Dr. Doug Campbell,
docampbell@nvcc.edu
Office Hours via Zoom:
Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, 11 am -2:00pm; Thursdays
6-7pm,or by appointment.
Email me at least 24 hours in advance to schedule an appointment
if you need to consult during office hours
You just happen to be lucky enough to have enrolled in a class on
the history of western civilization. Seriously. History is
enormously interesting, and I love teaching it. If I
do my job correctly, you will love learning about it. And of
course, not only is history fascinating, but it's also valuable in
an intellectual sense. Learning about how people lived in
the past can help broaden your horizons, making your outlook less
parochial and more cosmopolitan. It's sort of like traveling
to a foreign country without the discomfort of a long,
uncomfortable plane ride. History, of course, can also inform your
understanding of the present by showing you the deeper roots of
problems and trends in the contemporary world. And finally,
a well-taught history course is chock full of practice in all
sorts of useful skills that employers are interested in, such as
critical thinking, analyzing documents, and crafting well-written
arguments based on evidence. So history can be interesting,
can enrich your intellectual life, and make you more money.
What could be more awesome?
One thing to
keep in mind with this course, however, is the fact that learning
is not a spectator sport. You can't just sit back passively
and expect to get anything near the full benefit of this
class. You need to be actively engaged in your own
education. I certainly have to play my part, and I
promise to do my best to present an interesting and dynamic class
which offers you all sorts of opportunities to learn cool
stuff. The actual learning is your job, though. To put
it another way, I can cook the most delicious banquet imaginable,
and set the table in the most attractive way possible, piling it
high with all sorts of fabulous delicacies. But in the end,
you're the one who actually has to eat the meal. So if
you're going to take this class, I'll ask you to make a conscious
decision to engage in all of the opportunities available to you,
and to commit to coming to all of the class sessions, to
participating in an active and thoughtful manner in all of our
class discussions, to completing all of the assigned readings, and
to submitting all of the required assignments. If you do, I
promise it will be worth your while. Your place at the table
is set, and you are invited....
Stuff the
College makes me include:
Course
Description
Examines the development of western civilization from
ancient times to the present. Part I of II. Lecture 3
hours per week.
General Course Purpose
Surveys the general history of the Western world from about
3000 BCE to 1600 CE and allows students to
reach a basic understanding of the characteristic features of the
Western world's early historical development
in that span of time. Students will learn about some of the
important political, economic, social, intellectual,
cultural and religious changes that shaped the development of the
West from earliest times.
Course objectives
Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Establish a chronology of historical events in the Western
world before 1600 CE.
- Explain the changing geopolitical structures of the Western
world up until 1600 CE.
- Define the importance of key individuals and developments in
Western civilization before 1600 CE.
- Identify the social, economic and political forces at work
in the evolution of early and medieval Western history.
- Recognize and describe the significance of some of the
cultural achievements of ancient and medieval Western
civilization.
- Analyze complex historical sources and materials and reach
conclusions based on interpretations of those materials.
Course Prerequisites: None
Our primary goal is to investigate what it means to be human by
looking at what humans were like in the past. To that end, this
class is going to use several themes as "lenses" through which to
examine the human past. The themes are:
Government: What are the
origins of human governments? What are the various forms
that government has taken over the centuries? Which forms work
best? Which are worst?
Religion: What is religion? What role does it play in human
societies? Is religion an essential part of being human?
Gender: Are different
social roles for men and women essential or arbitrary? How have
human opinions on gender, marriage, and sexuality changed over
time?
Social Class: Are
inequalities in wealth and power inherent, appropriate parts of
human life or evils to be overcome? On what basis should
wealth and power be allocated?
There are of
course plenty of other lenses through which to look at the past,
but these are a good start and should give plenty of interesting
questions to examine for one class.
There
are no books you need to purchase for this class. We will be
making use, as much as possible, of Open Educational Resources
(OER) which are available online for free.
Even though we have left the more traditional paper
textbook-oriented model of a history class behind, however, this
course still requires you to do a great deal of reading,
writing, and, above all, thinking. You should take the
course readings seriously, and make sure to keep up with the
reading assignments described below in the Class
Schedule.
Course readings should be completed BEFORE you log into class
session for which they are assigned. It is especially important
to read the sources marked as "discussion readings" because we
will be discussing them in class. Taking notes on them, marking
the most important passages, and jotting down any questions you
might have is highly encouraged.
Your overall
grade for the class will consist of the following elements.
No work for the course (other than the final exam) will be accepted after December 4--
No exceptions!
Scores will
be posted on Canvas, and will be accompanied by general comments
about the strengths and weaknesses of your work. If you would like a more detailed
description of aspects of the assignment which could be
improved, just ask me and I will be happy to provide one.
