Dowling College. 

Course outline:
Western Civilization I  HST 001 CRN 95108 

TERM: Fall, 2002    Wednesday: 8:20-11:00 PM      Racanelli R. 204 Instructor:  John D. White     Office hours: before or after class by appointment

Email: jdwhite5@yahoo.com Web: http://johndwhite.net

Text: Western Civilization: The Continuing Experiment, Brief Edition,Volume I:

by Noble, Strauss, Osheim, Neuschel, Cohen, Roberts

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin © 2002     ISBN  0-395-88549-3

 

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 Objectives for the Course:

The Nobel-winning novelist William Faulkner, 1897-1962, said The past is never dead. Its not even past.  Asia, Africa, the New World lands, and Oceania developed great cultures with minimal influence from the West. Because of the Wests importance in the modern world, educated people everywhere need to know the story of how Western civilization emerged and progressed. This class should provide the student knowledge to understand and interpret

[a] developments and values inherited from various cultures and periods in the past that still affect us;

[b] changes that have taken place and processeshow and why they occurred;

[c] two-way influences between Western and non-Western cultures as well as persisting differences;

[d] various approaches to understanding how the past became the present: art, music, sports and recreation, clothing and body adornment, architecture, science, technology, food sources, transportation, social and political organization, religion, and military methods.

Important contributions to European civilization west of the Caucasian Mountains flowed toward it from the Central Asian steppes, from the Indus or Sindh River civilizations of Mohenjo-Daro (Harappa) in modern India and Pakistan, eastern Turkey, Syria, and Israel (Ebla, the Hittites, Phoenicians), Iraq (Mesopotamia, Babylon), Egypt, and the North African coast. Toward the end of this semester we will see how European civilization itself began to expand and plant its culture into remote areas of the world. We will examine more closely the enormous cultural advances by ancient Greece and its later rival Rome, the challenges to Romes empire and the Byzantine Empire from various directionsIslam, Germanic northerners, slavery, internal corruption and economic mistakes. The study examines the course of Christianitys rise during Romes decline, transition into the Middle Ages, the rediscovery of the past by Islam and then by the Renaissance, the revival of science and philosophy, and movement by  a fragmented Christendom into new directions.

 

Class Activities:

Students should read the chapter assignments before class and take notes on key terms and concepts. The instructors lectures will focus on interpreting of the content, providing supplementary information, and guiding discussions. Brief video clips and other audiovisual aids will accompany some lectures. Students will present very brief oral reports and write short papers. Three tests will be based on specific chapters of the textbook and accompanying lectures. Prepare for several unannounced quizzes on text assignments at either the beginning or end of any class period.

 

Requirements for Passing the Course:

[1] Student must complete at the scheduled time all quizzes, tests, and paper assignments. Late papers receive a lowered grade for each successive class meeting until submitted.

[Suggestion: Start early and hand in papers before the deadline.]

Do not expect to make up missed tests or quizzes. In exceptional circumstances, an alternative assignment can substitute for a missed test (not a quiz), but you will prefer taking a test!

[2] In the words of philosopher Woody Allen, 75% of success consists in showing up. Plan to arrive in class regularly, on time, physically and mentally prepared to learn and participate. Please finish eating and drinking before you enter the class. You are responsible for signing in. After three absences, expect your grade to be negatively affected by 5% for each additional absence. After six absences, assume you will be dropped from the course. Arriving late or leaving class early equals ½ an absence. If you have a one-time problem or special situation, please discuss it with the instructor beforehand if possible. On the other hand, keep in mind the popular office sign: Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

[3] If you are late or absent for any reason, check the schedule below and arrange to contact a classmate or two so you do not fall behind. Check also on the instructors Website for supplemental information.

[4] Grades: Tests will count as a total of 50% of your grade. Quizzes equal 20% of your grade and written assignments count 20%. Attendance and classroom participation make up the remaining 10%.

Specific information about oral and written assignments will be provided in class.

 

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Schedule:

 

 

September 4: First meeting of this class. Introduction, chapter 1: The Ancestors of the West to about 3000 B. C.  (Next class: 9/19)

 

September 11: Out-of-class assignment on Chapter 2 (This class will not meet)

 

September 18: Chapter 2: Ancient Greece; oral reports (on topics from chapters 1 and 2)
Begin chapter 3

 

September 25: Finish chapters 3  (Roman Republic) and 4 (Roman Empire)

 

* October 2: Chapters 5  (The World of Late Antiquity: 300-600) and 6 (Early Medieval Civilization: 600-900) Test last hour on chapters 1-5 (not 6 as first announced)

 

October 9: Chapter 7  (The Expansion of Europe, 900--=1150)

 

October 16: Chapters 8 and 9  (Medieval Civilization at Its Height, 1150-1300, The Transformation of Medieval Civilization, 1300-1500)

 

October 23: Chapter 10  The Renaissance

 

* October 30: Chapter 10  The Renaissance, continued; last hour: test on chapters 7-10

 

November 6:  Chapter 11  Europe, the Old and the New

 

November 13: Chapter 12 The Age of Reformation

 

November 20:  Chapter 13 Europe in the Age of Religious Wars, 1555-16

 

November 27: Chapter 14 Europe in the Age of Louis XIV, 1610-1715

 

December 4: Chapter 15 A Revolution in World View

 

* Final Examinations: December 10-15 Test on chapters 11-15 (date, time, place to be announced)

 

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Essay topics for 10/2 test: Select THREE topics from those listed below.

