History 300-315, The Ancient World and Medieval Europe

 

HIS 300/Topics in Ancient History or Medieval European History

(periodically)
Focuses on differing topics of historical significance having to do with Ancient history or Medieval European history. This course may be repeated for credit when the topic changes. May fulfill departmental distribution requirements.

Liberal Learning:

• VARIES

 

HIS 301/Classical Greek Civilization

(periodically)
Investigation into the development of Classical Greek civilization, beginning with Homer and going through the Peloponnesian Wars.

 

HIS 302/Hellenistic World

(periodically)
Investigation into the disintegration of the Classical Greek world and the emergence of successor civilizations in the Hellenistic Era.

Liberal Learning:

• SOCIAL CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

 

HIS 303/History of the Roman Republic

(periodically)
Development of Rome from one of the ancient Italian city states to a position of mastery over Italy and the Mediterranean World.

Liberal Learning:

• SOCIAL CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

 

HIS 304/History of the Roman Empire

(periodically)
The Roman imperial system at its height and its ultimate decline and/or transformation after the third century C.E.

Liberal Learning:

• SOCIAL CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES & CIVIC RESPONSIBILITIES
• SOCIAL CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES, RACE/ETHNIC & GLOBAL

 

HIS 305/Ancient Christianity

(periodically)
The first of a two-course sequence, HIS 305 examines the origins and expansion of Christianity from the first through the end of the fifth century C.E. Topics include the historical Jesus; the Christianizing of the Roman Empire; the cult of saints; artistic developments; Christianity in India and East Asia; Christian relations with non-Christian populations; and Christianity’s impact on marginal groups such as the poor, women, children, Jews, and homosexuals. The successor course is HIS 313/Medieval Christianity.

Liberal Learning:

• WORLD VIEWS AND WAYS OF KNOWING
• SOCIAL CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

 

HIS 306/History of the Byzantine World

(periodically)
An investigation of the late Roman Empire and its evolution into the Byzantine world, 4th
to the 12th centuries.

Liberal Learning:

• SOCIAL CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES & CIVIC RESPONSIBILITIES
• GLOBAL

 

HIS 307/Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Premodern World

(periodically)
An examination of the interaction of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim peoples and politics in the West from the development of the Jesus movement within the milieu of 1st-century Judaism, through the rise of Islam, and down to the post-French Revolutionary religious settlement.

 

HIS 308/Late Antiquity

(periodically)
Tracing the breakdown of Mediterranean unity and the emergence of the multicultural-religious world of the 5th to 10th centuries as the European, West Asian, and North African hinterlands interact.

Liberal Learning:

• SOCIAL CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

 

HIS 309/Ancient Near East

(periodically)
A survey of the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Phoenicia, Assyria, and Persia. The course will focus on critical elements such as religion, writing and literature, agriculture and trade, weaponry and warfare, government, and advances in knowledge. Special attention will be given to the role of archaeology in understanding ancient history.

 

HIS 311/The Early Rome and Barbarianism in the Early Middle Ages

(periodically)
The first in a two-course sequence, HIS 311 examines western Eurasia and the Mediterranean from the third to the ninth century C.E. Topics include the “fall” of Rome; the impact of contacts between Roman and “barbarian” populations (Huns, Vandals, Goths, etc.); barbarian society and culture; artistic developments; relations among Christians, Jews, Muslims, and pagans. Attention is drawn to marginal social groups (e.g., the poor and women) as well as the dominant male elites.

Liberal Learning:

• SOCIAL CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

 

HIS 312/Medieval Culture and Society

(periodically)
The second in a two-course sequence, HIS 312 examines the transformation of western Eurasia and the Mediterranean in the ninth through 15th centuries C.E. Topics include the evolution of European social, political, religious, and cultural institutions; artistic developments; the Vikings; the Crusades; European travel to Africa, eastern Asia, the New World; the Black Death. Attention is drawn to marginal social groups (e.g. the poor and women) as well as the dominant male elites.

Liberal Learning:

• SOCIAL CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
• GENDER
  

 

HIS 313/Medieval Christianity

(periodically)
The second of a two-course sequence, following HIS 305/Ancient Christianity. HIS 313 investigates the transformation of Christian culture and institutions, in western Eurasia and the Mediterranean, from the sixth century C.E. to the end of the Middle Ages. Topics include the growth of papal power; relations between church and state; Christian relations with non-Christian populations; the cult of saints; the Crusades; and mysticism. Attention is given to Christianity’s impact on marginal groups such as the poor, women, children, Jews, and homosexuals.

Liberal Learning:

• SOCIAL CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

 

HIS 314/Medieval Women

(periodically)
An examination of the changing situations of European women from late Antiquity to the Renaissance, a period when Europe changed from a unified, polytheistic society focused on the Mediterranean to a group of incipient nation-states, overwhelmingly Christian, characterized by a rise in urbanism, by looser social bonds, and by the need to respond to the challenges presented by Islam in the Middle East. Explores how the social, political, and legal structures that evolved in this period affected European women’s lives and relations between the sexes.

Liberal Learning:

• SOCIAL CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES & CIVIC RESPONSIBILITIES

 

HIS 315/Early Russia to 1584

(periodically)
This course examines the history of early Russia from the formation of the first medieval states in eastern Europe beginning in ca. 500 C.E., through the Kievan Rus’ (ca. 850–1240), Mongol-Appanage (ca. 1240–1380), and early Muscovite (ca. 1380–1500) eras to the death of Ivan the Terrible in 1584.

Liberal Learning:

• SOCIAL CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES