IUPUI
Summer I 2010
Dr. E.L. Saak
CA 503N
Office Hours: by appointment
Phone: 274-1687
Email:
History H113
Western Civilization 1
MTR 1:00-3:15
Sect. 5832
CA 217
Goals
This course has the following three goals: 1) to give the students an over-view of the development of Western Civilization from its beginnings to approximately 1500; 2) to provide the students with a sense of what “doing history” entails; and 3) to foster the critical, analytical, and communicative skills of the students, through extensive reading and writing assignments. By the end of the course, the students should be able to describe effectively the basic development of Western Civilization from the Ancient Near East to the Edict of Nantes, and to evaluate critically the sources upon which historical portrayals of Western Civilization have been based. Furthermore, students should be able to reflect on how Western traditions have impacted, and continue to impact, life in the West today. Thus this course contributes to, and indeed is based on, IUPUI’s Principles of Undergraduate Learning. The exams are designed to develop and test the students’ communication and quantitative skills, their critical thinking, their ability to integrate and apply their knowledge, their intellectual depth, breath, and adaptiveness, their understanding of society and culture, and their values and ethics. This is not a course that seeks only to impart information. This is a course that by design focuses on the creation of meaning in the past, and how that creation of meaning in the past relates to present-day meanings. Reflection on and analysis of the sources and well as the self is the primary requirement for success in this course. History is not a “thing of the past”, but a “thing” of the present. The ways in which it is so are the foundation upon which this course is based, and are analyzed as much as they are taken as givens. The over-all goal for the course is that students will not only develop their communicative and analytical skills, but will also gain intellectual depth and breadth in reflecting on the values and ethics of the past as a “sounding board” for the values and ethics of today in coming to a deeper and broader understanding of the society and culture of the past and of the present, and how that past has impacted and continues to impact themselves and their worlds.
Required Texts
Kagan, Ozment, Turner, The Western Heritage, vol. 1, 9th edition. Prentice Hall, 2007.
Augustine of Hippo, Confessions. Trans. Henry Chadwick. Oxford 1991.
Petrarch, The Secret. Bedford/St. Martins, 2003.
Grading
The final grade will be given based on the following percentages:
1) Mid-term examination: 50% (100 points)
2) Final Examination 50% (100 poitns)
Total: 100% (200 points)
The mid-term exam will consist of 20 multiple-choice questions (1 points each) and two essay questions (40 points each) covering the text book, the assigned, required readings, and the lectures. The final exam will be comprehensive, and will consist of 40 multiple choice questions (1 point each) and one essay question (60 points). If there are any questions about this course, please see me as soon as possible.
Attendance
I expect each and every student to attend each and every lecture. More than one unexcused absence will result in a loss of 20 points; more than three unexcused absences will result in a loss of an additional 40 points. Excused absences must be cleared with me. Only the most extraordinary of circumstances will excuse more than two absences.
Policy on Cheating
Please note that I will not tolerate cheating, and will punish any student caught cheating with the full severity allowed me by IUPUI regulations, which could include being suspended permanently from the course and automatically assigned an ‘F’ as a final grade, as well as further disciplinary measures. Please refer to the IUPUI handbook for Student Conduct. I view cheating any of the following: 1) Plagiarism of any kind, by which I mean: copying all or part of another student’s paper; handing in papers written for you by someone else; failure to properly footnote direct quotations, paraphrased passages, or opinions of other scholars (including authors of Cliff Notes and other such study aids) in essays written outside of class. Plagiarism also consists of using material from the WWW without using quotation marks and proper citation. Plagiarism is easy to detect. Do not do it! If you have any questions whether you are plagiarizing material, please ask me about it before hand; 2) collaborating on any in-class exam; 3) copying the answers of any other student during an in-class exam; 4) using unauthorized notes, study guides, or any other material in any format or medium on in-class exams. In short, DO NOT CHEAT AND DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! YOU WILL BE CAUGHT AND PUNISHED!
Schedule of Lectures and Reading Assignments
Introduction
R May 13: Introduction: What are we doing here?
