Ancient civilizations of Western Asia and North Africa

Author: Chief Editor: Ru Xin, Liu Wenpeng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-05-01
Features: Ancient civilizations in Western Asia and North Africa mainly include Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persian civilizations. Each volume of Ancient Western Asian and North African Civilizations elaborates on the origins, rise and fall of civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as the formation of Iranian civilization, particularly the Persian Empire. Since the Eastward campaigns of Macedonian Greece and the rise of "Hellenistic" empires, there have been intense conflicts, direct exchanges, and integration between ancient Eastern civilizations and emerging Western civilizations. Subsequently, Eastern and Western civilizations have displayed their unique characteristics on a broader historical stage, weaving a magnificent and colorful picture for the development of human civilization. What significant contributions did ancient Western Asian and North African civilizations make to the early development of human civilization, what position do they hold in the process of world civilization, and what is the modern significance of ancient civilizations? This is exactly what this book will tell you.
Editor's Note: Preface to the Grand Series of World Civilizations / Ru Xin In recent years, research on the issue of "civilization" has garnered increasing attention from academic circles both domestically and internationally. Especially after the end of the Cold War, the world order and international situation have undergone rapid changes, marking the end of the military confrontation between the two blocs. Although the world remains unstable, peace and development have become the central themes of current global progress. Meanwhile, despite the accelerating trend of economic globalization, world politics is increasingly moving toward multipolarity, and the diversification of social and cultural development is also showing a rich and varied landscape. Under these circumstances, scholars from many countries have begun to place greater emphasis on cultural strategy research, believing that the factors of civilization and culture will play an increasingly important role in the world's development in the 21st century. Since the reform and opening-up, academic circles in China have also experienced several waves of "cultural fever," with scholars from various humanities disciplines participating in discussions on cultural issues from different perspectives. This indicates that the issue of culture and its role and significance in China's new era development strategy have been recognized and are gaining increasing attention. However, overall, we still lack comprehensive research on civilization and culture issues, failing to integrate such research with changes in the world order and international situation. We also lack in-depth analysis of the status and trends of foreign research on civilization issues. Generally speaking, our research on world civilization is relatively weak, and to date, there is still no systematically comprehensive work by Chinese scholars that thoroughly studies and discusses the emergence and development of world civilization. We believe that strengthening research in this area, exploring the laws and characteristics of world civilization development from the perspective of Marxism, while promoting the fine traditions of Chinese civilization while fully absorbing and learning from all positive achievements of world civilization, and formulating a development strategy that can actively advance China's construction while effectively addressing challenges from foreign civilizations, has become an urgent task. To this end, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has established a "World Civilization Research" task force, organizing experts and scholars both within and outside the academy to conduct research on specific topics. The multi-volume work now published is the result of years of dedicated effort.
It should be noted that the concept of "civilization" used in this book has specific connotations. The term "civilization" (civilization) originates from Latin civis, which not only refers to Roman citizenship but also implies superiority over the primitive living conditions of foreigners or barbarians. As a result, later, the term "civilization" was used to refer to a higher stage of human historical development compared to the primitive society, i.e., the "barbaric" stage. However, this term was not formally used in European documents until the 18th century and was not widely adopted in the humanities until the 20th century. It is not only used to denote historical stages but also to indicate a certain spatial scope, i.e., to signify "regional civilizations." It should be pointed out that people's theories on "civilization," like their interpretations of "culture," vary greatly, with numerous definitions and no consensus. The main purpose of our research project is not to explore which definition is more appropriate but to conduct specific research on world civilization itself. In this book, we generally adopt the view prevailing internationally, which understands "civilization" as a broad sense of "culture." More specifically, it refers to a social historical entity occupying a certain spatial area (i.e., regional), encompassing both spiritual and material civilization, or the sum of human purposeful activities and their outcomes. We believe that research on world civilization must be guided by the Marxist materialist view of history. All civilizations in the world are products of specific groups of people under different historical conditions, each with its own process of emergence and development, its own characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses, and different historical roles in different periods. All historical achievements of civilizations are valuable contributions to the civilization of humanity and should be fully recognized and respected. No civilization can claim to be inherently superior or morally superior, and the tendency to measure other civilizations by one's own values and standards, even to interfere, is clearly an expression of cultural hegemony and an unrealistic fantasy. We also cannot agree with Huntington's theory of "civilizational conflicts." Huntington's theory treats civilization as the foundation of future relations between the world and the primary source of conflict, while neglecting factors such as politics, economics, and ideology. Even when discussing civilization, Huntington overemphasizes its "conflict" aspect while paying insufficient attention to the tendencies of exchange and integration between civilizations. From the overall process of world civilization development, the contradictions and collisions between different civilizations, although frequent, do not necessarily escalate into irreconcilable conflicts. On the contrary, peaceful coexistence, mutual influence, mutual penetration, and even integration and transformation between different civilizations are the norm and mainstream of world civilization development. In the era of social transformation as the world enters the 21st century, we should redouble our efforts to promote the peaceful coexistence, mutual exchange, and common development of different civilizations, learning from each other's strengths to make our world more vibrant and colorful.
Given these considerations, the task force has divided world civilization into the following topics for research:
1. Ancient Western Asian and North African Civilizations
2. Indian Civilization
3. Islamic Civilization
4. Confucian Civilization
5. Jewish Civilization
6. Western European Civilization
7. Slavic Civilization
8. African Black Civilization
9. Japanese Civilization
10. American Civilization
11. Latin American Civilization
It should be noted that this division is relative and does not encompass all of world civilization, leaving many issues for further research. We merely intend to start by exploring these major civilizations to gain a macro understanding of world civilization as a whole and to grasp the main characteristics of each civilization. This research project has been supported by the National Social Science Fund of China and the Key Research Project Fund of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The publication of this entire work has been made possible with the strong support of the China Social Sciences Press. We sincerely thank our colleagues and readers for any omissions or errors in this book. (Grand Series of World Civilizations, published by the China Social Sciences Press)
The Grand Series of World Civilizations includes 12 volumes: Confucian Civilization, Latin American Civilization, African Black Civilization, Japanese Civilization, Islamic Civilization, Ancient Western Asian and North African Civilizations, Jewish Civilization, Indian Civilization, American Civilization, Western European Civilization, Slavic Civilization, and Canadian Civilization. These 12 volumes were compiled over 10 years by nearly 30 domestic experts. Unlike The Story of Civilization by American scholar Will Durant, recently published by Dongfang Press, this series is a grand project independently completed by Chinese scholars.