The Gita blends Upanishadic metaphysics with devotionalism, synthesizing India’s philosophical currents. Its impact was profound: over two thousand years after its writing Gandhi called it his “spiritual dictionary” and guide for nonviolent resistance. It shaped Hindu theology, art, and global thought, influencing western thinkers like Emerson and Hesse. Compared to Plato’s dialogues, the Gita is less argumentative, more spiritual.

I mentioned that after the settlement of Greek hostilities with Persia, jealousy and rivalry between Athens and Sparta erupted into the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). In the first decade of this long war, a Spartan hoplite army invaded Attica but was held back by Athens' defenses, especially fortifications called the Long Walls that linked the city with its port, Piraeus

these are some of the foundational philosophical and religious ideas that still influence our lives, so we'll be looking at them anyway.

The ruler who freed the Jews from Babylon was Cyrus II, known as Cyrus the Great. He lived from about 600 to 530 BCE and is remembered not as a military conquerer (although he died in battle in 530 BCE) but as a diplomatic genius who gained power by coopting local elites, respecting local cultures and religions, and brought peace and commerce.

The Phoenicians had also survived the Bronze Age Collapse, although not without damage. The civilization that had begun with Byblos over 7,000 years ago lost major centers such as Ugarit, but Byblos and the island fortress of Tyre persisted and then prospered

Unlike the Mycenaean civilization of the Bronze Age, Greece did not have a high king. City-states (in Greek, polis) controlled the regions surrounding them

One of the advantages of bronze for making weapons is that unlike iron and steel, which must be forged by blacksmiths, bronze edged weapons could be cast

Possibly the oldest is called "The Instructions of Shuruppak". Written in Sumerian about 4,600 years ago, it is structured as the advice of a father named Shuruppak, a mythical sage and ruler, to his son Ziusudra (hero of the Sumerian flood myth). The series of about 280 aphorisms contain both philosophical truths

Most scholars believed these symbols had ritual or mnemonic purposes such as recording names or tallying goods, without fully representing a spoken language.

A much later Egyptian script called Demotic (Greek: "for the people") was developed beginning about 2,600 years ago, allowing for much broader use of writing in commerce, law, and personal life.

The Indus Valley Civilization's cotton was not only used to clothe its people, but was central to its economy, with cotton textiles exported to Mesopotamia

One advantage Egypt had in its later history, which was not shared by other early cultures, was that it was protected from invasion by geography

The Indus culture established a uniform system of weights and seals, which helped standardize trade.