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— CH. 1 · CLASSICAL FOUNDATIONS AND ANTIQUITY —

Western culture

~8 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
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  • The year 395 marked the permanent splitting of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern halves, creating a cultural divide that persists to this day. Before this division, Greek civilization had already established a paradigm contrasting itself with other civilizations through the accounts of Herodotus regarding the Persian Wars. Writers like Xenophon highlighted the importance of freedom in the Ancient Greek world as opposed to the perceived slavery of barbaric neighbors. Alexander the Great led conquests that resulted in a Hellenistic civilization representing a synthesis of Greek and Near-Eastern cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The most important Hellenistic center of learning was Ptolemaic Egypt, which attracted scholars from Greece, Egypt, Jewish communities, Persia, Phoenicia, and even India. This intellectual hub provided a foundation embraced by the Roman Empire as it swept up Europe and the Mediterranean world during the first century BCE. The Latin-speaking Western Roman Empire consisted of Western Europe and Northwest Africa, while the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire included the Balkans, Asia Minor, Egypt, and the Levant. Wealthy provinces outside of Italia were generally located in the East, particularly Roman Egypt. Despite this economic disparity, Celts in the West created significant literature whenever given the opportunity, such as the poet Caecilius Statius. They also developed substantial scientific knowledge, evidenced by their Coligny Calendar.

  • After the fall of Rome, much of Greco-Roman art, literature, science, and technology were lost in the western part of the old empire. Political anarchy ensued with many warring kingdoms until the Frankish kings partially reunified the territory under feudalism. Alcuin of York formed the earliest recorded concept of Europe as a cultural sphere in the late 8th century during the Carolingian Renaissance. This definition was limited to territories practicing Western Christianity at that time. Medieval Christianity is credited with creating the modern university system and the hospital system that vastly improved upon earlier Roman and Greek healing temples. These hospitals catered to social groups marginalized by poverty, sickness, and age according to historian Guenter Risse. The Catholic Church played a role in ending practices common among pagan societies such as human sacrifice, slavery, infanticide, and polygamy. Francisco de Vitoria studied the issue regarding the human rights of colonized natives and is recognized by the United Nations as a father of international law. Joseph Schumpeter noted that medieval scholastics came closer than any other group to being founders of scientific economics. The rediscovery of the Justinian Code in Western Europe early in the 10th century rekindled a passion for legal discipline across East-West boundaries. In 1054, the Great Schism separated Europe into religious and cultural regions present to this day following the divide between Greek East and Latin West.

  • The Renaissance began in Italy during the 14th century before spreading throughout Europe through a massive artistic, architectural, scientific, and philosophical revival. Christian scholars fleeing the fall of Constantinople brought ancient Greek and Roman texts back to Italian cities like Florence and Venice after the end of the Byzantine Empire. This process was further enhanced by an exodus of Greek Christian priests and scholars to these urban centers. Until the Age of Enlightenment, Christian culture remained the predominant force guiding philosophy, art, and science for many years. Movements such as the Humanist movement of the Renaissance and the Scholastic movement of the High Middle Ages were motivated by connecting Catholicism with Greek and Arab thought imported by Christian pilgrims. During the Reformation and Enlightenment, ideas of civil rights, equality before the law, procedural justice, and democracy began to be institutionalized as principles forming the basis of modern Western culture. The Protestant Reformation fundamentally altered religious and political life by challenging the authority of the Catholic Church. Figures like Martin Luther promoted ideas of individual freedom and religious reform, paving the way for modern notions of personal responsibility and governance. The division in Western Christianity caused by the Protestant Reformation led to waning religious influence, especially the temporal power of the Pope.

  • The Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century emphasized reason, analysis, and individualism rather than traditional lines of authority. Philosophers including Francis Bacon, René Descartes, John Locke, Baruch Spinoza, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant influenced society by publishing widely read works. New ideas spread around Europe and were fostered by an increase in literacy due to a departure from solely religious texts. Publications included the Encyclopédie edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert between 1751 and 1772. Voltaire wrote the Dictionnaire philosophique in 1764 and Letters on the English in 1733 to spread Enlightenment ideals. Coinciding with this intellectual movement was the Scientific Revolution spearheaded by Newton. While dates are disputed, the publication in 1543 of Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium is often cited as marking the beginning of the scientific revolution. Its completion is attributed to Newton's grand synthesis in his Principia published in 1687. The scientific method was fashioned by the 17th-century Italian Galileo Galilei with roots in medieval scholars like the 11th-century Iraqi physicist Ibn al-Haytham and the 13th-century English friar Roger Bacon. This era challenged authority deeply rooted in society such as the Catholic Church while promoting toleration, science, and skepticism.

