World Civilizations

1. World Civilizations Dr. Steven Hardin Spring 2012 s.hardin@uta.edu x4-4856

2. World CivilizationsHIST 1307 • .01 • MWF 8:00am-8:50am LOGAN 219 • .07 • MWF 1:00pm-1:50pm LOGAN 117 • .09 • TR 9:00am-10:25am PATTERSON LH • OFFICE HOURS MW 10:00am-11:00am TR 1:00pm-2:00pm LOGAN 320a

3. Day One: • Course / Professor Introduction • Course Outline (Syllabus) • Textbook Requirements • Campus Policy • ADA statement

4. WORLD CIVILIZATIONGOALS: • a chronological survey of the development of world civilizations from prehistory to 1500, with attention to the interaction between these civilizations;

5. an introduction to major historical periods and a synopsis of the distinguishing political, social, economic, and geographical characteristics of each;

6. an introduction to the major achievements in art, architecture, culture, and intellectual life of each civilization; • an introduction to history as a field of academic study;

7. an appreciation of the relevance of the study of history for the contemporary world, with an emphasis on the historical foundation of current world developments.

8. an introduction to resources on the World Wide Web for the study of history and world civilizations.

9. REQUIRED ATTENDANCE • Students are expected to attend every class, beginning with the first day. Absence from class, no matter what the cause, does not excuse a student from any course requirements. Make-up work is at the discretion of the instructor. Excessive absences will adversely effect a student's course grade and the instructor may encourage a student with excessive absences to withdraw from the class and/or seek assistance from on-campus resources.  Attendance will be taken.Cell phones should be turned off while in class.

10. GRADING

11. REACTION PAPERS10% • There will be a total of SIX reaction papers written outside of classtime for this course, two per unit. The questions answered for these essays will help prepare you for the exams. The papers will cover 2-3 chapters each. Reaction papers will be worth 10% of the students final grade.

12. RESEARCH PAPER30% • There will be one in-depth research paper assigned, the topic of the students choosing, though must go along with HIST 1307 course materials. There will be a variety of grades to coincide with the assignment. The research project as a [whole] will be worth 30% of the students grade.

13. EXAMSworth 30% • There will be three tests and an final examination, each consisting of short answer, matching, and multiple-choice questions. Tests will cover both the assigned readings and the material discussed in class. At the beginning of each unit of study, a list of the important names, terms, events, and so on will be distributed; test items will be drawn from this study sheet. Make-up tests will be given only if the student notifies the instructor in advance of an assigned test date; make-up tests [of the original test] must be taken before the next scheduled class meeting.  • Make-up tests taken after the class meeting following the original test will consist of twenty identification questions. Approximate test dates may be found on the Course Outline.

14. FINAL EXAM30% • Will be CUMULATIVE of all information covered throughout the entire course. The exam will be approx. 200 questions and will be multiple choice. There will be no makeup times assigned for this exam, unless in extreme situations at Dr. Hardins discretion.

15. CHEATING / PLAGIRISM • In brief, do NOT do this. Cheating is any act that "defrauds, deceives or employs trickery" in order to obtain credit for work which has not been completed. Plagiarization is the act of "passing off the ideas of another as one's own work." Anyone who cheats or plagiarizes will receive a penalty as provided for in the UTA Academic Integrity Policy

16. QUICK GLANCE • A. Introduction • 1. Why should a student study history • B. Prehistory • C. Mesopotamia • D. Egypt • E. Persia • F. The Hebrew Civilization • G. Ancient Indian Civilization • H. Ancient Chinese Civilization • I. Ancient Greece • J. The Hellenistic Civilization • K. Roman civilization • L. The Beginnings of Europe • M. Islamic Society

17. PART II OF COURSE… • N. Indian Civilization in its Golden Age • O. China to the Mongols • P. Ancient Japan • Q. Southeast Asia • R. Africa’s Beginnings • S. The America’s before Columbus • T. The Medieval Age • U. The Dawn of Globalization (The Beginnings of the Age of Exploration)

18. ADA STATEMENT • Students with Documented Disabilities: Any student with a documented disability needing academic adjustments should  speak directly to Disability Support Services and the instructor during the first two weeks of class week. All discussions will remain confidential.  This syllabus is available in alternative formats upon request.  For assistance, please contact Mary Helen Walker, Disability Support Services, D. F. Lowry Building (910.521.6695) or visit the Office of Disability Support Services web site.

19. UNIT ONE: & PRE HISTORY MESOPETAMIA CHAPTER ONE & TWO

20. ANCIENT MESOPETAMIA

21. The "book shelf" was excavated at Sippar, an ancient city of North Babylon on the Euphrates in present Iraq, 20 miles (32km) SW of  Baghdad. It was one of the capitals of Sargon and had a great temple to the sungod, Shamash. Excavations begun in 1882 have yielded thousands of inscribed tablets, many of which have yet to be deciphered.  Preparing and maintaining the records of Babylon requires many scribes and so we have a school to train them.

22. The Sumerians Sumerians are very conscious about their civilization and held a high opinion of it. The urban revolution starting around 3100 BC has impressed the Sumerians themselves. It was a heroic age. The circumstances in those times are a source for many myths and legends. An epic tradition started with heroic poems going back to real social phenomena. In origin historical events (at least in part) are chanted and told from generation to generation, adding and deleting with literary freedom. Many centuries later stories from oral tradition were written down, usually schematically and as loose fragments. Still later (a millennium, in the Old Babylonian period, 19th century BC) the fragments were arranged and composed into complete epics. They got standardized into canonical literature, when they were written and copied by generations of scribes (often in schools). There is a general analogy with other 'heroic ages' in later times, (Homer, the Indian Maghabharata, the Germanic Heroic age). The similarity probably shows a common political and social structure. 

23. The Sumerian epic bear witness to a political structure in which a leader as king of a city or small state (city with subordinate cities) maintains hegemony by personal courage. The king has a retinue of armed and loyal supporters. Kings of different city states are in competition, but basically have a good relation. They form an aristocracy, separated from ordinary people. The divine world is structured in a similar way. 

24. Sumerian King Lists: (Sumerian) nam.lugal meaning `kingship' with lugal `king', the sign nam introduces an abstract noun in Sumerian (and later in Akkadian compound logograms). These lists are composed in the 22th century BC, many centuries after the times they refer to. The opening line of the text is: `When kingship was lowered from heaven, the kingship was in Eridu.' Because of this, kingship is seen as an institution that is shared by different cities. Each city takes its turn during a certain period. The Sumerian sign for `government' or `year(s) of government' is the same sign for `turn', bala taken as loan word by the Akkadians as palû. It is written with the sign BAL which in later New Assyrian orthography is .

25. The First Cities (Jemdet Nasr) The urban revolution, the building of the first cities, took place in 3100-2900 BCE in the transition from prehistory to history. The change in human settlement pattern from isolated settlements to larger village communities, described before, continued. The dry climate at the end of the 4th millennium now allowed habitation of the great plains in the extreme south of Mesopotamia, the area later called Sumer. Inadequate rainfall stimulated the continuing development of irrigation works. The production of bronze, an alloy of copper and other metals, mainly tin, allows the manufacturing of new weapons, for which protection was sought by the construction of fortifications around the villages and walls around cities.