Readings: Kagan, Ozment, Turner, The Western Heritage, vol. 1, 9th edition. Prentice Hall, 2007 (hereafter cited as WH), ch. 1
Week 1
M May 17: The Ancient Near East and the Rise of Civilization
T May 18: The World of the Greeks
Th May 20: The Myth of Rome and the Rise of Christianity
Readings: WH, chs. 2-5
Week 2
M May 24: Augustine of Hippo I
T May 25: Augustine of Hippo II
Th May 27: The Rise of the West: The Fall of Rome and the Myth of Christendom
Readings: Augustine, The Confessions
Week 3
M May 31: Memorial Day: No Class
T June 1: Review for Midterm
Th June 3: Midterm Exam
Readings: WH, ch. 6
Week 4
M June 7: The Medieval Renaissance
T June 8: The Flowering of Medieval Culture
Th June 10: The Crisis of the Later Middle Ages
Readings: WH, chs. 7-8
Week 5
M June 14: Renaissance Europe
T June 15: The Reformation of Later Middle Ages
Th June 17: The Crumbling of Christendom and the End of the Middle Ages
Readins: WH, chs. 9-10; Petrarch, The Secret
Week 6
M June 21: So What?
T June 22: Final Exam
History H113
Western Civilization 1
Summer I 2010
Instructor: Dr. E.L. Saak
Study Guide
Mid-Term Examination : June 3
Purpose: This guide is intended to help you study for the mid-term. It is NOT the basis for the mid-term, meaning, you are responsible for all questions and terms drawn from the text book, the assigned readings, and lectures and not just those given here. However, this guide is designed to help you prepare, and if used well, should indeed serve its intended function (i.e.: if you know what is on the guide, you will be in good shape for the exam). The examination will consist of 20 multiple-choice questions, each worth 1 point and two essay questions, each worth 40 points. Below you will find 65 terms that you should know, drawn from the lectures, the textbook, and the source readings. If you know these terms, their context and importance, you should do well on the exam. After the terms are some sample multiple choice questions, which should give you an indication of the type of questions you will be required to answer. For the essays, on the exam you will be given six essays, three in part I and three in part II; you will be required to choose one essay from part I and one from part II. Below you will find sample essay questions. These questions, as the sample multiple choice questions, may or may not be on the exam, but surely ones very similar will be. I hope this guide will help you prepare for the exam so that you can do as well as possible. Good luck!
Terms:
Civilization, Catalhöyük, Mesopotamia, Sargon, Sumer, cunieform, Epic of Gilgamesh, the Code of Hammurabi, agricultural revolution, Ur, Old Kingdom (Egypt), Akhenaten, Phoenicians, Persian Empire, Helen (of Troy/Sparta), Minoan culture, polis, Mycenaean civilization, Herodotus, Peloponnesian War, Delian League, Sophocles, Philip II of Macedon, Solon, Plato, The Myth of Er, The Allegory of the Cave, the Allegory of Metals, Persian Wars, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Homer, Roman Republic, Virgil, Dido, Turnus, Anchisis, Etruscans, The Twelve Tables, Punic Wars, Gracchi, Sulla, Jullius Caesar, Octavian/Caesar Augustus, First Triumvirate, Pax Romana, Cicero, house churches, Dead Sea Scrolls, The Gospels, Diocletian, Council of Nicea, Constantine, Manicheans, Augustine of Hippo, Donatists, Theodosius, Paul of Tarsus, Alaric, the Goths, Clovis, Gregory of Tours, the Merovingians, The Franco-Papal Alliance, Charlemagne
Sample Questions:
Multiple Choice
1. The word “civilization” in its most fundamental definition, refers to:
a. high society
b. Greek and Latin literature
c. cities
d. table manners
2. The earliest written records that have survived
a. were economic inventories
b. were written in cunieform
c. come from Ur
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
3. Which of the following is not true about Hammurabi’s law code
a. it opens a window into our understanding of ancient daily life
b. it repudiated the concept of “an eye for an eye”
c. it prescribes different penalties for each of the three social classes in Babylon
d. its stated purpose was to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak
e. none of the above
4. Helen of Troy was
a. the wife of Priam
b. the wife of Achilles
c. the symbol of Greek identity
d. the leader of the Trojan forces
e. none of the above
Essays:
Part I:
1. What was Augustine’s view of creation as seen in his Confessions?
2. What was Augustine’s view of the human individual and consequently of himself in his Confessions?
3. Were Augustine’s Confessions an autobiography? If so, how so and why so; if not, how not and why not?
4. How do Augustine’s Confessions reflect his historical context?
5. In what ways are Augustine’s Confessions a typical example of late antique literature? In what ways are they radically different from anything that had come before?
