1. Founding of Religious Traditions 宗教文化的创立（公元前6世纪）

Confucius, Buddha, and Mahavira (the prophet of Jainism) all lived in the 6th century, though their works were compiled later (in the case of Buddha, much later). Important books of the Old Testament were written or assembled at roughly the same time. Greek culture was climbing toward its classical peak, thanks to natural philosophers (Thales, Parmenides), early political leaders (Solon), engineers (Chersiphron), and poets (Sappho, Pindar). No century is more significant for both Western and Eastern intellectual traditions.

孔子、佛祖和摩诃毗罗（耆那教的先知）都生活在公元前6世纪，尽管他们的工作在后来才慢慢被编纂完成（佛祖的著作在之后的很长时间才编纂完毕）。圣经旧约的重要篇章也大概在这个时期撰写或者编纂。希腊文化得利于自然哲学家（泰利斯、帕梅尼德斯），早期政治领袖（梭仑），工程学家（伽尔瑟夫农）、和诗人（莎孚、品达），也正在走向其古典文化的顶峰。毫无疑问，在东西方文化传统的发展史上，这是一个独一无二的世纪。