Series Our Civilization is Shaped by People of the East and West

The word civilization is used to describe man’s progress in ways of living – producing abundant crops and goods, carrying on trade, developing ideas about government, religion and science, expressing these ideas in language and pictures. Peoples who groped their way toward better living become, as we say, civilized. In study civilizations of other early peoples, we learn that each of these peoples, to be sure, borrowed from others with whom they came in contact, but each developed a distinct civilization or way of life of its own. Their achievements not only affected the world of their own times, but have had an important influence down through history. The civilizations of Greece and Rome, for example, directly affected what we call the Western World Europe and the Americas. The civilizations of China and India, on the other hand, have been particularly important in shaping the lives and history of Asian peoples. Religion furnishes a good example of the influence of early civilizations on our world today. Christianity, which began in ancient Palestine, become the official religion throughout the Roman Empire. Rome in turn passed Christianity on to Europe and it become the dominant religion of the Western World. Both Hinduism and Buddhism which claim millions of followers in Asia today began in early India. We learn more through the story of the Greeks. The modern world owes much to the Greeks for their belief in free government and their achievements in literature and the arts. We learn about the Romans, who excelled in war, government, law and engineering. We take a long look backward to the early civilizations of India and China which were passed on over many centuries to other Asian peoples. Finally, we learn about the Arabs, who not only developed their own civilization, but preserved and passed on many of the accomplishments of ancient peoples.