Author insinuates that all civilization comes from Western Europe. Worse, he suggests that, somehow, the fact that the classic masters more or less invented the

Author insinuates that all civilization comes from Western Europe. Worse, he suggests that, somehow, the fact that the classic masters more or less invented the arts of painting, writing, performance, architecture, etc. as we know them today indicates that they lived in a more "civilized" period. The fact of the matter is that, for most people living at that time, life was nasty, brutish, and short (to borrow Hobbes' phrase). Wars were regularly fought as a means of political gain, sanitation was unknown, religious tolerance was sporadic at best, etc., etc. Yes, the end product has been the greatest global civilization that the world has ever known, but that wasn't how things started out.