Grading
Scale
Percentage
|
Final Course Grade |
Above 90%
|
A |
| 80-89% |
B |
| 70-79% |
C |
| 60-69% |
D |
Below 60%
|
F |
Guidelines for Conduct During Online
Class Meetings
You are responsible for being logged on and attentive during the
online class sessions. You should always log into your NOVA Zoom
account from MyNOVA in order to access Zoom for the online class
sessions. Logging in through a private Zoom account may result in
being marked as absent for the class session.
Disruptive Behavior: Please be
considerate. Disruptive behavior will not be tolerated.
Private conversations during lecture or class discussions all
distract and disturb your instructor and your classmates, and
will count against your participation grade. Repeated
instances of rude behavior may result your removal from the
online classroom. If you have a question or a
comment on the course material, please type it in the class
"chat."
Announcements: If there is
something I need to communicate to the class, I will post an
announcement to the course Canvas page. It is the your
responsibility to check the course's Canvas page and your
College email account in a timely manner in order to receive
information on the substitute assignment and when it is due. You
should adjust the settings of your Canvas account to make sure
that you are promptly notified.
Abuse: Any student who seems
to be under the influence of alcohol or intoxicating drugs, or who
is abusive or violent will be referred to the appropriate College
authorities.
Course
Content Warning: Lectures and course materials may contain
disturbing content, including, but not limited to: violence,
sexual assault, war crimes, genocide, mental or physical illnesses
or disabilities, discrimination or persecution on the basis of
gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and/or sexual orientation, etc.
If you have been personally impacted by one or more of these
topics and suffer from PTSD, please email the professor if you
would like prior notification of lectures containing discussions
of the effecting topics.
Accommodations: Students
requiring special accommodations for assignments or exams should
have the appropriate forms from the Disability
Support Service (DSS). Forms should be given to me no
fewer than 7 days before the date the assignment or exam requiring
the accommodation is due, and preferably at the very beginning of
the semester.
Guidelines for Written
Work
Formatting: Papers
should be double spaced, using 12 point Tahoma font and one inch
margins. All papers must be word processed and submitted
through Canvas as files in .doc, .odt, .pdf, or .rtf format (No
.pages format submissions, please!). E-mail submissions will not be
accepted. See this rubric
for a more detailed description of how you will be graded.
Style and Grammar: All of
your work for this class must present a main argument or thesis
which addresses the question(s) posed by the assignment, should
support that argument with evidence, and should be written in
grammatical and stylistically correct English. Make sure to
proofread and use spell-check. For information on writing papers
for this class, make sure to read my Tips for
History Papers page. You also might want to consult
the following handy websites:
NVCC
Loudoun's Writing Center
Patrick Rael, "Avoid
Common
Mistakes In Your History Paper"
Steven Kreis, "Writing the
Short Essay"
Citations: You MUST include a formal
citation any time you refer to a specific passage in a text, even
if you do not quote the text directly. The required method
for citing sources in this class is the Chigago
Manual
of Style's format, which is the standard for the discipline
of history. According to this format, at the end of any
sentence or paragraph drawn from a specific part of a source, you
insert superscript number which corresponds to a footnote at the
bottom of the page with the appropriate bibliographic
information. Number your footnotes consecutively. Consult
the previous web link for more detailed information on citations
in this format. You also might find this video on "Inserting
Chicago Style Footnotes and Endnotes Using Microsoft Word"
helpful. EVERY PAPER you complete for this class should include a
bibliography at the end listing all of the sources you consulted
(even if the list includes only one source). You
bibliography page does not count toward the page length of your
assignment.
Plagiarism: Any student
caught plagiarizing or cheating in this course will be subject to
appropriate disciplinary action, including at a minimum no credit
whatsoever for the assignment or exam in question (No
exceptions!!!). Particularly flagrant instances of
cheating or multiple instances of plagiarism will result in a
grade of "F" for the course. Procedures for disciplinary measures
and appeals are outlined in the NOVA
Student Handbook.
Please note
that even copying a sentence or two from another source without
citing it is enough to trigger a plagiarism penalty.
Likewise, changing a word here or there from content which you
copy is still plagiarism. Your work should be entirely in
your own words except for the passages which you quote and
appropriately cite.
For a bit
more discussion on why you will probably get caught if you try to
use the web to plagiarize, see "How
Dumb
Do They Think We Are?" by Jonathan Malesic. All of
your papers for the class will be checked for plagiarism by
Turnitin software.
