Spring Arbor University HIS 121 History of Civilization I, Section 1 Instructor: Dr. Mark Correll Fall 2010 Tel: x1317 POL 305 MWF 1:10-2:30 email: mcorrell@arbor.edu Office Hours: MWF 11:10-12:00 (Walk and Talk), 12:00-1:00, 4:00-4:30 TR between 11:00-12:30 by appointment Course Objective: To give participating students an understanding of the development of the modern world through a study of human civilization up to A.D. 1500. Students in this course will be expected to learn first the major events, figures, and chronology of the time period then they will be expected to find the motivations of change in this period through the eras symbols and ideals and, finally, they will be expected to discover how our own perceptions of our present world are based upon the historical events of the past. Required Texts: Peter N. Stearns. World History in Brief: Major Patterns of Change and Continuity. Vol I: to 1450, 7 th Edition. New York: Pearson Longman, 2010. Augustine, The Confessions. New York: Penguin Classics, 1961 Mirusaki Shikibu. The Tale of Genji. New York: Penguin Classics, 2006. Grading: Attendance and Participation: 15% Modern World and the Ancient: 15% Project: 25% Mid-term Exams: 25% Final Exam: 20% Attendance and Participation: Students are expected to attend class for every lecture and discussion and to be up to date in their reading. Any missed classes should be notified to the professor with a documented excuse illness, family emergency, government or legal responsibility, etc. In order to check progress quizzes will be periodically given that will test basic participation with class materials. The lowest of every four will be dropped. So if 6 quizzes are given 2 are dropped, etc. How the Modern World Views the Ancient Presentation: Each student will find a partner and provide a 10 minute review of a movie, television, or other popular media interpretation of the past. Feel free to include film clips, pictures, web sites or other materials and pictures. Here s a tip on your review, they re never very good at detailing life as it was in the past, but each is specifically chosen to give an image and have a present image. Fantasy films that are set in a medieval like society are also acceptable. Have fun with the presentation. The dates for the presentation projects will be chosen on September 13. The best projects will not only discuss what how the modern misstates the history of the ancient, but also why these inaccuracies are present, and why the creators have decided to use the ancient world to tell their story. Choose one of the three following projects, each project is due by 11:59pm on November 23. Please submit as an email attachment. I am happy to check work earlier than the date it is due and to give feedback.
Lecture Project: Each student is expected to construct a linear lecture of a theme that spans significant portions of the course materials times and cultures. Three example lectures are given by the professor, urban vs. nomadic cultures, science and healthcare, and warfare and weaponry. These lectures will be created in PowerPoint with extensive notes, comparable to a 1 hour 20 minute lecture. These notes may be given in note form, but should have enough to fill 4 pages single spaced on Microsoft Word or an equivalent word processor. They are to be drawn on broader outside academic materials (I strongly discourage google-search research!). Some other topic possibilities are scripts or handwriting, literacy, metallurgy, diet, animal or plant husbandry, etc. Be creative! Top marks will be given to those students who are creative in their methods and who draw on academic books and articles (plan to use interlibrary loan). Normal rules concerning plagiarism continue here so find a way to adequately cite sources for your notes. A bibliography must be attached with sources full citations. For citation examples, see the required texts in the syllabus. Primary Source Book Review: You are reading two primary sources for the course. Use these class periods to get a sense of how to critically read a piece of literature as a history text. Read another book written before 1500 and write a 4 page double spaced review of the book. No more than two pages should be used to describe the book. Be sure to include the book s significance to shaping world history, how it reflects the era in which it was written, what purpose it served in its own age, and your own personal reactions to the book. If you want excellent examples of what a critical review looks like, read the introductory reviews to either Augustine or Shikibu. Classic Research Paper: Write a five page research paper on a subject of your choice before 1500. Your sources must be academic sources (a minimum of four sources, please). For this paper please use an academic citation method, MLA, APA, or