The Near East & The Greeks (Thales Fontes)

The Near East & The Greeks (Thales Fontes)

A classical education is founded on the great books of the Western canon and helps students choose what is good and persuade others to choose what is good, too. Accordingly, students should have access to the “fontes,” the sources themselves, that describe the story of history from beginning to end. The Near East & The Greeks contain primary source texts from the great civilizations of the ancient Bronze Age and Iron Age. Included within this reader are selections from ancient Sumer, Egypt, Phoenicia, Israel, India, China, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and the Greeks. Selections from the Greeks begin with Mycenaean Greece and end with Alexander the Great and the artwork of Hellenistic Greece. Moreover, The Near East & The Greeks has special Closer Look activities that focus on the ruins, monumental architecture, artwork, and other noteworthy worthy features of a particular civilization. To aid in teaching through these resources, each text selection and Closer Look activity includes a brief description of the background of the text, glossed vocabulary words and annotations, and questions for students to answer. That way, students have considerable opportunities to read from and study these great books and apply their wisdom to their own lives. Such is the goal of a classical education: to take students through the great books, so that such great students can take on the whole world.