Late Work: Late papers and
assignments will receive a one letter grade late penalty. The
Attendance and Participation activities associated with our online
class meetings depend on your active interaction with your
classmates, and cannot be completed late.
Guidelines for E-Mail Communication
The easiest
way to contact me outside of class is through e-mail. In
order to receive a response to your message, however, your e-mail
must contain the following elements, which are all part of the
basic etiquette for professional correspondence:
- Your full name, the name of the class, and the day and time
when it meets in the title of your message.
- Appropriate salutations
and
signatures (for example, you should begin your message
"Dear Professor," or "Dr. Campbell," and conclude with your
name).
- Correct grammar and punctuation.
Messages sent using "text-ese" or rude or abusive
language will be ignored (b/c it makes u look ignorant d00d)!
I have on
average between 150-200 students a semester, so you need to
provide me with as much information as possible if you want a
timely answer to your message. Please allow at least 48
hours before following up. If you haven't received a
response within a couple of days, however, feel free to nag me.
| Description of Course
Elements |
Attendance and Participation
Your
attendance and active participation is expected at every class
meeting. A significant portion of most class sessions will
be devoted to small group discussions of particular issues or
sources in online break-out rooms. Early in the
semester, you will be assigned a group for these
discussions. Generally, for each class discussion, the group will
be asked to fill out a brief form based on their discussions which
should be turned in through Canvas at the end of the class session
by the Group Leader.
Attendance Policy: In
order to get full credit for Attendance and Participation for that
particular class session, you must be logged into the class
session for the entire time it is in session, and should actively
participate in your group's discussion as evidenced by the
submitted form. You are allowed two unexcused
absences for the semester. More than two absences without a
valid, documented excuse will affect your grade for the
course. If you have a personal or medical emergency which
prevents you from being present, you should let me know. While you
don't need to share all aspects of your personal life, I can only
work with you to accommodate your difficulties if I have some
sense of what the problem is.
Preparedness: You should make
sure that you have completed the assigned readings and any
required assignments BEFORE you log into the class session for
which they are assigned, especially the readings labelled as
"Discussion Readings." You may be asked to discuss both
readings and assignments, so you should have access to them during
class.
You are expected to treat your fellow group members with respect
and a spirit of generosity and good-will. If you have a problem
with one of the members of your group that you are unable to
resolve on your own, please contact the professor for guidance and
assistance.
At least 4 times over the
course of the semester, each student will serve as the leader of
their group for class discussions. The group leader is responsible
for noting which group members are present and participating in
the discussion, and should help guide the group's conversation so
that the form associated with that particular discussion has been
completely filled out. The group leader will also share the
group's findings with the rest of the class, if applicable, for
that particular class session. Finally, the group leader should
also turn in the appropriate completed form through Canvas at the
end of the class session, and should submit a brief paragraph
describing what they did to prepare and how they helped to
facilitate the discussion.
Hammurabi Document
Analysis Paper
Read the
Code of
Hammurabi, and then write a paper at least two double-spaced
pages long which answers the following question: "What does this
document tell us about attitudes toward gender and social class in
ancient Babylon?"
You should make sure to refer to or quote specific examples from
the document in order to support your arguments, and to cite them
using
Chicago-format
footnotes.
Please follow the
guidelines
for
written work in this class. See this
rubric
for a more detailed description of how you will be graded.
Plato and Deuteronomy
Comparative Analysis Paper
Read the Excerpts
from
the Book of Deuteronomy (5, 9, 12-13, 21-22) and
Plato's Euthyphro,
and then write a paper at least two double-spaced pages long which
answers the following question: "According to Socrates in Euthyphro, what is the nature of piety (ie,
holiness, religious ethics) ?
What do you think Socrates would have to say about the
vision of religious ethics in the Book of Deuteronomy? In
what ways did Greek philosophy and ancient Jewish monotheism seem
to have approached religious ethics differently?" Make sure
especially to reference the famous Euthyphro Dilemma: "Is the
pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious
because it is loved by the gods?”
You should make sure to refer to or quote specific examples from
the documents in order to support your arguments, and to cite them
using Chicago-format
footnotes.
Please follow the guidelines
for
written work in this class. See this rubric
for a more detailed description of how you will be graded.
You should select a website dealing with the topic you are using
for your Research Paper and
compare it to an article on the same basic subject written during
the past 50 years from a history-focused scholarly journal (see below for more detailed information on how
to find a scholarly journal article). Websites should contain
orignal content, and cannot be primary source documents,
encyclopedia/Wikipedia articles, or reprints of articles published
elsewhere. These two sources must be approved by
the professor before you can proceed any further with this
assignment. Your proposed sources for the Source
Criticism Paper should be uploaded for approval using this form. Make sure to
check the professor's feedback to see if your sources were
approved, or if you need to resubmit the form.