6. If Augustine’s Confessions was the only source we had from the late fourth/early fifth century, what could we say about the period?
Part II:
1. To what extent was Ancient Mesopotamia “western”? To what extent was it not? Defend your answer with reference to the source material, to the textbook, and to the lectures.
2. Discuss the role of “foundational myths” in ancient civilizations, namely, the ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome. What affect did foundational myths have on the development of civilization?
3. Compare and contrast the city states of Sparta and Athens. How were they both part of the “Greek Identity”?
4. What was the most important contribution of the Greeks to “Western” Civilization? Be specific and give details, supporting your argument from the course material (i.e.,. lectures, textbook, and sources)
5. Trace the development of the Roman Empire from the foundation of the Republic to Augustus Caesar. What were the most important and/or significant events and why?
6. Defend or refute the thesis that during the fourth century, Christianity became “Romanized”. Support your answer with material drawn from the lectures, the textbook, and the sources in tracing the development and impact of Christianity from the time of Caesar August to the death of Augustine of Hippo, including intellectual, political, institutional, and social factors.
7. When did Rome ‘fall’? Defend your answer with detailed presentation of the events contributing to the ‘fall’ of Rome from the Rise of Christianity to the age of Charlemagne.
8. Defend or refute the thesis that the Middle Ages came into being with the fusing of Judeo-Christian, Greco-Roman, and German cultures.
History H113
Western Civilization 1
Summer I 2009
Instructor: Dr. E.L. Saak
Study Guide
Final Exam: TUES., June 22: 1:00 p.m.-3:15 p.m.
Purpose: This guide is intended to help you study for the final. It is NOT the basis for the final, meaning, you are responsible for all questions and terms drawn from the text book, the assigned readings, and lectures and not just those given here. However, this guide is designed to help you prepare, and if used well, should indeed serve its intended function (i.e.: if you know what is on the guide, you will be in good shape for the exam). The final consists of 40 multiple choice questions and one essay. The final essay question is given here below. In addition, below you will find 50 terms. These should serve as a study guide for the multiple choice part of the exam. I hope this guide will help you prepare for the exam so that you can do as well as possible. Good luck!
Terms:
Mesopotamia, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Sargon, the Code of Hammurabi, Helen (of Troy/Sparta), polis, Plato, Roman Republic, Virgil, Constantine, Augustine of Hippo, Theodosius, Carolingians, Muhammad, the Franco-Papal Alliance, Treaty of Verdun, Christendom, Gregory VII, feudalism, the First Crusade, the medieval renaissance, Mendicant friars, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, the Romance of the Rose, the Great Famine, Giles of Rome, the Black Death, Unam Sanctam, Hundred Years War, Avignon, John XXII, the Black Death, humanism, Louis of Bavaria, Petrarch, the Great Schism, the Observant Movement, Conciliarism, The Reformation of the Later Middle Ages
Essay:
The essay for the final is given here below. You are strongly encouraged to work on this essay throughout the semester. The essay should be answered based on the course material, namely, the lectures, the textbook, and the source readings. Your essay should have a strong argument, supported with evidence, namely, detail and reference to the sources. There is no right or wrong answer on this essay. The essay will be graded based on how well you analyze the course material and apply it to the question below. Be sure to argue your case, and to base your argument on the course material, and particularly on the sources. If you have any questions about this assignment, please do not hesitate to see me! Good luck!
Answer the following::
“The foundational myth of Western Civilization is Western Civilization.” Defend or refute this thesis in answering the questions: What is ‘Western Civilization’? When did it arise? What are its characteristics? How did that civilization that is distinctively and uniquely western develop into what we term ‘Early Modern Europe’? Be sure to include in your essay a comparison of factors from: 1.) the ancient Near East; 2.) the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome; 3.) the Middle Ages; and 4.) Early Modern Europe, taking into account all material assigned and presented in this course (or in other words: analyze and evaluate the origins and content of the consciousness and ideology of ‘the West’ and its impact on the development of Western society and culture).