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TOPICS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

After the textbook (SPIELVOGEL) and the sourcebook (ROGERS) reading assignments, you will find links to more source materials on the Internet. They are useful for special assignments during the term. Those marked with an asterisk (*) can be submitted for extra credit. In addition, make a habit of browsing through Paul Halsall's Internet Ancient History Sourcebook.

1. INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS HISTORY? WHY STUDY HISTORY THROUGH PRIMARY SOURCES? (2/28)
SPIELVOGEL: Preface; Introduction to Students of Western Civilization

ROGERS: Preface

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

2. THE FIRST HUMANS: FROM THE OLD STONE AGE TO THE BIRTH OF CIVILIZATION (3/4)
SPIELVOGEL: From the Hunter-Gatherers, through the Agricultural Revolution to the Emergence of Civilization

ROGERS: Handouts

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

3. CIVILIZATION OF MESOPOTAMIA (3/6)
SPIELVOGEL: The City-States and Empires in Ancient Mesopotamia

ROGERS: The Reign of Sargon; The Code of Hammurabi; The Epic of Gilgamesh; The Mesopotamian View of Death, 6-13

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

4. EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION: "THE GIFT OF THE NILE" (3/7)
SPIELVOGEL: The Old and Middle Kingdom; Society and Economy in Ancient Egypt

ROGERS: Building of the Pyramids; Mummification (Herodotus), 15-17

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

5. THE NEW KINGDOM (3/11)
SPIELVOGEL: From Chaos to a New Order; Culture, Religion and Daily Life in Egypt

ROGERS: Instructions of Kagemni; The Pyramid Texts; The Book of the Dead: Negative Confession; Humn to the Aton, 24-30

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

6. EMPIRES AND PEOPLES: THE INDO-EUROPEANS AND THE HEBREWS (3/13)
SPIELVOGEL: The Spiritual Dimension of Israel; The Neighbors of the Hebrews

ROGERS: The Hebrew Bondage; The Ten Commandments; Solomon's Decline, 40-47

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

7.THE ASSYRIAN AND THE PERSIAN EMPIRES (3/14)
SPIELVOGEL: Governing the Empires; Assyrian Culture and Persian Religion

ROGERS: Handouts

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

8. EARLY GREECE (3/18)
SPIELVOGEL: Minoan Crete and the Mycenaeans

ROGERS: The Trojan War: The Wrath of Achilles; The Death of Patroclus, (The Iliad, Homer)59-65

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

9. THE GREEKS IN A DARK AGE (3/20)
SPIELVOGEL: Homer

ROGERS: The Adventure of the Cyclops; Odysseus in the Underworld; The Return of Odysseus (The Odyssey, Homer), 66-72

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

10. THOUGHT AND VALUES OF EARLY GREEKS (3/21)
SPIELVOGEL: Early Greek Philosophy

ROGERS: Thales of Miletus; Anaximenes; Pythagoras, 74-76

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

11. THE WORLD OF THE GREEK CITY-STATES (3/25)
SPIELVOGEL: The Polis; The Rise of Tyrants; Sparta; Athens

ROGERS: The City State of Sparta: Reforms of Lycurgus (Plutarch); Spartan Discipline (Plutarch); The City State of Athens: Funeral Oration of Pericles (Thucydides); A Critic of Democracy, The "Old Oligarch", 76-85

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

12. CLASSICAL GREECE AND THE CHALLENGE OF PERSIA (3/27)
SPIELVOGEL: The High Point of Greek Civilization: The Challenge of Persia

ROGERS: The Spartans at Thermopylae (Herodotus); The Defense of Athens; The Battle of Salamis (Aeschylus), 86-89

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

13. THE GROWTH OF ATHENIAN EMPIRE IN THE AGE OF PERICLES (4/4)
SPIELVOGEL: The Peloponnesian War and the Decline of the Greek States

ROGERS: From Confederacy to Empire (Thucydides); The Mytilenian Debate; The Melian Dialogue (Thucyhdides); The Trial of Socrates (Plato) 89-111

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

14. THE CULTURE OF CLASSICAL GREECE (4/8)
SPIELVOGEL: Greek Literature and Religion; Daily Life in Classical Athens

ROGERS: Oedipus the King (Sophocles); Antigone (Sophocles); The Trojan Women (Euripides); Lysistrata (Aristophanes), 89-108

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

15.GREEK PHILOSOPHY (4/10)
SPIELVOGEL: The Culture of Classical Greece

ROGERS: Allegory of the Cave (Plato); The Equality of Women in the State (Plato); Virtue and Moderation: the Doctrine of the Mean (Aristotle); The Status of Women (Aristotle) 134-146

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

16. MIDTERM (4/11)
17. THE HELLENISTIC WORLD (4/15)
SPIELVOGEL: The Rise of Macedonia and the Conquests of Alexander

ROGERS: The First Philippic (Demosthenes); Address to Philip (Isocrates); On the Crown (Demosthenes), Alexander and the Brotherhood of Man (Plutarch),125-133