Chicago are all acceptable. Students are strongly encouraged to use subjects related to their major. Tests: Two mid-term exams will be given on October 1 and November 3. These will be full period exams with both multiple choice and essay elements. Final Exam: The final exam will be in two portions. The first will be like the mid-term tests and will not be cumulative only covering lectures from November 14 through the end of the class. The second section will be a longer essay incorporating all three books as well as the student s choice of outside readings and the lectures. On missing exams: Quizzes cannot be made up. If you have a documented excuse for a quiz period your Attendance and Participation grades will be deduced by your remaining quiz grades. If you miss an exam you may take it at another point with an excused absence for full credit or with an unexcused absence with a 15% grade deduction. An unexcused absence for the final will entail a 20% penalty. The exam schedule is already posted for the final; schedule flights and travel plans around it. Readings: Students are expected to have completed the readings assigned for that day by class. On the day of the readings for Augustine and Shikibu the entire reading should be
finished. Begin early! Mortal humans cannot finish these books overnight. An extra credit assignment based on Genji may be assigned later. You will be expected to speak on what you read, and I will draw exam questions from the discussion in the course, so make every effort to make the class. Extra Credit Options: I may have periodic extra credit possibilities for seeing speakers or events on campus where I would replace one of your quiz scores with a perfect score. Plagiarism and cheating: Don t do it. It is academic fraud. Plagiarism is the deliberate use of someone else s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source. Plagiarism in this course is wholly unacceptable. Any form of intentional plagiarism will result in a U for the course based on the discretion of the Professor and the University department of Academic Affairs. When in doubt, cite your work. Late work is always better than falsified work. Finally, no grade is worth compromising your integrity. I check all projects with turnitin.com or a comparable anti-plagiarism software. Material that is taken from a website, book, journal, and not cited with a footnote is plagiarism. Material that is taken word-for-word from another source without quotation marks is plagiarism. Material taken word-for-word with quotation marks but is footnoted is not actually plagiarism, but since it requires no work from you still mandates a U for the project. Good research not only rewords other thinkers work, but processes it and puts it into one s own thinking and organization. If this is at all unclear, please consult with me. Cell-phones and other electrical noise-making devices should be turned off before class begins. I would prefer that you use a watch or some other form of clock instead of checking cell-phones periodically in class. I reserve the right to reduce individual s participation grades if their cell-phones become regular nuisances. A note about laptops: it has been my observation that most students do not make good use of laptops, so unless you are extremely disciplined, my recommendation is to leave the laptops at home. I reserve the right to ban laptops entirely for a course if I see them being a distraction to your neighbors! Grading: 93-100% A 83-86% B 73-76% C 63-66% D 90-92% A- 80-82% B- 70-72% C- 60-62% D- 87-89% B+ 77-79% C+ 67-69% D+ 0-59% U A note about the schedule: I reserve the right to change lecture topics as necessary through the course, but the dates for the readings and exams will remain as they are printed here barring a major event that would close the school.
Course Schedule Main Topics Introduction When does History Begin? Defining History and World Civilization Establishing a Starting Point: Writing The Work of the Historian: How is history before 1500 deduced o What sources are used o How those sources are interpreted Overview of Course The First Civilizations Mesopotamia Prehistory and Human Migration Geography as a Determinant of History: The Example of Sumer Urban Life in Ancient Mesopotamia Writing in Mesopotamia Basic History of Mesopotamian Civilizations o Sargon o Hammurabi o Abraham Importance of Mesopotamia as the first civilization The First Civilizations Egypt Egyptian Dating and Chronology The Mystery of Egypt Why is it so fascinating o Hieroglyphics and Hermes Trismegistus o The Rosetta Stone o The Deciphering of Egyptian Hieroglyphs The Nile and the Egyptian Culture Comparing Egypt to Mesopotamia Religion and Politics in the Ancient World: 2 Examples o Amenemhet I o Akhenaten Linear Lecture 1: Nomadism vs. Settled Civilization