Once your sources are approved, you should read them and then, in
a paper at least two double-spaced pages long, write a comparative
analysis with a main arguement which answers this major
question: "Which of these
two sources would be most useful to scholar researching this
topic?" Your
analysis also ought to consider the following secondary questions:
- Is the author of each source identified? If so, what is
his or her level of expertise with the subject matter?
- What is the main argument of each source?
- Does each source specify its evidence or sources of
information? If so, what sorts of evidence are cited?
- Given what you know about the subject matter from the rest of
your research, how reliable and accurate is each source?
- What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of each source?
You should
mention the title of the website and the title of the article, the
name of the journal, and the name of the author of the scholarly
journal article in the introduction of your paper. You should also
include the full bibliographic citations for each in a
bibliography page.
Please follow the guidelines
for written work in this class. You do not need to
include footnotes for this assignment unless you quote either of
your two sources directly, or you consult some source other
than the sources you are analyzing. See this rubric
for a more detailed description of how you will be graded.
How To Find A Scholarly
Journal Article:
This video walks you through the process of finding a scholarly
journal article using the NOVA Library and JSTOR: How to Find a Scholarly
Journal Article
A scholarly journal is a periodical
which contains research-based articles and reviews by established
scholars in a given field. These sorts of journals are
geared towards a professional or academic audience, and are
intended to serve as an intellectual resource rather than to earn
a profit for the publisher. In order to have an article
published in a scholarly journal, an author must submit it to
the editorial board of the journal first. The editors then
will have the prospective article reviewed by other scholars in
the field. Only an article which passes through this process
of evaluation by recognized experts ("peer review") can be
published in a scholarly journal. All scholarly journal
articles meticulously document their sources of information and
contain ample foot or endnotes. While some scholarly
journals make some or all of their content available on the web, a
genuine scholarly journal is also always published in paper form
so it can become part of the collections of research-oriented
libraries. Consult the
NOVA Library's
page on scholarly journal articles for more information
on what distinguishes a scholarly journal from other sorts of
periodicals.
Just a few examples of some of the most prominent scholarly
journals dealing with ancient or medieval history include
The American Historical Review,
The Journal of Ancient History, The Journal of Roman
Studies, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, Classical
Antiquity, Clio, The Medieval Review, Speculum: A Journal
of Medieval Studies,
Renaissance Quarterly, The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies,
and
Past and Present (This is not a
complete list-- there are many, many more!). Please note
that magazines like
History
Today,
National
Geographic Magazine, and
American History certainly contain
interesting material, they are intended for a popular audience
rather than a professional academic one, and hence do not qualify
as scholarly journals.
Not too terribly long ago, the only place one could go to access a
scholarly journal was an academic library. These days,
however, many journals allow readers to access their contents
online. The best place to start is
JSTOR, a service which provides
the full text of articles from several hundred different scholarly
journals. You can use JSTOR for free by accessing it through
the NVCC Library's site
.
You can access JSTOR from the NOVA library's homepage. Go to
http://www.nvcc.edu/library/
Click on the "Articles" tab;
then click "Databases by Subject";
the click "History (HIS)";
then click "JSTOR" and login with the same id you would use to
access My NOVA.
Once in JSTOR, you should select the "advanced search" option,
scroll down to "Narrow by Item Type" and click the "Articles" box,
and then scroll down again to "Narrow by discipline and/or
publication title:" and click the "History" box.
Then plug in your search topic and see what comes up.
An annotated bibliography is an
organized list of sources (like a reference list). It differs from
a straightforward bibliography in that each reference is followed
by a paragraph length annotation. The Annotated Bibliography is
part of your Research Paper. You should provide annotations
for the sources that will then be used in the Research
Paper. Sources should be directly related to the Research
Paper’s topic. Annotations should be a brief paragraph
(about 100 words) long.
Your Annotated Bibliography should include:
-
At least 5 Primary Sources (either online or in
print). For
primary sources, you should be looking for documents which
were originally written during the time period they are
trying to study. While architectural or archaeological
remains certainly do qualify as primary sources which can be
used by scholars to reconstruct the past, they are
problematic for an assignment like this. Written documents
from the past should be your focus!
-
At least 5 Secondary Scholarly Sources,
including:
- At
least 1 Scholarly Journal Article (you learned about these
in your Source Criticism Paper)
- At
least 1 Scholarly Monograph (A book lengthy scholarly study)
- For
the other 3 secondary sources, you should use high quality
scholarly sources, and avoid using the textbook,
encyclopedia articles, or anonymously authored websites.
