Description

This course provides an introduction to the Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome. The class first examines the formation of urban centers and the evolution of civilization as the late Bronze Age world transforms into the Iron Age with the creation of the vast empires such as Assyria and Achaemenid Persia. The course then focuses on the development of Greek city-states and the ideological differences between Athens and Sparta with a brief exploration of Classical Greed culture. Finally the class looks at the conquests of Alexander and his successors in the East, and the development of Rome as it shaped and was shaped by the cultures it conquered. The course requires short analytical papers, exams, and historical analysis of primary sources.