Explaining Linear Lectures: Studying one aspect through time in different regions of the world. Seeing Regions of the world as originators of conquerors or originators of cultures World Map Analysis Defining the Barbarian Nomads and Settled agriculturalists, rivalry and communication The Concept of the Dark Age Earliest Dark Ages: the movements of the Aryans, Sea Peoples, Hebrews, Gutians and Zhou Classical Migrations: the movements of the Persians, Goths and Scythians Post- Classical Dark Ages (Better known as the European Dark Ages): the movements of the Goths, Vandals, Angles, Jutes, Saxons, Arabs, and Huns The Last Era of Invading Nomad: the movements of the Magyars, Vikings, Mongols, Turks, and Manchus The Product of Nomadism in World History The First Civilizations India and Japan The Harappan Civilization on the Indus Relic Analysis of Indian Civilization The Aryan Invasion
Gautama Buddha The Confucian interpretation of history of China The legendary history of China: the Hsia Dynasty The Shang Dynasty The Zhou Dynasty Relic Analysis of Indian Civilization The First Empire Age Assyria and Babylon Assyrian chronology Assyrian military and the origin of military strategy The Assyrian state and reorganization of peoples Assyrian iconography and art The rise of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar and the building of Babylon Babylon s continued importance in the ancient Middle East Assyria and Babylon s Role in the Bible Babylon as National Myth The First Empire Age India The Mauryan Empire and Asoka The Gupta Empire Cultural Developments during the Gupta Empire Understanding Buddhism and its Spread The Four Noble Truths The Eight- Fold Path The Life of Buddha The Transformation of Buddhism The First Empire Age Persia The Transition from the Ancient River Civilizations to the Classical World Persia s Political History The Charisma of Cyrus the Great Darius and Xerxes Quest for Greece o The Battle of Marathon o The Battle of Thermopylae o Map and Battle Schematic Analysis The Demise of Persia The Classical World The Rise of Greece Greece s Early Development o The Minoan Age o The Mycenoan Age o Greek Dark Ages and Homer The Development of the Polis o The Example of Athens o The Example of Sparta o Social Life The Peloponnesian Wars
o The Tension of Athens: The Democratic Empire The Endurance of Greek Political Models The Classical World Hellenistic Thought Greek Culture and Competition Pre- Socratic Philosophy Socratic and Aristotelian Philosophy The Classical World Alexander Alexander s Biography The Conquests of Alexander Alexander s Death and the division of the empire Hellenistic empires governance The Classical World The Post- Alexandrian Hellenistic Empires Government after Alexander Social Roles in the Hellenistic Empires Religion, Philosophy and Learning in the Hellenistic Empires Art and Performance in the Hellenistic Age Comparing the Art of Classical Greece to the Hellenistic Age Linear Lecture 2: Science and Healthcare Delimiting Eras of Scientific Development The Magical Period: Science in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China & Mesoamerica The Philosophical Period: Science in Greece, China, and Rome The Mystical Period: Science in the Arab World, China and Europe The Scientific Revolution The Classical World China Uniting China: The Qin Empire Chinese Philosophy: Confucianism, Legalism and Others The Han Empire Linear Lecture 3: Warfare and Weaponry The Origins of War 600-200BC: The Development of Tactics 200BC- AD200: The Sophistication of War AD200-800: The advent of the mounted knight AD800-1500: What was learned at the Crusades o The Battles of Hastings and Agincourt The Classical World The Rise of Rome Rome s Legendary and Real History Republican Rome and the rivalry between the poor and the rich Punic Wars Transition from a Republic to an Empire Civil Wars Imperial Rome The Classical World The Descent of Rome Strengths and weaknesses of the Roman Empire The rise of the Christian Church in Rome
Barbarian Invasions Failed Reform and the Fall of the Roman Empire St. Augustine as a Transitional Figure The Breakup of the Empires The European Dark Ages The Blending of Barbarian and Roman Changing Christianity: Monasticism and Church Councils The Founding of barbarian states in Northern Europe The Breakup of the Empires Muhammad The Genesis of Islam and the Arab Empire The Life of Muhammad, revelation and the founding of Islam Muhammad s Legacy The Breakup of the Empires Byzantium and Kievan Rus Byzantine Empire transitions into a medieval empire Foundation of Kievan Rus The Importance of a Russian self- identity The Breakup of the Empires China before the Mongols Sui, Tang, and Song Dynasties The difference between imperial and feudal government The Medieval World The Islamic Caliphate Islam after Muhammad