I. Course Goals and Regulations

The purposes of this course are to introduce you to the history of the West from its beginnings to about 1500, and to introduce you to the discipline of historical inquiry. We will be using a textbook, Lynn Hunt et al. The Making of the West, which will provide the factual backbone of the course. We will also be reading and analyzing original sources, and looking at a variety of scholarly interpretations of the material. Part of our work in class will be informal, interactive lecture and discussion, to help clarify points in the textbook. The main focus, however, will be discussion of the sources, in which students will take a leading role.

Three examinations are scheduled during the semester in addition to a final examination, all of which will be designed to help you synthesize your learning for each segment of the course as you go along. Written work will consist of five short (2-3 pgs.) papers focused on one or more of the sources, spread out over the semester. Students will sign up for the day and the topic on which they wish to write, so that for each class period a number of you will have written on the sources assigned. These students will be expected to help lead discussion of the readings. PLEASE NOTE: There will be no opportunity for making up writing assignments if you fail to write a paper for the day assigned to you, except in the case of illness or emergency.

Since class discussion is an extensive component of this course, student attendance is extremely important. Absences may be excused in cases of illness or necessary travel, but please let me know before class time if you are going to be absent. Regular or frequent absences will result in your forfeiting part or, in extreme cases, all of your class grade, so if you're the kind of student who doesn't like coming to class, this course is not for you.

Grading will be calculated as follows: Midterms: 10% each, Final: 20%, Papers: 7% each, Discussion and Attendance: 15%

  II. Texts to Purchase

• Lynn Hunt, et al. The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, Volume A (Bedford/St. Martin's, Second Edition) ("Hunt")
• Richard Lim, et al. The West in the Wider World: Sources and Perspectives, Volume I (Bedford/St. Martin's) ("Lim")
• Katharine J. Lualdi Sources of The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, Volume I (Bedford/St. Martin's, Second Edition) ("Lualdi")

  III. Calendar of Assignments

Friday, September 8 Introduction

Monday, September 11

Hunt, Chapter 1, pp. 3-18 The Controversial Concept of Western Civilization; Mesopotamia
Lim, pp. xix-xxxiii; 2:1-4 Guide to Interpreting Sources; Near Eastern Texts and the Hebrew Bible

Wednesday, September 13

Hunt, pp. 18-39 Egyptians, Canaanites, Hebrews; Hittites, Minoans, Mycenaeans
Lualdi, 1:3, 5 Egyptian Scribal Exercise Book, The Story of Sinuhe
Lim, 2:5, 6 Sea People's Inscriptions, Hymn to the Aton

Friday, September 15

Hunt, Chapter 2, pp. 43-57 Dark Age to Empire in the Near East; Remaking Greek Civilization
Lualdi, 2:5 Hesiod Works and Days
Selection from Homer's Iliad, Book I

Monday, September 18

Hunt, pp. 57-79 The Creation of the Greek Polis; New Directions for the Polis
Lualdi, 2:2, 4 Tyrtaeus of Sparta and Solon of Athens Poems; Sappho Poems
Lim, 3:2-3 Thucydides History; Herodotus History

Wednesday, September 20

Hunt, Chapter 3, pp. 83-96 Wars between Persia and Greece; Athenian Confidence in the Golden Age
Herodotus, Selections from The Histories (online)
Images of the Parthenon (online)

Friday, September 22

Hunt, pp. 96-115 Tradition and Innovation in Athens's Golden Age
Lualdi, 3:1-3 Thucydides Funeral Oration of Pericles; Plato Apology; Euphiletus A Husband Speaks in His Own Defense

Monday, September 25

Hunt, pp. 115-120 The End of the Golden Age
Lualdi, 3:5 Aristophanes Lysistrata
Thucydides, The Pelopponesian War: The Statesman's Handbook (online)

Wednesday, September 27

Hunt, Chapter 4, pp. 123-138 Classical Greece's Decline; The Rise of Macedonia
Lim, pp. 77-79 (Introduction to Chapter 4); 4:1-3 Arrian Campaigns of Alexander; Plutarch Life of Alexander; Arrian History of India
The Allegory of the Cave from Plato's Republic (handout)
Excerpts from Aristotle's Nichomachaen Ethics (online)

