History 310: The Ancient World

Updated for Spring, 1998 Semester
Instructor: Ronald Legon

Course Overview:

The Ancient World is a survey of the civilizations of the Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome, with an emphasis on the development of cities and urban-based cultures. Other themes will be the development of religion, philosophy and the arts. The course will conclude by exploring factors in the rise and decline of civilizations. Textbook assignments will be supplemented by primary text readings, videotapes, World Wide Web explorations, and a visit to the antiquities collection of the Walters Art Gallery.

Required Reading:

[Nagle] D. Brendan Nagle, The Ancient World; A Social and Cultural History, 3rd edition, 1996, Prentice Hall

[Bailkey] Nels M. Bailkey, Readings in Ancient History, 5th edition, 1996, D. C. Heath and Co.

Master List of Web Sites Related to Ancient History.

Additional Assignments:

Students will be required to complete the following two (2) projects:

• World Wide Web Project.
  The project will be to write a report on a relevant topic using WWW resources.
  

Walters Art Gallery Visit and Treasure Hunt.
There will be a class visit to the Walters Art Gallery to see the Near Eastern, Greek and Roman antiquities. Students will be required to submit a two-three page typed, double-spaced essay on the experience, commenting on the most interesting object they saw. Students unable to visit the museum with the class may visit at their own convencience. These students will be required to complete a treasure hunt in the museum and submit their discoveries in a typed essay.

Grading

• Mid term examination = 25%
• Web Project = 20%
• Walters Gallery Assignment = 10%
• Participation in Class and on Web Board = 10%
• Final Examination = 35%

Advising

I am available to meet with students by appointment, Monday through Friday between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. in my office, Room 249 Academic Center. Please arrange for an appointment by calling 837-5244 (from a campus phone, dial extension 5244). I will also respond within one working day to any queries about course assignments, absences, etc. via e-mail at: rlegon@UBmail.ubalt.edu

Web Board: Closed for the Semester

Messages posted to this board will be available to all students in History 310. You may access the board and send messages to the board by entering your user id (your first initial and your last name, e.g., rlegon) and your password (the last four [4] digits of your ssn). On a weekly basis, I will post a discussion question on the board and in this space. Students are encouraged to respond to the question and to eachother's contributions. Participation is voluntary.

Syllabus:

• Introduction to the Course; Human Origins, Prehistory and the Agricultural Revolution. No Readings. WWW sites for palaeolithic life: Flints and Stones recreates a stone age society; and Palaeolithic Cave Paintings from Vallon exhibit palaeolithic art. For information on the making of stone tools, see The Prehistory of Flintknapping. Many neolithic sites may be explored via the WWW. A useful index is available through ArchNet and the ABZU list of archaeological sites. One particularly significant site is Catal Huyuk. For students who want to explore further, additional sources on the Old Stone Age (Palaeolithic) and the New Stone Age (Neolithic) may be found on the WWW Archaeology (ArchNet) and ABZU.
  
• The Early Civilization of Mesopotamia and Egypt
  Readings: Nagle, pp. 1-33; Bailkey, pp. 3-55. On the WWW, see The Marki Project,. Read John Heise's description of the Cuneiform writing system and Serge Rosmorduc's Introduction to Hieroglyphics. Also read sections I, IV, V and VI of the Enuma Elish.
  
• An Age of Empires: The Middle East, 2000-1000 B. C.
  Readings: Nagle, pp. 34-53; Bailkey, pp. 56-69. Among the sites displaying Egyptian architecture and art, are Period and Style for Designers - Egypt , the Color Tour of Egypt, and Visuals and Images. Make a Pilgrimage to Abydos, and explore other Egyptian material in Resources for the History of Ancient Egypt or in NM's Creative Impulse - Egypt. Interested students may trace The Early History of the Indo-European Languages, and examine a Family Tree of these languages.
  
• The Middle East in the First Millennium B. C.: The Assyrian and Persian Empires, Phoenicia and Israel Readings, Nagle, pp. 54-76; Bailkey, pp. 70-120. Comparative study of various translations of the Old Testament is possible through the the WWW Bible Gateway. See the Iron Age site for WWW materials related to the second and first millennia B. C. in the Near East. Materials relating to Assyria may be found at Stolen Stones, and some photographs of Persian materials may be found in Images of Ancient Iran.
  
• The Emergence of Greek Civilization.
  Readings: Nagle, pp. 77-122; Bailkey, pp. 127-185. The architecture and art of the Minoans on Crete may be explored at Period and Style - Minos, and Mycenaean art and archaeology at Period and Style - Mycenae.
  
• The Wars of the Greeks.
  Readings: Nagle, pp. 123-144; Bailkey, pp. 120-123 and 185-242.
  
• Classical Athens.. Readings: Nagle, pp. 145-188; Bailkey, pp. 242-284. Consult the following WWW sites for visual materials related to Classical Greek culture: Period and Style, Greek and Byzantine Architecture, Greek Art (mostly pottery paintings), and Perseus.
  

---

• MID-TERM EXAMINATION - March 19, 1998

---

• Philip, Alexander, and the Hellenistic World. Readings: Nagle, pp. 189-241; Bailkey, pp. 284-316. One recent major archaeological discovery is the presumptive tomb of Philip II in the ancient Macedonian capital of Vergina. See Vergina Aigai and The Treasure of Vergina.
  
• Early Rome and the Building of an Empire.
  Readings: Nagle, pp. 242-298; Bailkey, pp. 321-348. Read Warfare and Tactics of the Roman Army , which explains one of the major factors in Rome's success. The Roman colony of Puteoli may be visited at the Rione Terra website.
  
• The Transformation of the Roman Republic.
  Readings: Nagle, pp. 299-331; Bailkey, pp. 348-414.
  
• The Roman World from Augustus to the Third Century Crisis.
  Readings: Nagle, pp. 332-347; Bailkey, pp. 415-442. The monuments of Imperial Rome may be viewed in Period and Style and The Roman Empire. Images of the Roman emperors may be viewed at the Twelve Caesars
• The Roman Peace and the Rise of Christianity.
  Readings: Nagle, pp. 348-380; Bailkey, pp. 442-512. Compare the tenets and organization of Christianity to that of Mithraism. See also the web site on Roman Life Expectancy Imperial life may be sudied through the extensive remains of Pompey displayed in the following web sites: The Pompey Forum Project, the Unguided Tour of Pompey, and Period and Style. Sites throughout the Empire may be founds through ROMARCH, and, for Britain, through the Athena Review's list of Romano-British Sites and Museums.
  
• From the Third Century Crisis to the Collapse and Transformation of the Empire. Readings: Nagle, pp. 381-425; Bailkey, pp. 512-527. Read these excerpts from Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
  

---

Final Examination, Thursday, May 21, 1998 at 5:30 P.M.

Consult the Study Guide

---

Ronald Legon

University of Baltimore
1420 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201-5779
Tel: (410) 837-5244
Fax: (410) 837-5249
e-mail: rlegon@ubmail.ubalt.edu

---

Return to Legal, Ethical, and Historical Studies Page

Return to University of Baltimore Home Page