For each choice, use three or more specific facts to show you

 understand how they relate to Western Civilization:

Quality is more important than quantity.

A good essay does not need to be eternal to be immortal.

Remember to use the Ws (who, what, when, where, why).

Be sure to identify the topic by name before you begin the essay.

[1] Art work of Lascaux, Chauvet, and Altamira

[2] Early Fertile Crescent life such as found in Sumer, Çayönü Tepesi or

Çatal Hüyük

[3] Troys rise and fall, according to Homer and modern archeology

[4] Role of a major pharaoh, such as Amenhotep IV and his religious reforms

[5] Development and functions of the Hebrew Bible

[6] Origins of the Bronze Age and its effects

[7] sources and impacts of the Iron Age

[8] Aegean GreeceMinoan or later Greek art and architecture

[9] Greek city-state governments and relations with each other

[10] social classes in either Greece or Rome 

[11] comparison of rivals Athens and Sparta 

[12] Persian society and its achievements

[13] comparison of two or more Greek philosophers

[14] Greek contributions to scientific thought

[15] Socrates' life

[16] Plato's Utopia

[17] Aristotles life and work

[18] life and work of Pericles

[19] life and work of Alexander the Great 

[20] comparison of urban and rural Greek social and economic life

[21] main events and results of the Peloponnesian War

[22] results of the Persian Wars

[23] achievements of Philip of Macedon and his son Alexander

[24] Etruscan language and culture Punic Wars and results

[25] Greek versus Roman military techniques

[26] comparison of the role of women in at least two different cultures

listed above

[27] key features of Roman architecture and urban life

[28] Romes challenges from Visigoths, Germans, and other barbarians

[29] How Jesus of Nazareth was similar and/or different from other religious

leaders up to his time

[30] Oadacer and the events leading to the fall of Rome in 476 AD 

[31] comparison of the role of women in at least three different cultures

listed above

[32] Clovis and the Franks 

[33] the rise and role of Constantinople

[34] Emperor Justinians life and work

[35] St. Anthony of the Desert, St. Martin of Tours, and the rise of early

Christian monasticism

[36] monasticism after the Rule of Benedict

[37] Early Christian architecture from Constantine to Hagia Sophia

[38] Pick one or more key developments and leaders in the struggle for

Christianity unity: Saul of Tarsus [St. Paul], Nicene Creed, Council of

Chalcedon, monophysites, Gelasius, Augustine, Cassiodorus, Ambrose,

John Chrysostom, et al.

 [39] Pick one of the following and discuss his role in Roman history:

Gaius Gracchus, Gaius Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Augustus Caesar,

Julius Caesar,

Cicero, Diocletian, Constantine, 

[40] Pick one of the following documents and discuss it using the W list from

 the directions above: Hammurabi's code, the Epic of Gilgamesh, Greek

debate on merits of democracy, A Roman's view of the Huns, Caesar on the

Gauls  

[41] Pick one of the following and show that you understand its unique

features and achievements: [a] Indus/Sindh cities: Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa

[b] Ebla [c] Hittites [d] Assyrians [e] Carthage

[42] Pick one of the following and show that you understand its unique

features and achievements of its religion: Sumer/Akkad, Egypt, Persia's

Zorastrianism, Greece, Mystery Religions, Rome

 

Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, Morieris.

 (Now this bell tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die.)

 

Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me, for that child is thereby connected to that head which is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member. And when she buries a man, that action concerns me. All mankind is of one author and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language, and every chapter must be so translated. God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but Gods hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another. As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all; but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness. There was a contention as far as a suit (in which piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled) which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined that they should ring first that rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignity of this bell that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his whose indeed it is. The bell doth toll for him that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute that that occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God. Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? But who takes off his eye from a comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? But who can remove it from that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world?

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were. Any mans death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

 

John Donne: Meditation 17, 1624

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All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers... Each one owes infinitely more to the human race than to the particular country in which he was born. 

 Francois Fenelon, theologian and writer (1651-1715)

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NOTES ON CULTURE, CIVILIZATION and RELIGION

1.                  Culture: A group of people who share kinship, rituals and practices, mores, and a language, It may be mobile or settled, hunter-gatherer, or an agricultural community.

2.                  Civilization: A culture that endures and develops [a] specialization of labor,      [b] complex social organization [c] a fixed territory [d] established celebrations and symbols [e] institutions for maintaining order and defense (codes of law, courts, police, army, navy, etc.) [f] formal methods of preserving its culture and transmitting to youth.

3.                  Earliest known cultures and civilizations show evidence of religious devotions: [a] effigies [b] shrines [c] altars [d] temples [e] possibly in burial practices

4.                  Animism: belief in a mystical spiritual presence in all objectsorganic or inorganictrees, rocks, mountains, rivers, heavenly bodies, etc. Rituals win the favor or reduce the hostility of these worshipped presences.

