This course presents an introduction to Western culture from its birth in ancient Greece to present-time, through reading key texts from the history of this culture. By delving into texts from various periods and genres – philosophy, essays, literature and theatre plays – we will examine both the specific nature of each period or historical trend, and the ideas and questions that continuously run throughout the history of the West. At the heart of the course stands the attempt of the west civilization to answer the basic question "What is man?" through the concepts of reason, humanism, freedom and the individual. Each period offers a different understanding of these fundamental concept, and consequently different answers to the questions concerning the essence of man and his place in the world.