  • The Industrial Revolution marked a transition to new manufacturing processes from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. These changes included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing, iron production processes, improved water power efficiency, increasing use of steam power, and development of machine tools. Transitions began in Great Britain and spread to Western Europe and North America within decades. Average income and population exhibited unprecedented sustained growth during this period. Some economists argue that the major impact was that standard of living for the general population began to increase consistently for the first time in history. GDP per capita was broadly stable before the Industrial Revolution but began an era of per-capita economic growth in capitalist economies afterward. The First Industrial Revolution evolved into the Second Industrial Revolution between 1840 and 1870 when technological progress continued with adoption of steam transport including railways, boats, and ships. Large-scale manufacture of machine tools increased alongside machinery use in steam-powered factories. The Transportation Revolution began with improved roads in the late 18th century. From the late 15th century to the 17th century, Western culture spread globally through explorers and missionaries during the Age of Discovery. Imperialists expanded influence from the 17th century to the early 20th century. During the Great Divergence, the Western world emerged as the most powerful civilization eclipsing Qing China, Mughal India, Tokugawa Japan, and the Ottoman Empire.

  • Catholic monks developed the first forms of modern Western musical notation to standardize liturgy throughout the worldwide Church. This led directly to European classical music and its many derivatives. The Baroque style encompassed music, art, and architecture encouraged by the post-Reformation Catholic Church as a means of stirring religious expression. The symphony, concerto, sonata, opera, and oratorio originated in Italy. Many instruments like the guitar, violin, piano, pipe organ, saxophone, trombone, clarinet, accordion, and theremin came into widespread global use. Ballet is a distinctively Western form of performance dance while ballroom dance serves as an important variety for elites. Folk dances include polka, square dance, flamenco, and Irish step dance. Greek and Roman theatre are considered antecedents of modern theatre with medieval forms including Passion Plays, morality plays, and commedia dell'arte influencing later developments. Elizabethan theatre featured playwrights such as William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson. Soap operas originated in the United States on radio in the 1930s before moving to television decades later. Music videos were developed in the West during the middle of the 20th century. Musical theatre evolved from music hall, comic opera, and Vaudeville with significant contributions from Jewish diaspora, African-Americans, and other marginalized peoples.

  • The scientific method characterized natural science since the 17th century through systematic observation, measurement, experiment, hypothesis formulation, testing, and modification. The Nobel Prizes were established by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel's will in 1895 with awards first given in 1901 across Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine. The percentage of ethnically European winners during the first half of the 20th century was 98 percent while the second half saw 94 percent. Westerners invented the steam engine adapted for factories and generated electric power including motors, dynamos, transformers, light bulbs, and familiar appliances. Internal combustion engines like Otto and Diesel had genesis and early development within the West. Nuclear power stations derived from the first atomic pile constructed in Chicago in 1942. Communication devices such as telegraph, telephone, radio, television, satellites, mobile phones, and Internet were all invented by Westerners. Ubiquitous materials discovered included aluminum, clear glass, synthetic rubber, diamond, plastics like polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, and polystyrene. Iron and steel ships, bridges, and skyscrapers first appeared in the West. Nitrogen fixation and petrochemicals were invented by Westerners. Most elements were discovered and named in the West along with contemporary atomic theories. Mathematics developed calculus, statistics, logic, vectors, tensors, complex analysis, group theory, abstract algebra, and topology through Western contributions. Biology created evolution, chromosomes, DNA, genetics, and molecular biology methods. Physics developed mechanics, quantum mechanics, relativity, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics. Electromagnetism discoveries included Coulomb's law in 1785, the first battery in 1800, unity of electricity and magnetism in 1820, Biot-Savart law in 1820, Ohm's law in 1827, and Maxwell's equations in 1871.

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Sociological terminology

Common questions

When did the Roman Empire split into Western and Eastern halves?

The year 395 marked the permanent splitting of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern halves. This division created a cultural divide that persists to this day.

Who formed the earliest recorded concept of Europe as a cultural sphere?

Alcuin of York formed the earliest recorded concept of Europe as a cultural sphere in the late 8th century during the Carolingian Renaissance. This definition was limited to territories practicing Western Christianity at that time.

What years did the Encyclopédie edited by Denis Diderot run?

Publications included the Encyclopédie edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert between 1751 and 1772. This work spread Enlightenment ideals across Europe alongside other philosophical texts.

When were the Nobel Prizes first awarded after Alfred Nobel's will established them?

The Nobel Prizes were established by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel's will in 1895 with awards first given in 1901. These prizes cover Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine.

Where did the Industrial Revolution begin before spreading globally?

Transitions began in Great Britain and spread to Western Europe and North America within decades. The period marked a transition to new manufacturing processes from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840.

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