Syllabus

UCLA History 20 World History to AD 600 Professor Courtenay Raia-Grean Class Time: TR 12:30P -- 1:45PM    Location:  DODD 147 E-mail:craia@ucla.edu     Required Textbooks at UCLA Bookstore:  Jerry Bentley and Herb Ziegler, Traditions and Encounters:  A Global Perspective on the Past, Volume A >From the Beginning to 1000 (Fourth Edition, 2008)   Petronius, Satyricon  Sophocles, Oedipus Rex  ** Additionally, weekly readings are posted on the web **   Course expectations: Lecture attendance Tuesday and Thursday. (10%) Two hour mandatory section meeting once a week.  (25%) *Please note, you cannot pass the course without regular section attendance. One 6-7 page paper due Tuesday of Week 9.  (15%) Midterm: In-class, Thursday,  October 30th. (15%) Final Exam – Cumulative.  Thursday, December 11, 2008, 11:30am-2:30pm (35%) Weekly Reading Assignments   The Early Complex Societies ( 3,500 to 500 BCE)   Week 0,  Sept 25th   (No Section) Reading:  Website: Evolutionary History, watch all segments HYPERLINK "http://www.becominghuman.org/" http://www.becominghuman.org/           Human Origins Neolithic Revolution Ancient Mesopotamia: First River Civilization Week 1, Sept 30th Readings:   HYPERLINK "http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/08F/hist20-1/private/How_to_Read_a_Primary_Source_Document.html" “How to Read a Primary Source Document” Bentley/Ziegler Chapters 2 & 3; Michael Balter, “ HYPERLINK "http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/08F/hist20-1/private/the_first_cities.html" The First Cities, Why Settle Down? ” Primaries: Sumerian Texts: HYPERLINK "http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/08F/hist20-1/private/The_Epic_of_Gilgamesh_Flood_Hammurabi.html" The Epic of Gilgamesh & The Epic of the Flood & Code of Hammurabi   Indo-European Migrations and Mesopotamian Empires Early records and the development of writing Hammurabi Hebrews and Phoenicians            Ancient Egypt : Old Kingdom    Week 2: October 7th  Reading :  Bentley/Ziegler Continue Chapter 3, Chapter  4 ; Clifford Geertz, “ HYPERLINK "http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/08F/hist20-1/private/Geertz.pdf" Religion as Cultural System ” pp 87-124 Primaries: Egyptian Texts: HYPERLINK "http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/08F/hist20-1/private/Excerpts_from_Ancient_Egyptian_Sourcebook.html" Pyramid Texts, Precepts of Ptah-hotep,Hymn to Aten,Egyptian Love Poetry Hindu Texts: HYPERLINK "http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/08F/hist20-1/private/Vedas_and_Upanishads.html" Hymns of the Rig Veda & Upanishads   Website: Tour of the Pyramids http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/             Ancient Egypt Cont. Harappan  Society Mohenjo-daro  Aryan migrations  Vedic Civilization  Caste System                         Week 3:  October 14th Reading: Bentley/Ziegler Chapters 5, 6; Jared Diamond, “The Maya Collapses” from Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, pp. 157- 176. Primaries: Pre-Confucian Documents Mayan Mythology & Hawaiian Epic Websites: Optional HYPERLINK "http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8919/decip1.html" http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8919/decip1.html (The Decipherment of the Olmec Writing System)                                     Dynasties of Early China (Chapter 5)             Olmecs             Maya             Teotihuacan             Andean States             Peoples of Oceania The Formation of Classical Societies (500 BCE to 500 CE)   Week 4: October 21st Reading:  Bentley/Ziegler Chapters 7 & begin 8; Pericles B. Georges, Persian Ionia under Darius: The Revolt Reconsidered  Primaries: Herodotus, Xenophon, Zarathustra Websites:  Virtual Tour of Persepolis HYPERLINK "http://www.virtualtourengine.com/tour.aspx?id=17&langindex=1" http://www.virtualtourengine.com/tour.aspx?id=17&langindex=1   Persian Empire Persepolis Achaemenid Emperors Imperial Bureaucracy The Unification of China: Legalists, Confucians, Taoists Han Dynasty                               Week 5: October 28th  Reading:  Chapter 8 continued  Primaries:  Documents from the Chinese Classical Period               Confucians, Taoists, Legalists              Han Dynasty   ** MIDTERM, Thursday, Oct. 30th**   Week 6:  November 4th Reading: Bentley/Ziegler Chapter 9; Peter von Sivers, “All and Nothing: Reflections on Experience and Transcendence in the Eurasian Axial Age, c. 800-200 BCE” Primary Sources: Laws of Manu, Bhagavad Gita, Jain Doctrines, Buddhism             Early Dynasties of India Attempts at Unification Ashoka The caste of consciousness Buddhism and the Hindu Synthesis     Week 7: November 11th Reading: Bentley/Ziegler Chapter 10 Primary:  Oedipus Rex                Minoan and Mycenaean Societies             The emergence of the Greek City-State             Persian Wars             Athens and Sparta             Thought and culture of the Hellenic period              ** NO CLASS TUESDAY NOV. 11th  ** Veterans  Day Holiday   Week 8  November 18th Reading: Bentley/Ziegler Chapter 10 Primary Sources: Sparta, Athens, Greek Philosophy   Greece Continued   ** NO CLASS, Thursday NOVEMBER 27th ** Thanksgiving Day Holiday              Week 9: November 25th Reading: Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 11 Primary Sources:   Petronius, Satyricon   Caesar, Pompey and Crassus: The First Triumvirate Anthony and Cleopatra Caesar Augustus and the Julio Claudian Emperors Imperial Frontiers Jesus and Pontius Pilatus     Week 10:  December 2th   Reading:  Bentley/Ziegler Chapter 12   Primaries: Christian Rome, Gospels, Nestorians   Paul and the Apostles Christianity as Roman Cult Religion of Salvation Constantine, First Christian Emperor       Silk Road and Religious Syncretism                 **FINAL EXAM** Final Exam Code  (14) Thursday, December 11, 2008, 11:30am-2:30pm