About The Ancient World to 1500
This course surveys the birth, transformation and diffusion of world civilizations from prehistory to about 1500, the beginning of European overseas expansion. It will focus on the beginnings of civilization some five to seven thousand years ago in Mesopotamia, Africa, Asia and the Americas. We will then proceed to Classical Civilizations, the Axis Age and conclude the course with an understanding of the world in 1500. It will examine three distinct periods of world history: the early civilizations, the classical world, and the postclassical world. The regions which have had the most impact on world history, the Mediterranean world, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, India, China Southeast Asia, Northern and sub-Saharan Africa will be the primary emphasis and will be presented chronologically when they begin to play a role in the “world system.” In dealing with these civilization quarters, attention is given to the major cultural, social, economic, and political trends within each civilization. The course begins with the birth of civilization in the ancient Near East and the outward diffusion and transformation of that civilization. It turns next to the rise of civilizations in India and China and their history before the sixth century AD. The course then treats the rise and fall in succession of Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman civilizations, stressing the role of the Roman Empire in transmitting both classical civilization and the Christian religion to Europe. In the aftermath of the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD, consideration is given to how the Byzantine Empire preserved and transformed the Roman heritage and the parallel rise and spread of the Islamic religion and culture. Studied next is the history of Western Europe during the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages. Then attention is turned to first East Asia and second to Africa and the Americas. The course concludes with the beginnings of the Modern Age in Europe, and emphasis falls on contact between Europeans and non-European peoples, the Italian and Northern Renaissances, and the Reformation of the sixteenth century. The readings and lectures are designed to challenge erroneous assumptions about world history and the current reality that the last 5,000 years has bequeathed to us. Therefore, the course is built around critical thinking and historical problem solving, not rote memorization or "regimented learning". Memorization and regimentation have nothing to do with learning, but rather lead to mental conformity and the impoverishment of intellectual development.