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

18. THE WORLD OF HELLENISTIC KINGDOMS (4/17)
SPIELVOGEL: Economic and Social Trends

ROGERS: Hellenistic Science: Archimedes (Plutarch), 149

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

19.CULTURE IN THE HELLENISTIC WORLD (4/18)
SPIELVOGEL: New Directions in Literature and Art; Philosophy: New Schools of Thought; Religion

ROGERS: Golden Maxims (Epicurus); The Principles of Skepticism (Sextus Empiricus), 146-149

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

20. THE EMERGENCE OF ROME (4/22)
SPIELVOGEL: The Greeks and Etruscans; Early Rome

ROGERS: Handouts

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

21. THE ROMAN REPUBLIC (4/24)
SPIELVOGEL: The Roman State; The Roman Conquest of Italy

ROGERS: Handouts

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

22. THE ROMAN CONQUEST OF THE MEDITERRANEAN (4/25)
SPIELVOGEL: Struggle with Carthage; The Eastern Mediterranean; The Nature of Roman Imperialism

ROGERS: The Growth of Latifundia (Appian); The Murder of Tiberius Gracchus; The Breakdown of Roman Unity (Sallust); "Absolute Tyrany" (Appian) 158-161

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

23. SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN THE ROMAN WORLD (4/29)
SPIELVOGEL: Family in Imperial Rome; The Gladiatorial Shows

ROGERS: Marcus Licinius Crassus (Plutarch); Catiline Plots Revolt (Sallust); "The Enemy Within," (Cicero), 162-166

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

24. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC (5/1)
SPIELVOGEL: A New Role for the Roman Army; Marius and Sulla; The Collapse of the Republic

ROGERS: The Wrath of Sulla "Absolute Tyranny," (Appian); "The Die Is Cast": Caesar Crosses the Rubicon; "We Must Trust the Mercy of the Storm", Cicero; The Assassination of Julius Caesar (Plutarch), 161-171

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

25. THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS (5/2)
SPIELVOGEL: The New Order

ROGERS: Cleopatra's Influence over Mark Antony (Plutarch); The Power and Authority of the Emperor (Dio Cassius); The Transition from Republic to Principate (Tacitus); Res Gestae: The Accomplishments of Augustus (Augustus), 174-177

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

26. THE FIVE GOOD EMPERORS (5/6)
SPIELVOGEL: The Roman Empire at Its Hight: Frontiers and Provinces; Prosperity in the Early Empire

ROGERS: Formalism of the State Religion (Pliny); Sacrifices for the Emperor Nero; The Deification of Augustus, 189-190

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

27. ROMAN CULTURE AND PHILOSOPHY (5/8)
SPIELVOGEL: The Golden and Silver Ages of Latin Literature

ROGERS: The Peace of Augustus (Horace); "To Spare the Conquered and Crush the Proud" (Virgil), 181-183; The Stoic Philosophy: Epictetus, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, 248-249

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

28. ROMAN SOCIETY (5/9)
SPIELVOGEL: The Roman Family; The Gladiatorial Shows

ROGERS: "The Rural Life of a Roman Aristocrat (Pliny the Younger; The Proper Treatment of Slaves; Legislation Against the Abuse of Slaves (Gaius); Trimalchio: A Wealthy Freedman (Petronius), 239-242

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

29. RELIGION IN THE ROMAN WORLD (5/13)
SPIELVOGEL: The Religious World of the Romans; The Jewish Background; The Rise of Christianity

ROGERS: Invasion of the Eastern Cults (Minucius Felix); Orgiastic Frenzy (Apuleius), 190-191

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

30. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (5/15)
SPIELVOGEL: The Reforms of Diocletian and Constantine; The Growth of Christianity; The Fall of the Western Roman Empire

ROGERS: The Persecution Under Nero (Tacitus); The Correspondence Between Trajan and Pliny; The Persecution Under Diocletian (Lactantius); A Christian Defense (Tertullian), 203-207

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

31. THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ROMAN WORLD (5/16)
SPIELVOGEL: The New Kingdoms; The Socierty of the Germanic Peoples

ROGERS: The Germanic Tribes (Tacitus); News of the Attacks (Jerome), 252-255

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

32. THE ROLE AND DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN CHURCH (5/20)
SPIELVOGEL: Organization and Religious Disputes; The Power of the Pope; The Monks and Their Missions; Christianity and Intellectual Life

ROGERS: The First Principles of the Early Church (Origen); The City of God (Saint Augustine); The Petrine Theory (Pope Leo I), 210-217

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

33. THE EARLY BYZANTINE EMPIRE (5/22)
SPIELVOGEL: The Reign of Justinian; From East Roman to Byzantine Empire

ROGERS: The Secret History of Justinian and Theodora; The Nika Riot (Procopius); The Digest of Roman Law, 270-274

WEB ASSIGNMENT: *

34. ROME'S LEGACY (5/23)
SPIELVOGEL:

ROGERS: The Barbarization of Civilization (M.I. Rostovtzeff), 258; Handouts

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

35. THE ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST AND THE CLASSICAL WORLD IN RETROSPECT (5/29)
SPIELVOGEL:

ROGERS: Handouts

WEB ASSIGNMENT:

36. FINAL EXAMINATION

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