What am I required to include in my annotations?
For each of the Primary Sources:
- Bibliographic
information according to Chicago style.
- The
name and background of the author, if known.
- The
date the document was originally written, if known.
- The
author’s purpose in writing the document and its historical
context.
- Any
bias displayed by the author.
- The
significance of the document (ie, why should anybody in the
present care?).
For each of the Secondary Sources:
- Bibliographic
information according to Chicago style.
- The
name and scholarly background of the author (education,
publications, university appointments, etc.)
- The
author’s main argument (note, this is not the same thing as a
simple description of the subject matter-- what is the author
trying to say about this subject?).
- The
specific types of evidence used to support the author’s main
argument (are they primary sources? Scholarly secondary
works?)
- How
successful/convincing is the author’s argument?
Please follow
the guidelines for
written work in this class.
As the capstone of your work in the
course, you will complete a Research Paper which is at least 5
double-spaced pages long, and which draws together all of the
skills you have acquired over the course of the semester.
Research Question:
Your
paper
should attempt to answer a specific question relevant to the subject matter of
the course which
deals with one or more of the themes of
the
course (religion, government, gender, and social class) and
discuss how it/they have changed over time.
The themes themselves are too
broad to be the focus or your paper, so your topic should narrow
the focus down in some way (For example, the topic, "Religion in
Western Civilization" is too broad). On the other hand, I
would like you to pick a topic that allows you to examine
changes over a considerable span of time and across several
different historical societies. Here are some sample research
questions as examples. You are free to pick one of these
or suggest your own.
- How did religion influence government and vice versa?
(themes: religion and government)
- What did marriage customs reveal about gender roles in the
past? (theme: gender)
- What role did slavery play in past social and economic
systems? (theme: social class)
- How did ancient religion transition from polytheism to
monotheism? (theme: religion)
- What were the lives of peasants like in the
past? (theme: social class)
- What were the lives of the upper class like in the
past? (theme: social class)
- How did government work in the past, and from where did its
authority derive? (theme: government)
- What were women's lives like in the past, and how much say
did women have in how those lives were lived? (theme:
gender)
- What role did religion play in justifying the insitution of
slavery in the past? (theme: social class and religion)
- How accepted were same-sex relationships in the past?
(theme: gender)
- What role did the military play in government in the
past? (theme: government)
- What did ancient or medieval atheletics reveal about ideals
of masculinity in the past? (theme: gender)
- What role did women play in religion in the past? Was
religion liberating or restrictive for women? (theme:
religion)
- How much of an impact did wealth have on government in the
past? Did the wealthy rule, or good the poor also have some
power? (theme: social class)
- How did religion and philosophy interact in past societies?
Were they in competition or did they compliment one
another? (theme: religion)
Proposed paper topics should be sent to the
professor early in the semester for approval. Any topic
changes later in the semester must likewise be approved by the
professor.
Sources:
In
terms of evidence, you should feel free to draw from sources you
have already considered for your other course work. At a
minimum, however, your paper must refer to and correctly cite:
- At least 5 Primary
Sources (either online or in print). Your primary
sources should be roughly evenly divided between the two
societies which you are examining.
- At least 1 Scholarly Journal Article
(you learned about these in your Source Criticism Paper)
- At least 1 Scholarly Monograph
(essentially a book by a scholar focused on one narrow
historical subject relevant to your research topic)
- At least 3 Other Secondary Sources (either online or in
print)
Here are a few links to online collections of
primary source documents which might help you with finding
sources for your Research Papers:
Directory
of World History Primary Sources
- World
History
Sources. Browse by region or time period, or type your
topic in the Search box. When viewing results of your search,
the "F" icon represents primary source documents. From George
Mason University.
- Ancient
History Sourcebook (Fordham University). A "classroom
usable" sourcebook of copy-permitted primary sources and
material for Ancient history and civilization courses.
- Medieval
History Sourcebook (Fordham University). This is an
online source book of copy-permitted, primary source material
for Medieval Studies. It is the largest online resource of
medieval and Byzantine textual sources.
- The Avalon
Project. A variety of primary documents from 4000 BCE
to the modern era. From Yale University Law School.
- World Digital Library -
Library of Congress. The World Digital Library (WDL) is a
project of the U.S. Library of Congress, and makes available on
the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format,
significant primary materials from all countries and cultures.
You should
make sure to refer to or quote specific examples from the sources
in order to support your arguments, and to cite them using Chicago-format
footnotes. Please follow the guidelines for written work
in this class. See this rubric
for a more detailed description of how you will be graded.
