The Foundations of Western Civilization – a video presentation at The Attic, 36, Regal Building, CP > 6:30pm on 22nd April 2013

Time : 6:30 pm

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Place : The Attic, 36, Regal Building, Connaught Place, New Delhi-110001 
Landmark : On Parliament Street close to 'The Shop' showroom & next to the 'Kwality' restaurant
Venue Info : Events | About | Parking and Location | Regal Building Map
Metro : Nearest Metro Station - 'Rajiv Chowk' (Yellow Line and Blue Line)

Event Details : The Foundations of Western Civilization – an education in 24 evenings.  An Attic video presentation from The Great Courses taught by Prof. Thomas Noble, University of Notre Dame. You can discover the essential nature, evolution, and perceptions of Western civilization from its humble beginnings in the great river valleys of Iraq and Egypt to the dawn of the modern world.

The next two lectures of the series are as follows : 

Lecture 41- The Renaissance Problem
 The renaissance can be dated back to the middle of the 15th century. It began in Italy rather than in France which had been culturally dominant till then. Italy had greater wealth and more leisure to enjoy the arts. Nothing better than to compare Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales with Boccaccio’s Decameron. By the late 15th century scholars commonly made tours of Italy and with the 16th century painters began to follow. ‘Le Grand Tour’ became an essential element of the education of young European aristocrats as well as painters, poets or philosophers.
‘Italy, in particular, was their passion. It combined, in their eyes, the heritage of Antiquity, the force of the Renaissance, the heart of Christianity...’
The renaissance began as an urban, a communal, phenomenon but quickly became princely and courtly.

Lecture 42 - Renaissance Portraits
There were many remarkable artists and poets who made the renaissance one of the most original periods in the cultural history of Italy and Europe. Giovanni Boccaccio was a Florentine merchant’s son who made his reputation with the decameron.  It is composed of a 100 stories ranging from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes.  It is a document of life in 14th-century Italy.
Francesco Petracco (Petrarch) was the giant of the early renaissance. He studied law in France for 7 years but considered it a waste of his time. In 1327, he caught sight of “Laura” , the mysterious woman who inspired 366 poems in exquisite Italian for which he was named poet laureate in Rome. At the height of his fame he wrote “I have finally joined that humble band that knows nothing, holds nothing certain, doubts everything – outside of the things that it is sacrilege to doubt”.
The Medici family with the young Lorenzo at its head made Florence the cultural capital of all Italy – which means of Europe.
Leonardo De Vinci was the most versatile figure of the renaissance. He worked as a military engineer, painted portraits, designed stage sets and costumes, drew maps, proposed irrigation plans and drew more than 5000 sketches which survive in his notebooks.
Michelangelo Buonoratti was a Florentine of high birth whose family opposed his desire to be an artist. He used Greek statues as the model but with his Pieta in Rome he created an astonishing synthesis of Gothic, Greek and Christian art.
One of the best known works of Michelangelo is the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Florence.

1 "Western", "Civilization" and "Foundations" 2 History Begins at Sumer
3 Egypt-The Gift of the Nile 4 The Hebrews-Small States and Big Ideas
5 A Succession of Empires 6 Wide-Ruling Agamemnon
7 Dark Age and Archaic Greece 8 The Greek Polis-Sparta
9 The Greek Polis-Athens 10 Civic Culture-Architecture and Drama
11 The Birth of History 12 From Greek Religion to Socratic Philosophy
13 Plato and Aristotle 14 The Failure of the Polis and the Rise of Alexander
15 The Hellenistic World 16 The Rise of Rome
17 The Roman Republic-Government and Politics 18 Roman Imperialism
19 The Culture of the Roman Republic 20 Rome-From Republic to Empire
21 The Pax Romana 22 Rome's Golden and Silver ages
23 Jesus and the New Testament 24 The Emergence of a Christian Church
25 Late Antiquity-Crisis and Response 26 Barbarians and Emperors
27 The Emergence of the Catholic Church 28 Christian Culture in Late Antiquity
29 Muhammad and Islam 30 The Birth of Byzantium
31 Barbarian Kingdoms in the West 32 The World of Charlemagne
33 The Carolingian Renaissance 34 The Expansion of Europe
35 The Chivalrous Society 36 Medieval Political Traditions I
37 Medieval Political Traditions, II 38 Scholastic Culture
39 Vernacular Culture 40 The Crisis of Renaissance Europe
41 The Renaissance Problem 42 Renaissance Portraits
43 The Northern Renaissance 44 The Protestant Reformation-Martin Luther
45 The Protestant Reformation-John Calvin 46 Catholic Reforms and "Confessionalization"
47 Exploration and Empire 48 What Challenges Remain?
         
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