HISTORY 1110-03  WORLD CIVILIZATION I

SCHEDULE OF LECTURE TOPICS & READING ASSIGNMENTS

Please Note: All readings of original documents for the course are on the website. Documents that have "Questions for Analysis" may be the subject of online class discussions and/or essay assignments based on those questions. "Text" refers to the course textbook Traditions and Encounters volume I, 4th Edition.

Part I: Early Civilization in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China

  

Taking the Long View: What is History? Why Does it Matter?

 

Becoming: Prehistory and the Rise of Humanity

    Text, Chapter 1, pgs. 5-17

    Key Concepts & Terms

 

Growing: Agriculture, Settlement & New Technologies

    Text, Chapter 1, pgs. 17-26

    Part I: Neolithic Revolution Key Concepts & Terms

    Part II: River Valley Civilizations Key Concepts & Terms

 

Settling: From Villages to Cities

    Mesopotamian civilization = Text, chpt. 2, pgs. 31-45

     Key Concepts & Terms

 

Writing: The Invention and Use of Writing

    Satire of the Trades + Be a Scribe! + Questions for Analysis

    Chinese civilization = Text, chpt. 5, pgs. 109-127

    Review text pgs. 44-45, 50-52, 75-77, 124-127

    Key Concepts & Terms

 

Ruling: From Chieftains to Kings

    Border Inscription of Pharaoh Senwosret III + Questions for Analysis

    Egyptian civilization = Text, chpt. 3, pgs. 59-79

     Key Concepts & Terms

 

Believing: The relationship Between Humanity and the Gods

    Hymn to the Egyptian Sun God

    The Descent of the Goddess Inanna to the Underworld

    Questions for Analysis 

  Review text pgs. 77-80

 

Judging: Legal and Ethical Codes in the Ancient Near East

    Laws of Hammurabi + Questions for Analysis

 

Belonging: Family and Society in Ancient China and India

    Laws of Manu + Questions for Analysis

    Confuscius’ Analects + Questions for Analysis

    Indian civilization = Text chpt. 4, pgs. 87-104, especially 96-99

    Chinese civilization = Text chpt. 8, pgs. 181-203, especially 182-189

 

Fighting: warfare and the first empires

The Battle of Kadesh

 

  Part II: The Classical World and the Origins of Western Civilization

 

Community: The importance of the Greek Polis (city state)

    Greek Civilization = Text, Chapter 10, pgs. 231-255

 

 

Athens and Sparta: Democracy vs. Dictatorship

    Pericles’ Funeral Oration + The Melian Dialogue + Questions for Analysis

 

Thinking: Greek philosophy & the Origins of Science and Ethics

    Plato’s The Cave + Questions for Analysis

    Review Text pgs. 249-253

 

Citizenship: the Roman Republic

    Roman civilization = Text, Chapter 11, pgs. 259-279

 

Empire: The Roman Imperial System

     Key Concepts & Terms

 

One True God: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World

    Gnostic Gospels

    Roman Views of Christianity

    Text, Chapter 11, pgs. 276-282 & Chapter 12, pgs. 308-311

 

The Last Prophet: the Rise of Islam

    Selections from the Quran + Questions for Analysis

    Islamic civilization = Text, Chapter 14, pgs. 345-353 & 364-370

 

(Un)-Holy War: Crusaders and Jihadists

    Pope Urban II’s Call to the 1st Crusade

    Crusaders in Mainz Massacre Jews

    Crusaders Capture Jerusalem

    Text, Chapter 20, pgs. 532-535