This book informs the student or any reader about the importance of the humanities. The book uses comprehensive terminology, but every term is specifically defined, and as long as the individual is willing to learn, the definition of terms will prove helpful in a variety of courses even if the individual does not have a background in the humanities. The book explores the cultural tradition of the humanities over a long time span, beginning with the Paleolithic period (Old Stone Age) and concluding with the 14th century Renaissance. The focus is primarily on the Western tradition, but influential formative periods of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt are included as backdrops informing the Western tradition. Additionally, the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic are discussed as the periods preceding civilization, and it is from those shadowy recesses before the beginning of recorded history that a gestation period arose that eventually propelled the human race toward the abandonment of a hunter-gatherer subsistence level toward the attempt at mastery of the natural world, and the spread of the arts and great cities and technologies worldwide.