The relevant due dates and point worth of the various elements of
the Research Paper are as follows:
| Research Paper Element |
Description |
Due Date |
| Topic Proposal |
You should fill out and submit this form
describing the research question which you would like to
examine, which theme(s) you will be examining. You may
not turn in an Annotated Bibliography or a Finished Research
Paper without getting your Topic Proposal approved in
advance.
|
Sept. 11 |
Annotated Bibliography
|
You should
submit a bibliography of the sources which you intend to use
for your Research Paper. The bibliography should include at
least 5 primary sources (historical documents from the past)
and 5 scholarly secondary sources (including at least one
scholarly journal article and one scholar monarch). Each
source should be accompanied by a brief paragraph of
analysis (See the Annotated
Bibliography assignment description for more detailed
information).
|
Nov. 20 |
| Finished Research Paper |
You should submit a final
draft of at least 5 double-spaced pages which advances a
clear main argument which answers your research question,
and which supports that argument with specific, correctly
cited evidence drawn from the primary and secondary
sources listed in your bibliography. |
Dec. 4 |
There are two unproctored exams for this course which are to be
completed at home and submitted through Canvas. You can use any
notes, course readers, or other resources you wish as long as you
cite them (simply listing the bibliographic information or web
address at the end of the question is sufficient-- no need to
include footnotes). All of your responses should be in your own
words rather than quoted from other sources. If you use any
additional sources without citing them, you will not receive any
points for the exam.
Midterm Exam. You
should submit a file through Canvas with your responses to the
following questions:
1) Provide a Time Line which lists
what you think are the ten most important events in the history
of Western civilization from Prehistory through the 1st century
CE. Each item on your Time Line should contain the
following information:
- The approximate
date.
- A brief
description of the event.
- The event's
significance (Why should anybody in the 21st century care?)
2) An
analysis of what you think are the most important developments
or changes in the history of
Western civilization from Pre-History through the 1st century
CE. for each one of the four class themes. Refer to specific
primary sources we have read for the class which back up your
arguments. Write a substantial paragraph for each theme:
- Government
- Religion
- Gender
- Social Class
Final Exam.
You should submit a file through Canvas with your responses to
the following questions:
1) Provide a Time Line which lists
what you think are the ten most important events in the history
of Western civilization from between 1-1600 CE Each item on your
Time Line should contain the following information:
- The approximate
date.
- A brief
description of the event.
- The event's
significance (Why should anybody in the 21st century care?)
2)
An analysis of what you think are the most important
developments or changes in the history of Western
civilization from between
1-1600 CE for each one of the four class themes. Refer
to specific primary sources we have read for the class which
back up your arguments.Write a substantial paragraph
for each theme:
- Government
- Religion
- Gender
- Social Class
Week
1
Week
2
Week
3
(NO
CLASS September 7)
Wednesday, September 9:
The Neolithic Revolution
|
Discussion Reading: Jared Diamond "The
Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race," Discover,
(May 1, 1999).
Watch Was the
Invention of Agriculture B.S.?
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 1: "The
Neolithic
Revolution."
Damen, "The
Origins
and Invention of Writing," "The
ABG's
of History," "Women
and
Historical Biography;"
|
| Assignments to Complete: |
Topic Proposal for the Research
Paper
due by 11:59 pm, September 11 using this form.
Make sure to check the professor's feedback on Canvas
to see if your topic has been approved, or if you need to
resubmit this assignment.
Last day to withdraw with
refund is September 10. |
Week
4
Monday, September 14
Bronze Age Mesopotamia
|
Discussion Reading: The
Code of Hammurabi (c. 1754 BC).
Watch Evidence,
Citations, and Plagiarism: Who Cares?
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 2: "River Valley
Civilizations," The Sumerians," "Ur," "The Akkadian Empire," "Babylon," "Hammurabi's Code," "Babylonian Culture," |
Wednesday, September 16:
Paganism
|
Discussion
Readings: Penitential
Prayer
to Every God; "The
Flood
Story" from The
Epic of Gilgamesh.
Watch Was Ancient
Paganism B.S.?
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 2: "Nebuchadnezzar and the
Fall of Babylon," "The Assyrians," "The Hittites," "The Phoenicians," "The Minoans,"
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 3: "The Rise of
Egyptian Civilization," "The Old Kingdom,"
"The First
Intermediate Period," "The Middle Kingdom,"
"Ancient Egyptian
Culture," "The Second
Intermediate Period," "The New Kingdom,"
|
| Assignments to Complete: |
Hammurabi
Paper on The Code of
Hammurabi due September 18. |
Week
5
Monday, September 21:
Monolatry
|
Discussion Readings: ; Excerpts
from
the Book of Deuteronomy (5, 9, 12-13, 21-22).