5.                  Zoroastrianism: Zarathustra, Mazda, modern Parsees of India, differed from other religions of the time: contemplative, intellectual, quiet, emphasis on morals and ethics. Held sacred earth, wind, and fire, leaving no place to dispose of the dead. Settled on towers of silence where bodies were eaten by birds. Ethical dualism recurs in later religions and philosophies: Plato, Neo-Platonists, Manichees, Jewish/Christian/Islamic beliefs to some extent.  Good/bad dichotomy

6.                  Polytheism: Belief in existence of many godsnot necessarily in union with each other. As in animism, rituals reduce hostility or win favor of gods. Elaborate orders of priests and priestesses, sacrifices, ritual prostitution, sales of effigies, etc. arise: Hinduism, Egypt, Hittites

7.                  Monotheism: Belief in one dominant god. Early Judaism seems to emphasis a single supergod over minor deities, but in time only YHWH is the true god and all others are counterfeits to be removed from the land (asherah poles on  high places, sacred groves, etc.holy places to be removed.) In Judaism there was one official priestly tribe (Levi) with men and their families supported by money and animal contributions of the remaining 11 tribes. (spiritual ancestor of modern Judaism, Christianity, and Islam==all people of the book. Briefly, under Amenhotep/Akenhaten Egypt replaced polytheism with monotheism in worship of  a single sun god Aten. Hymns from the time resemble modern liturgies.)

8.                  Hybrids: Worship YHWH, but also other deities of neighbors or conquerors: Baal, Ishtar, etc. (continues today in Catholic areas of Africa and Latin America).

9.                  Origins of the Bible:  Apparently oral traditions from 1500 BC (alluding to earlier timescreation, flood, Garden of Eden, etc.) begin to be written about a unique chosen people beginning with Abram in Ur of the Chaldees (modern Iraq) who migrates through the Fertile Crescent via todays Holy Land and founds two peoples: Israelites and Arabs. The first five books of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) known as the Torah tell the background and early history of Israel, including slavery in Egypt, escape to Sinai for 40 years, conquest of much of Palestine, rejection of God in favor of local idols, punishment by God for idolatry, victories and defeats, faithfulness and heresy. Extensive history records tell about the good and bad of the people. Praise (Psalms) and wisdom literature, short books of prophecy (both foretelling and forth-telling or preaching) finish out the Old Testament. (Major prophets means long books and minor means shorter books).

 

Essay topics for Test #2: Chapters 7-10: October 30, 2002

Pick TWO from this section and ONE from the last section (Renaissance)

g the life and leadership of Muhammad  g establishing and maintaining government under Islam [on or more specific models or caliphates such as Umayyads, Abbasids, Seljuks, or Ottomans] g  achievements of the Golden Age of Islamic civilization

g major Islamic teachings [either Sunni or Shia] including the Five Pillars  g one or more early Christian theological disputes and settlements (possible examples: Arians, Gnostics, Montanists, Pelagians, Donatists, Monophysites, Nicaea council). g  monastic life in the Middle Ages [cite at least one specific model, or compare/contrast two or more such as Benedictines and Cluny]  g the feudal system: how it arose, was organized, and functioned g European knights and chivalry: how they arose, were organized, and functioned g Justinians life and work   gByzantine Christianity (iconoclastic controversies, organization, missions to Slavs, etc.g Discuss changes in the papacy from 900 to 1300 illustrating with three or more popes  g Viking raiders in Britain and/or Russia g  Charlemagnes achievements  g life and contributions of Lindisfarne and/or Iona  g  effects of Norman conquest of Britain  g early Middle Ages life as nasty, brutish, and short  g Jewish life in Europes Middle Ages g  Theodoric the Great g  Carolingian renaissance g Pippin  g Alcuin  g Merovingians g  designs of fortresses and castles  g designs and features of Romanesque and/or Gothic churches  g sieges versus forts and castles g medieval agriculture  g important changes in late Middle Ages from use of horse collars and stirrups g changes in Europe caused by rise of towns  g  typical roles of people and patterns of organization in feudal society of Europe  g chivalry and knighthood  g  plagues and their effects g Specifics that distinguished the life and work of the orders of medieval society: those who work, those who pray, and those who fight g  Discuss with illustrations key features and functions of a typical late medieval castle.

PICK ONE FROM THE FOLLOWING GROUP: g Select a key development or idea of the Renaissance (other than arts) and show how it developed and spread, including one or more key leaders (examples: humanism and dignity of man, rediscovery of classical Greece/Rome, political reform, Erasmus, More, Petrarch, Machiavelli) g Discuss the rise of universities, listing two specific ones and persons associated with each. g Pick one of the major areas of Italian Renaissance arts (examples: painting, literature, sculpture, architecture, music) and discuss three major contributors and specific works g Pick two of the following areas of presenting text and discuss significant developments in each: [a] Carolingian miniscule [b] medieval illuminated manuscripts [c] Gutenbergs press g