the first four Caliphs The origin of the dynastic Caliphates, the Umayyad, Abassid, and Fatamid Dynasties The Split of Islam into Sunni and Shi ite Factions The Formation of Al- Andalus in Iberia The Medieval World Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire The myths and power of the Franks The life of Charlemagne Society and reform in Charlemagne s Europe The Legacy of Charlemagne The Holy Roman Empire s divide and the foundation of France and Germany The Medieval World Pre Moghul India Islam s Introduction to India Enduring Conflicts between Muslims and Hindus The Medieval World Monasticism, the University and the Crusades in Europe Late Medieval Monastic Reforms The Foundation of Universities Crusades, trade and interaction with the Muslim World The Medieval World The Agricultural Revolution and the Manor System The system and problems of feudalism for historians The variations of the medieval state in Europe The manor system
Manor map analysis The Black Death Church controversies and schisms The Medieval World Feudal Japan and the World of Mirusake Shikibu Japan s unique history and geography Japanese origin myth and religion Development of complex society and government Japanese social structure Women in Japan and their role in Japanese literature The Medieval World The Mongols The Rise of Genghis Khan and the Mongols The Civilization and Law of the Mongols Pax Mongolia Kublai Khan and the Khanates A World Apart Mesoamerica The culture and government of the Maya The culture and government of the Toltec The culture and government of the Aztec The culture and government of the Inca A World Apart Sub- Saharan Africa Geography and the Formation of Sub- Saharan Africa Egypt and Nubia s Connection The Historical rise and significance of Aksum The rise of Ghana, Mali and the Muslim West Africa The Swahili states of southern Africa Transitions to a New World Post- Mongol Asia The political history of the Ming dynasty The creation of the forbidden city Culture and art in the Ming dynasty Transitions to a New World 1500 as Watershed 1500 as a new era in world history seeing major changes in: o Religion o Warfare and Weaponry o Art and Culture o Science and Medicine o World Connections Retrospective on World History o A look at connections and changes over history
September 2010 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Introduction: When does history begin? 11 12 13 Sumer & Mesopotamia: Stearns Part 1 Intro: Ch. 1 (1-16) 14 15 Egypt: Stearns Ch. 2 part 1 (17-27) 16 17 Linear Lecture 1: Nomadism vs. Urban Societies: Stearns Ch. 3 (35-44) 18 19 20 The origins of the other preliterate ancient cultures Stearns Ch. 2 Part 2 (27-34) 21 22 Arbor Games Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires, Gilgamesh Tablets IX-XI 23 24 Post-Aryan India, Stearns Ch. 5 (71-89 Bhagavad Gita Excerpt) 25 26 27 Understanding Buddhism and its Spread 28 29 Medo-Persian Empire Stearns Intro Part II (45-48) 30
October 2010 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 Exam 1 2 3 4 Ascent of Greece Stearns Ch. 6 Part 1 (91-103), Hercules 5 6 Hellenistic Thought, Hesiod: Lines 11.116-210 11.453-506 11.617-744, 11.886-929t 7 8 Alexander: Stearns Ch. 6 Part 2 (103-113) 9 10 11 The Post- Alexandrian World: Maccabees 12 13 Linear Lecture 2: Science and Healthcare 14 15 Classical China Stearns 50-72 Confucius: read two sets of excerpts on jen, junzi, li yüeh 16 17 18 Linear Lecture 3: Warfare and Weaponry 19 20 The Ascent of Rome 21 22 Fall Break: No Class 23 24 25 The Descent of Rome Stearns Conclusion Part II (115-134) 26 27 Augustine, The Confessions 28 29 The Western Dark Ages Stearns Intro Part III (135-139) 30
November 2010 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 31 1 Catch Up Date, Test Review 2 3 Exam 2 4 5 Mohammed and the Origins of Islam Stearns Ch. 8 (140-162) 6 7 8 Byzantium and Kievan Rus Stearns Ch. 11 (186-200) 9 10 China before the Mongols Stearns Ch. 13 (221-239) 11 12 The Caliphates and the Split of Islam. 13 14 15 Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire Stearns Ch. 12 (201-219) 16 17 Pre-Moghul India Stearns Ch. 9 (163-172) 18 19 Monasticism, the University in Europe, and the Crusades, The Monastic Rules 20 21 22 The Agricultural Revolution and the Feudal System 23 Projects Due 11:59pm 24 No Class: Thanksgiving 25 26 No Class: Thanksgiving 27 28 29 Feudal Japan and the World of Mirasaki Shikibu Tale of Genji 30
December 2010 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 The Mongols, Stearns Ch. 15 (251-262) 2 3 Pre-Columbian America, Stearns Ch. 14 (241-250) 4 5 6 Africa Stearns Ch. 10 (173-185) 7 8 Post-Mongol Asia 9 10 Catch Up Date 11 12 13 1500 as a turning point in history 14 15 16 Final Exam Section 1 3:30-5:30 Final Exam Section 2 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31