Our Oriental Heritage  

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"Our Oriental Heritage" (1935) is a text by historian Will Durant published in The Story of Civilization.

This volume covers Near Eastern history until the fall of the Persian Empire in the 4th century BC, and the history of India, China, and Japan up to the 1930s.

“Every chapter, every paragraph in this book will offend or amuse some patriotic or esoteric soul: the orthodox Jew will need all his ancestral patience to forgive the pages on Yahveh; the metaphysical Hindu will mourn this superficial scratching of Indian philosophy; The Chinese or Japanese sage will smile indulgently at these brief and inadequate selections from the wealth of Far Eastern literature and thought. ... Meanwhile a weary author may sympathize with Tai T’ung, who in the thirteenth century issued his ‘’History of Chinese Writing’‘ with these words: ‘Were I to await perfection, my book would never be finished.’” (p.ix)

1. The Establishment of Civilization
   1. The Conditions of Civilization
   2. The Economic Elements of Civilization
   3. The Political Elements of Civilization
   4. The Moral Elements of Civilization
   5. The Mental Elements of Civilization
   6. The Prehistoric Beginnings of Civilization
      “The moulders of the world’s myths were unsuccessful husbands, for they agreed that woman was the source of all evil.” (p.70)
2. The Near East
   1. Sumeria
   2. Egypt
   3. Babylonia
   4. Assyria
   5. A Motley of Nations
   6. Judea
   7. Persia
      “For barbarism is always around civilization, amid it and beneath it, ready to engulf it by arms, or mass migration, or unchecked fertility. Barbarism is like the jungle; it never admits its defeat; it waits patiently for centuries to recover the territory it has lost.” (p.265)
3. India and Her Neighbors
   1. The Foundations of India
   2. Buddha
   3. From Alexander to Aurangzeb
   4. The Life of the People
   5. The Paradise of the Gods
   6. The Life of the Mind
   7. The Literature of India
   8. Indian Art
   9. A Christian Epilogue
      On the fall of India to the Moguls: “The bitter lesson that may be drawn from this tragedy is that eternal vigilance is the price of civilization. A nation must love peace, but keep its powder dry.” (p.463)
4. The Far East
   1. The Age of the Philosophers
   2. The Age of the Poets
   3. The Age of the Artists
   4. The People and the State
   5. Revolution and Renewal
      On China in 1935: “No victory of arms, or tyranny of alien finance, can long suppress a nation so rich in resources and vitality. The invader will lose funds or patience before the loins of China will lose virility; within a century China will have absorbed and civilized her conquerors, and will have learned all the technique of what transiently bears the name of modern industry; roads and communications will give her unity, economy and thrift will give her funds, and a strong government will give her order and peace.” (p.823)
5. Japan
   1. The Makers of Japan
   2. The Political and Moral Foundations
   3. The Mind and Art of Old Japan
   4. The New Japan
      On Japan in 1935: "By every historical precedent the next act will be war."