Friday, September 29

Hunt, pp. 138-159 The Hellenistic Kingdoms; Hellenistic Culture
Lim, 4:4-7 Pseudo-Hecataeus of Abdera History of Egypt; Letter of Aristeas; I Maccabees; II Maccabees

Monday, October 2  FIRST MIDTERM EXAMINATION

Wednesday, October 4

Hunt, Chapter 5, pp. 163-179 Roman Social and Religious Traditions; From Monarchy to Republic
Lualdi, 5:1 The Twelve Tables
Selections from Livy History of Rome, Book I (online)

Friday, October 6

Hunt, pp. 180-188 Roman Imperialism and its Consequences
Lualdi 5:2-3 Roman Women Demonstrate against the Oppian Law; Cicero On the Commonwealth
Lim, 5:2 Livy History of Rome; Aelius Aristides Speech on Rome

Monday, October 9

Hunt, pp. 188-200 Upheaval in the Late Republic
Lualdi, 5:4 The Gracchan Reforms
Lim, 5:5 Julius Caesar The Gallic Wars
Sallust Life in Rome in the Late Republic (online)
Cicero First Oration Against Cataline (online)

Wednesday, October 11

Hunt, Chapter 6, pp. 203-225 Creating the Pax Romana; Maintaining the Pax Romana
Lualdi, 6.1 Suetonius The Life of Augustus
Vergil's Aeneid: Selections from Book VI (online)

Friday, October 13

Hunt, pp. 225-239 The Emergence of Christianity; The Third-Century Crisis
Lim, pp. 134-136; 6:1-6 Gospel of Matthew; Paul's Letter to the Galatians; Acts of the Apostles; Pliny the Younger Letter to Trajan; Origen of Alexandria Against Celsus; Martyrdoms of Perpetua and Felicitas

Monday, October 16 Fall Break

Wednesday, October 18

Hunt, Chapter 7, pp. 243-263 Christianizing the Empire
Lualdi 7:1 Nicene Creed
Selections from Augustine's Confessions (handout)
Selections from the Rule of St. Benedict (handout)

Friday, October 20

Hunt, pp. 263-279 Non-Roman Kingdoms in the West; Byzantine Empire in the East
Lualdi, 7:4-5 The Burgundian Code; Procopius Buildings
Pictures of the Hagia Sophia (online)
Lim, 7:2, 6 Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae; Salvian of Marseilles On the Governance of God
Corpus Iuris Civilis (online)

Monday, October 23

Hunt, Chapter 8, pp. 283-292 Byzantium
Lualdi, 8:1 Theophanes Confessor Chronicle
Lim, pp. 224-226; 9:2 Maurice Manual of Strategy
John of Damasus In Defense of Icons; Decree of the Second Council of Nicea (online)
Collection of Byzantine Icons

Wednesday, October 25

Hunt, pp. 292-299 Islam
Lim, pp. 193-195; 8:1-5, 9 Sozomen Ecclesiastical History; Ibn Ishaq Biography of Muhammad; The Qur'an; The Pact of `Umar; Al-Shafi`i Kitab al-Umm; Al Tabassur bi'l-tijara

Friday, October 27  SECOND MIDTERM EXAMINATION

Monday, October 30

Hunt, pp. 299-315 Western Europe
Lualdi, 8:4-5 Pope Gregory the Great Letters; The Life of Lady Balthilt
Gregory of Tours Conversion of Clovis (online)
Images from the Book of Kells

Wednesday, November 1

Hunt, Chapter 9, pp. 319-331 Byzantium; The Islamic World
Lualdi 9:8 Liudprand of Cremona Embassy to Constantinople
Michael Psellus Chronographia, Book I, secs. 1-4, 30-37 (online)
Masoudi Book of the Golden Meadows (online), click on The Caliph Haroun al-Rashid

Friday, November 3

Hunt, pp. 331-342 The Creation and Division of a New European Empire
Lim 9:7 Selection from Einhard Life of Charlemagne: Alliances; Coronation
Selections from Einhard Life of Charlemagne: Personality; Wars (online)
Charlemagne's Summons to the Army (online)
Annals of Xanten (online)

