2. Mediterranean Culture 地中海文明 （公元前5世紀——4世紀）

The first great dramatists (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes), the greatest sculptors in history(Phidias), and Socrates all lived in Athens in the 5th century BC. No other place in history produced more genius. The Greeks’ run continued in the 4th century with Plato (one of the most influential thinkers of all time) and Aristotle (the founder of ethics, political theory, natural history and logic), and mathematicians Eudoxus and Euclid. At the other end of Eurasia, Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu and the followers of Confucius elaborated Chinese thought; the abacus and blast furnace were invented; and the Grand Canal was begun. India produced epic literature.

第一批偉大的劇作家（埃斯庫羅斯、索福克勒斯、阿里斯托芬），歷史上最杰出的雕刻家（菲迪亞斯），和蘇格拉底都生活在公元前5世紀的雅典。歷史上再也沒有任何的地方能夠如此地齊聚天才。希臘文化在公元前4世紀繼續發展，產生了包括柏拉圖（史上最具有影響力的思想家之一）、亞里斯多德（倫理學、政治理論、自然歷史和邏輯學的創立者），以及數學家歐多克斯和歐幾里德在內的一批著名學者。而在歐亞大陸的另一端，老子、莊子以及孔子的學生們詳盡闡述了中國思想文化；算盤和煉丹爐在這一時期發明；而大運河也開始開鑿。印度創立了敘事詩文學。