatid from the Erectheum, Athens (Roman copy; original late Fifth Century BC)12.10. Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Cnidos (c. 350 BC) 12.11. Praxiteles, Hermes (c. 325 BC)12.12. Crouching Aphrodite (Hellenistic) 12.13. Gaul (with His Wife) Killing Himself (c. 230–220 BC) 12.14. The Pharaoh Sesostris I (?) (Egypt, Second Millennium BC) 12.15. Queen Arsinoë II (Egypt, c. 210 BC)12.16. Queen Cleopatra (possibly Cleopatra VII) (Egypt, 200–30 BC) 12.17. Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus of Rhodes, Lacoön and His Sons (c. 125 BC)12.18. Market Woman (First Century BC) 13. Vergil, The Aeneid14. Augustus, The Deeds of the Divine Augustus15. Pliny the Younger, Letters15.1. To Junius Mauricus15.2. To Acilius15.3. To Trajan15.4. Trajan’s Reply 15.5. To Trajan15.6. To Trajan15.7. Trajan’s Reply 15.8. To Trajan15.9. Trajan’s Reply16. Letter from Apion17. Inscription from Mactar18. Book of Matthew 3–9.3219. John, Book of Revelation 15–2020. Perpetua and Others, The Martyrdom of Saint Perpetua21. Diocletian’s Edict on Prices22. Augustine, Confessions23. Tacitus, De Germania24. Sidonius Apollinaris, Letters24.1. To Donidius24.2. To Bishop Lupus24.3. To Magnus Felix24.4. To Ecdicius24.5. To Arbogast25. Benedict of Nursia, The Rule26. Einhard, Life of Charlemagne27. The Dooms of King Alfred28. Gregory VII, Henry IV, and the German Bishops, Documents28.1. Gregory VII, The Dictatus Papae  28.2. Letter of Gregory VII to Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor  28.3. Letter of Henry IV to Gregory VII  28.4. Letter of Bishops in Germany to Gregory VII  28.5. First Deposition and Banning of the Emperor Henry IV by Gregory VII  29. Speech of Urban II at the Council of Clermont: Two Accounts  29.1. Account of Fulcher of Chartres  29.2. Account of Robert the Monk  30. Fulcher of Chartres, Historia Hierosolymitana31. Ibn al-Althir, The Complete History 32. Usamah Ibn-Munqidh, The Book of Contemplation33. Two Letters from Crusaders  33.1. Letter of Anselm of Ribemont to Manasses II, Archbishop of Reims  33.2. Letter from Stephen, Count of Blois, to Adele, His Wife 34. Letter of Prester John35. Magna Carta 36. Documents from the County of Champagne36.1. Charter of the Count Thibaut III of Champagne36.2. Charter of Simon, lord of Châteauvillain 36.3. Charter of Count Thibaut V to Renaud of Bar-le-Duc36.4. Decree of King Philip IV ("the fair") of France36.5. Notice from agents of King Philip IV of France36.6. Charter of Count Thibaut V 36.7. Count Henry of Champagne establishes of village36.8. Announcement of Countess Blanche of Champagne and Count Thibaut IV of a tax on the Jews36.9. Countess Blanche of Castile’s announcement regarding women’s inheritance of castles36.10. Statement of nobles of Champagne regarding royal taxation37. Robert Grosseteste, Letter to Margaret de Quency, countess of Winchester, regarding Jews and Tithes38. Court Rolls of the Abbots of Ramsey and Battle  38.1. Court Roll of the Abbot of Ramsey for the Manor of Elton  38.2. Court Roll of the Abbot of Battle for the Manor of Brightwaltham  39. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles  40. Ralph of Shrewsbury, Letter  41. City Officials of Cologne, Letter  42. English Statute of 1363 on Food and Clothing  43. Petrarch, Letters of Familiar Intercourse  43.1. To His Friend Socrates  43.2. To Tomasso da Messina  43.3. To Marcus Tullius Cicero  44. Christine de Pizan, The Book of the Body Politic45. Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince  46. Desiderius Erasmus, Letters  46.1. To Anne of Borselle  46.2. To Jacobus Battus  46.3. To Pope Leo X  46.4. To Lambertus Grunnius  46.5. Lambertus Grunnius to Erasmus  46.6. To Cardinal Wolsey  46.7. To Henry Bullock  47. Martin Luther, Letters  47.1. To George Spalatin  47.2. To Paul Speratus 47.3. To George Spalatin  47.4. To Wolfgang Reissenbusch  47.5. To George Spalatin  48. Teresa of Avila, Spiritual Testimonies 48.1. No. 22. Eucharistic experience48.2. No. 25. The nature of union48.3. No. 26. Do not renounce what awakens love48.4. No. 31. Spiritual Marriage48.5. No. 32 The way of suffering and love48.6. No. 47 The value of good works48.7. No. 64 Counsels for the Discalced Fathers 49. The Florentine Codex50. Articles of the Catholic League  51. Michel de Montaigne, Essays  51.1. On Cannibals 51.2. That It Is Folly to Measure Truth and Error by Our Own Capacity  Sources  Index of Topics