Critical Reaction - Assignment Example

Critical reaction Prehistory and the Rise of Civilization in the Near East and Egypt The rise of the human ancestors is a matter of just recent development, compared to when the planet earth came into being. The first human ancestors were hunters, and they only applied stone tools (Matthews, Noble and Platt, 7). The civilization process that has occurred over the years has seen the transformation in both the human nature and the consequent preference of tools. However, what is most interesting is the fact that civilization first occurred in China while Europe and America were left behind for so many years.

This is because; by 6000 and 3000 BCE, metal tools were being used in East China, while Europe and America had to continue using the stone tools until later in the 1200 BCE (Matthews, Noble and Platt, 5). Female power is another aspect that can be traced back to the very early stages of human development, where in the Paleolithic period, which represents the period of (40,000–10,000 BCE), women had already started to be painted, with the most emphasis of these paintings being on their breasts, navel, and vulva (Matthews, Noble and Platt, 6).

Nevertheless, the streak of civilization would continue with Mesopotamia being the cradle of civilization, while Egypt played a very important role in the human civilization, through the rise of writing, medicine and science as the major Egyptian contributions to human civilization (Matthews, Noble and Platt, 24). Mesopotamia contributed greatly in agriculture, tools and weaponry advancement. The Aegean: The Minoans, the Mycenaean, and the Greeks of the Archaic AgeGreek is the cradle of western civilization, just as Mesopotamia and Egypt form the cradle of human civilization.

The fundamental characteristic of western civilization is the transformation of traditional leadership from godlike to humanlike, and the recognition of men and women as responsible for controlling their destinies (Matthews, Noble and Platt, 42). Literacy, politics and aesthetics are the major features of the Greek civilization contribution to the rest of the world. Urbanization, organized and centralized political leadership are also major features of the Greek civilizations, with cities, palaces and war artifacts indicating that the Greeks were living a fully urbanized and politically centralized lifestyle around the 1900–1100 BCE period.

Technology also advanced during the Greek civilization, most especially during the Minoan and Mycenaean, where bronze tools and weapons, horses and horse chariots and ship building characterized these ages (Matthews, Noble and Platt, 45). Nevertheless, religion, literature, philosophy and science can be traced as the single most significant contribution of the Greek civilization to the rest of the world.Classical Greek Civilization: The Hellenic Age The Greek may have fallen defeat into the hands of the Macedonians, but the superiority of their way of life was never toned down.

The only thing that seemed to diminish in its significance is religion, with the roles of the gods and the deities slowly degrading, as religion was increasingly becoming integrated into civic lifestyles (Matthews, Noble and Platt, 59). Instead, more secularism characteristic developed and gained popularity in the Greek Society during the Hellenic classicism, with music, theater, architecture, history and philosophy taking the center-stage (Matthews, Noble and Platt, 62). However, the most important contribution of the Hellenic classicism to the world is the art of warfare and defense mechanism.

This is the period during which the Greek defeated the Macedonians, and focused on the art of war perfection. Perfectionism was also passed on to other aspects such as in sculpture and architecture. However, the most interesting thing is that it was the Greek who first brought up the representation of the Africans in art. This was however with very scientific and artistic interests, as opposed to the modern-day racial art representation of the blacks (Matthews, Noble and Platt, 66).Works CitedMatthews, Roy; Noble, Thomas and Platt, DeWitt.

Experience Humanities (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education -A. Kindle Edition, 2013. 1-85. Print.