Campbell, "Ancient
Religion," "Evolution
Toward
Monotheism, "Israelite
Religion;"
Damen, "Akhenaten
and
Monotheism," "The
Old
Testament and Its Authors."
LumenLearning, Western Civilization,
Chapter 3: "Hatshepsut,"
"The Third Intermediate
Period," "The Decline of Ancient
Egypt," "Ancient Egyptian
Religion," "Ancient Egyptian Art,"
"Ancient Egyptian
Monuments," "Ancient Egyptian Trade,"
"Nubia and Ancient
Culture." |
Wednesday, September 23:
Israelite Monotheism |
Discussion Readings: Excerpts
from
The Book of Genesis (1-3, 6-8, 22), "The
Flood
Story" from The
Epic of Gilgamesh.
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 4: "Greek Dark Ages,"
"Archaic Greece,"
"The Rise of Classical
Greece,"
|
Week 6
Monday, September 28:
Greek Society
|
Discussion Reading: Excerpts from the poetry of Sappho
of Lesbos, c. 630 BCE; Aristotle
on
the Good Wife BCE
Watch Was The Iliad
B.S.?
Damen, "Archaeology:
Troy
and Heinrich Schliemann;"
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 4: "Sparta,"
"Culture in Classical
Sparta," "The Persian Wars,"
"Effects of the Persian
Wars," "Athens,"
"Athenian Society," |
Wednesday, September 30:
Greek Philosophy
|
Discussion Reading: Plato, Euthyphro.
This is not the easiet source to read. You might wish
to consult this outline,
which does a good job of succinctly summarizing some of what
is discussed in the dialogue.
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 4: "Classical Greek
Philosophy," "Classical Greek Poetry
and History," "Classical Greek
Theater," "Classical Greek
Architecture," "Scientific
Advancements in the Classical Period,"
|
| Assignments to Complete: |
Plato
and Deuteronomy Paper due October 2
|
Week
7
Monday, October 5:
Ancient Slavery
|
Discussion Readings: Aristotle
on Slavery (c. 350 BC); Diodorus Siculus’ Account
of the First Servile War (c. 135–132 BC)
Watch Was Ancient
Slavery B.S.?
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 4: "Introduction to the
Peloponnesian War," "Effects of the
Peloponnesian War," "The Rise of the
Macedon," "Alexander the Great,"
"Alexander's Empire,"
"The Legacy of
Alexander the Great."
|
Wednesday, October 7: The
Roman Republic
|
Discussion Reading: Polybius, "An
Analysis
of the Roman Government (Excerpt from Histories)
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 5: "The Origins of Etruria,"
"Etruscan Artifacts," "Etruscan Religion," "The Founding of Rome," "The Seven Kings," "Early Roman Society," "The Establishment of
the Roman Republic," "Roman Society Under
the Republic," "Structure of the
Republic," "Art and Literature in
the Roman Republic," "Republican Wars and
Conquest," "Crises of the Republic."
Damen, "Roman
Cults
and Worship;"
|
Week
8 (No Class October 12)
Week
9
Monday, October
19:
The Origins of Christianity
|
Discussion Reading: Excerpts
from
the Gospel According to Luke; Excerpts
from
the Gospel of Thomas;
Campbell, "Early
Monotheism;"
Kreis, "Christianity
as a Cultural Revolution,"
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 6: "The Flavian Dynasty,"
"Military Achievements
of the Flavians," "Eruptions of Vesuvius
and Pompeii," "Flavian Architecture," "Fall of the Flavian
Emperors," |
Wednesday, October 21:
The Expansion of Christianity
|
Discussion Reading: Excerpts
from
the Letters of St. Paul
Watch: Was The
Spread of Early Christianity B.S.?
Kreis, "The
Church
Fathers: St. Jerome and St. Augustine,"
Damen, "Early
Christianity
and the Church,"
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 6: "The Nerva-Antonine
Dynasty," "Military Successes of
the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty," "Art and Culture Under
the Nerva-Antonines," |
| Assignments to Complete: |
Source Proposal for the Source Criticism Paper
due October 23. You should enter the
complete bibliographic information for the sources you will
analyze for this assignment using this form.
Make sure to read the directions for the Source Criticism
Paper in the syllabus CAREFULLY before filling out the form.
Also, you might want to watch this video: How
to Find a Scholarly Journal Article |
Week 10
Monday, October 26:
The Fall of Rome
|
Discussion Video: Watch Peer
Review in Three Minutes
Watch How Can You
Tell If A Website Is B.S. Or Not?
Watch Was The Fall
of Rome B.S.?
