ABSTRACT
The period between 800 to 200 BCE witnessed an intellectual and spiritual flowering that occurred more or less independently and simultaneously in Greece, the Middle East, China, and India. 1 This global rebirth was so extraordinary that the German psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Theodor Jaspers 2 designated this era of burgeoning innovation in philosophy, science, political thought, and art the “Axial Age.” It was as if human mentality, after several centuries of decline during the Late Bronze and early Iron Ages, was upgraded. The reasons behind the emergence of the Axial Age remain a mystery. What accounts for this astonishing development? In this chapter, I offer some answers.
