Part 2

The amount of change that happened between the first and second-waves of civilization has really blown my mind. The time lines for the class are constantly shocking to me (especially when they put world history into the calendar year). Furthermore, it is hard to believe that such ideas and inventions that occurred thousands and thousands of years ago are still effecting us today.
The section in part two that really stuck out to me was "The Greek Way of Knowing". While I have heard so much about these philosophers and classical Greek thinkers, I had no idea of the actual impact they have on us currently; how there way of thinking is still used. Most notably would be Socrates. He questioned everything and found that the most value was to be in virtue and wisdom and not wealth and power in living well. These ideas, I believe, are just as important today.
As a whole, however, I am impressed by not only the rapid change but also how the world was becoming more modern all at the same time; how it wasn't just one country changing but the whole world was changing.
How humans began to enslave their own people is also quite fascinating and disturbing. While it is clear there is no hard evidence to support an event that caused humans to enslave one another, class, wealth and punishment all seem to be a common factor. Moreover, slavery seemed to be common across most cultures, although some more promenade then others. Although the Greeks may have had some powerful knowledge and were able to discover many important things about the world and logic, the dependency on slavery seems to push them back. The book stated that nearly one third of the population in Athens was enslaved (shocking).