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 6: "Crises of the Roman
Empire," "Diocletian and the
Tetrarchy," "The Rise of
Christianity," "Constantine," "The Shift East," "The Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire."
Damen, "The
Fall
of Rome: Facts and Fictions;"
|
Wednesday, October 28:
The Origins of Islam
|
Discussion Reading: Excerpts
from
the Qu'ran.
Kreis,
"Islamic
Civilization;"
Damen, "The
Nature
and Triumph of Islam;"
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 7: "Naming of the
Byzantine Empire," "The Eastern Roman
Empire, Constantine the Great, and Byzantium,"
"Justinian and Theodora,"
"The Justinian Code,"
"Emperor Heracluis,"
"The Theme System,"
"The Isaurian Dynasty,"
"Iconoclasm in
Byzantium," "The Emperor Irene," |
| Assignments to Complete: |
Source Criticism Paper
due by 11:59 pm November 1 (Your sources MUST be approved
by the professor before you turn this in).
Last day to withdraw from the
class without grade penalty is October 29. |
Week 11
Monday, November 2:
The Expansion of Islam
|
Discussion
Reading: The
Pact of Umar (c. 7th century)
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 7: "The Macedonian Dynasty,"
"The Great Schism of
1054," "The
Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars," "The Double Disasters,"
"Crisis and
Fragmentation," "The Last Byzantine
Dynasty," "The Fall of
Constantinople," "Byzantium's Legacy." |
Wednesday, November 4:
The Early Middle Ages
|
Discussion Reading: Excerpts
from
Beowulf,
(c. 11th c. CE)
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 8: "The Germanic Tribes," "Odoacer and the Fall
of Rome ," "Theoderic the Great," "The Vikings,"
|
Week
12
Monday, November 9:
Monasticism
|
Discussion Reading: Excerpts
from The Rule of St. Benedict, c.530 CE
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 8: "The Catholic Church," "The Development of
Papal Supremacy," "The Rise of the
Monasteries," "The Western Schism,"
|
Wednesday, November 11:
Feudalism
|
Discussion on the research process for the Research Paper
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 8: "The Coronation of 800
CE," "The Rise of
Charlemagne," "Charlemagne's Reforms," "Charles Martel and
Pepin the Short," "The End of the
Carolingians," "Rise of the Holy Roman
Empire," "Administration of the
Empire," |
Week
13
Monday, November 16:
The Crusades
|
Discussion Readings: Urban
II
Call the First Crusade at Council of Clermont, as
reported by Fucher of Chartres (1095);
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 8: "The Investiture
Controversy," "The Anglo-Saxons," "The Norman Invasion of
1066 CE," "William the
Conqueror's Rule," "The Magna Carta," "The Hundred Years' War," "The Crusades," "The First Crusade," "The Second Crusade," "The Third Crusade," "The Fourth Crusade,"
|
Wednesday, November 18:
The High Middle
Ages
|
Discussion Readings: Excerpts from The Book of Margery Kempe
(15th c.): The
Birth of Her First Child and Her First Vision; Her
Pride and Attempts to Start a Business; Margery
and Her Husband Reach a Settlement.
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 8: "Feudalism," "The Manor System," "Trade and Commerce," "Daily Medieval Life," "Intellectual Life," "Arts and Sciences," "The Black Death."
|
| Assignments to Complete: |
Annotated Bibliography
Due November 20
|
Week
14 (NO
CLASS November 25)
Week
15
Monday, November 30:
Renaissance
|
Discussion
Reading: Dante Alighieri, Excerpt
from The
Inferno (1320)
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 10: "Humanism,"
"Education and
Humanism," "The Italian
Renaissance," "Art and Patronage,"
"Leonardo da Vinci,"
"Michelangelo,"
"Mannerism,"
"The Rise of the
Vernacular," "Renaissance Writers,"
"Christine de Pizan,"
"Machiavelli,"
"Erasmus,"
"Flemish Painting in
the Northern Renaissance."
|
Wednesday, December 2:
Reformation
|
Discussion Reading: Martin Luther, Address
to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation
(1520)
LumenLearning, Western
Civilization, Chapter 11: "Discontent with the
Roman Catholic Church," "Luther and
Protestantism," "Calvinism,"
"The Anabaptists,"
"The Anglican Church,"
"The French Wars of
Religion," "The Witch Trials,"
"Religious Divide in
the Holy Roman Empire," "Bohemian Period,"
"Danish Intervention,"
"Swedish Intervention,"
"Swedish-French
Intervention," "The Peace of
Westphalia."
|
| Assignments to Complete: |
Research
Paper due December 4. |
Week 16
