Our Oriental Heritage

Length: 50 hrs and 16 mins

The first volume of Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume I chronicles the early history of Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia. Durant worked on it steadily from 1927 to 1932, & the book represents the third complete rewriting. In this masterful work, readers will encounter:

Sumeria, birthplace of the first cities and written laws
the Egyptians, who perfected monumental architecture, medicine, and mummification more than 3,500 years ago
the Babylonians, who developed astronomy and physics, and planted the seeds of Western mythology
the Judeans, who preserved their culture forever in the immortal books of the Old Testament
the Persians, who ruled the largest empire in recorded history before Rome
Indian philosophy, Chinese philosophers, and Japanese Samurais.