Monday, November 6

Hunt, pp. 342-355 The Emergence of Local Rule
Lim 9:8, Liudprand of Cremona Embassy to Constantinople
Fidelity Oaths; Capitularies on Oaths; Chronicle of the Counts of Anjou (online)

Wednesday, November 8

Hunt, Chapter 10, pp. 359-379 The Commercial Revolution; Church Reform and its Aftermath
Lualdi, 10:1, pp. 169-170 Charter of Lorris; 10:2 Letters of the Investiture Conflict
Lim, 10:10 Usamah Ibn-Munquidh Memoirs
Fulcher of Chartres' account of Urban II's Speech at the Council of Clermont (online)

Friday, November 10

Hunt, pp. 379-395 The Revival of Monarchies; New Forms of Scholarship and Religious Expression
Lualdi, 10:3-4 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; Hildegard of Bingen Selected Writings
William of St. Thierry Description of Clairvaux; Two Accounts of the Early Life of St. Bernard (online)

Monday, November 13

Hunt, Chapter 11, pp. 399-416 Governments as Institutions; The Growth of a Vernacular High Culture
Barbarossa and the Lombards; Gervase of Canterbury Life of Thomas a Becket; The Assize of Clarendon (online)
Lualdi, 11:2 Chretien de Troyes Erec and Enide

Wednesday, November 15

Hunt, pp. 416-431 New Lay and Religious Associations; European Aggression Within and Without
Lualdi, 11: 1, 3-5 Medieval University Life; St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi Selected Writings; Thomas of Monmouth Life of St. William of Norwich; Illustration of Christ Casting out Synogoga
Nicetas Choniates The Sack of Constantinople

Friday, November 17  Reading Day

Monday, November 20

Hunt, Chapter 12 pp. 435-450 The Medieval Search for Order and Harmony; Cultural Harmonies Selected Canons of the Fourth Lateran Council; Thomas Aquinas Proofs of the Existence of God (online)
Lualdi, 12:2-3 Hadewijch of Brabant Letters and Poems of a Female Mystic; Dante Alighieri Human and Divine Love

Wednesday, November 22  Thanksgiving Break

Friday, November 24  Thanksgiving Break

Monday, November 27

Hunt, pp. 450-462 The Politics of Control
Frederick II Statute in Favor of the Princes; Three Summonses to the 1295 Parliament; William of Hundlehy The Outrage at Anagni (online)
Lualdi, 12:4 Nikonian Chronicle
Lin, 12:7-8 Marco Polo Travels; Images of the Silk Road

Wednesday, November 29

Hunt, Chapter 13 pp. 467-482 Political Crises Across Europe
Lualdi, 13:1 Walsingham Peasant Rebels in London
Jean Froissart: On the Hundred Years' War (online)

Friday, December 1

Hunt, pp. 482-493 The Plague and Society; Challenges to Spiritual Authority
Lualdi, 13:1, 3, 5 The Black Death; Catherine of Sienna Letters and Decrees Councils of Pisa and Constance; Marsilius of Padua Defender of the Peace

Monday, December 4

Hunt, pp. 493-501 The Social Order and Cultural Change
Lualdi, 13:4 Chaucer The Pardoner's Prologue
Petrarch Selected Letters (online)

Wednesday, December 6

Hunt, Chapter 14 pp. 505-517 Widening Intellectual Horizons; Revolution in the Arts
Lualdi, 14:1-2 Giovanni Rucellai and Leonardo Bruni on Quatrrocento Florence; Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Oration
Vasari Life of Leonardi da Vinci (online)
Paintings of Leonardo da Vinci (online index)

Friday, December 8

Hunt, pp. 517-531 The Intersection of Private and Public Lives; The Renaissance State and the Art of Politics
Lualdi, 14:3 Alessandra Strozzi Letters
Machiavelli, excerpts from The Prince; Discourses I:55; Discourses II:2; History of Florence (online)

Monday, December 11

Hunt, pp. 531-542 On the Threshold of World History
Lim 14:1-4, 7-8 Columbus Log of the First Voyage; Mexican Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico; Cortes Second Dispatch to Charles V; Bernal Diaz Chronicles; Sepulveda Democrates Secundus; de las Casas In Defense of the Indians

Saturday, December 16: FINAL EXAMINATION, 2:30--4:30

Disclaimer