A Note on How We Should Approach this Semester

Most generally, I am committed to the principle that my aims as an undergraduate history instructor should be to push (and to help) you to develop the skills, capacities, and modes of interpretation and understanding that will allow you to engage critically with the human past, the traces it has left, the ever-renewing knowledge we have of it, and its meanings for our present.  My role is that of a ‘coach,’ not a performer playing a show or a talking head telling you what’s what (although sometimes I will suggest my understandings of that too).  With this approach, you will without doubt learn more and develop abilities that are useful in other settings more fully than if I simply lectured and asked you to repeat that material on exams, and you will likely find what we do more interesting too. However, for this approach to work, we all need to commit ourselves to meeting the following expectations:


1.  Do the course reading (and especially the discussion reading) on a timely basis. You absolutely must complete it before the class in which we are discussing it and (if relevant) the deadline for making a related forum post (if you can finish it even earlier and thus have a bit more time to think about it, that’s even better).  At times this course will involve a significant amount of out-of-class reading.  I know that this may be a challenge for some of you, but we collectively need an ample amount of solid material to work with to make our discussions meaningful.  Also, do know that with practice you will develop your abilities to deal with larger amounts of reading in limited time frames.  If you wish, we can talk more about how to do the reading and the kinds of things you should be looking for in doing it in class.

2.  When you are present, be present.  We should make the most of the 2 ½ hours we meet each week to engage with the course materials and learn together.  During that time, we should all be focused on that effort and not other things such as checking social media, catching up on e-mail, studying for other courses or whatever else may distract us from the matters at hand.  Doing otherwise is disrespectful to the other members of the class, including me.  As such, if you really, really need to be doing something else, just don’t come to class.

3.  Maintain a respectful, professional tone in your responses, but don’t be afraid to experiment with ideas and interpretations out of fear that they may be controversial (just work on clearly expressing your reasoning).  On this note, I think our discussions will function best if we all work on the assumption that each of us is openly and forthrightly attempting to grapple with the complexities and ambiguities of our shared human past and its relationship to our present (and as such that the things we say and write are never intended to harm or to insult).  Engaging with that past often forces us to look at the many horrid and ugly things that humans have done to and thought about (and continue to do to and think about) one another, which can be a difficult and painful experience.  Frank and open discussion is the best way both to seek to understand that past and to forge civil and tolerant ways of interacting and living with it and one another in the present.

4.  Give credit where credit is due and be sure that all work you hand in is your own.  Not only does plagiarism, unauthorized use of Artificial Intelligence, or any other form of cheating defeat the whole purpose of going to university to learn and to improve one’s abilities, it undermines the basic trust any community needs to learn and work together. 

5.  Try not to be too nervous about grades.  We learn through practice, we all fall short of our aims sometimes, and we sometimes learn more from falling short than anything else.  I purposefully keep many assignments fairly open in terms of the types of topics and arguments you may develop to give you the freedom to present your ideas and sharpen your abilities, and such freedom always entails risks.  Know that I put mechanisms in place to weigh the improvement that you make over the course into the calculation of your final course grade.

6.  Keep lines of communication open.  Please know that the ways in which I structure classroom sessions and on-line discussion activities in this syllabus remain experimental and may change.  Please share your thoughts on them and feel free to suggest approaches, ways of organizing discussions (in-person or on-line), or other activities that you believe may help you and your classmates to better engage with the course material.  I cannot neglect my responsibility to set the rules for the game that is our course in ways that I believe best assure both academic rigor and fairness across the class, but you can be assured that I will value and carefully consider any suggestions you may make. More generally, if you have questions or concerns regarding any matters relating to the course, please do feel free to share them with me. 

In successfully completing this course, you should:

     Cultivate an understanding of the most important themes and developments of Western history from prehistory to the 16th century CE;
     Develop an awareness of some of the more important modes of analysis that historians use to reconstruct and interpret the past.

You should work on developing (and improving) the following skills:

     Critical analysis of primary sources;
     Critical analysis of scholarly arguments;
     Developing well-reasoned, well-supported arguments;
     Communicating your arguments effectively in writing and oral discussion.

Course Readings

The textbook reading (Noble et al) complements our discussions and lectures by providing you with further contextual information and different interpretations of past events. You should try do the textbook reading for the day it is assigned, and this is especially important if you have not studied these topics previously. The books should be available at the Almost Corner Bookshop (Via del Moro, 45).

All other readings provide the basis for our classroom discussions. You must read and think about those assigned for a particular class period.  Otherwise, you will be unable to participate adequately and your participation grade will suffer. You should also bring this material to class on the days that we are discussing it.

Please note that in using on-line primary sources I am not necessarily endorsing the more general content and intent of the websites on which they are found.

Important Course Policies

All assignments should be handed in as hard copies in class and electronically through the Moodle portal for the assignment--I encourage you to double-check on the Moodle to be sure that work has been submitted after you believe you have done so.  If for some reason it is not working, send them to me as e-mail attachments.

 All late work will suffer a grade penalty. No late work will be accepted following the final examination.

 Any documented case of academic dishonesty on any assignment will result in a failing grade for the assignment in question and may also result in a failing grade for the course as a whole, regardless of the assignment's weight in terms of the final course grade. Please remember that, as the University's policy states, "Plagiarism can be deliberate or negligent; students are responsible for ensuring that any work submitted with their name on it is properly referenced."  If you have questions about how to cite material properly, refer to the appropriate sections of the MLA Style Manual or Chicago Manual of Style--if you have questions as to whether particular pieces of material should be cited, ask me. Note that submitting work that you have previously submitted (or plan to submit) for credit in another course is also a form of academic dishonesty, unless you obtain explicit approval from both instructors to do so. For this course, no such double submission is allowed. Please note that your papers are to be submitted to turnitin.com to check their content for plagiarism.  I am setting up the turintin submission options so that you can see the similarity reports the service generates and resubmit your papers up until the due date.

 Academic Honesty Policy—Generative Artificial Intelligence Update

 The University’s Academic Integrity policies were recently updated to include “[t]he unauthorized use of generative AI” as one of the forms that academic dishonesty can take.  In light of this change, here are the policies for this course regarding generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT). The use of generative AI for the direct composition of course assignments (e.g., papers and exam essays) is not permitted.  Simply put, your papers and essays should not include text generated by Artificial Intelligence unless that text is placed in quotation marks and identified as such.  Any papers handed in that appear to contain unauthorized AI generated text (as detected by detection software or otherwise) will not receive a grade and cannot be used to fulfill course requirements.  As the detection software can produce 'false positives,' in such cases you will be allowed to write an additional paper or revised draft to fulfill those requirements.  Depending on the specifics of the individual cases, a late penalty may be applied to additional papers handed in for these reasons.

 Other uses of AI (e.g., as “idea generators,” bibliographic or source-finding assistants, etc.) are strongly discouraged as they will likely limit the fuller development of the skills, capacities, and habits of mind that constitute some of the primary aims and benefits of university education, but do not necessarily fall into the category of “unauthorized use.”  If you do use generative AI in any of these or other manners, however, you must identify that you have done so explicitly in the paper or exam essay in question.

 Similarly, I strongly discourage you from using advanced grammar and style correctors (e.g., Grammarly).  While I will regularly note errors in terms of style, grammar, and so forth in your writing, my doing so does not significantly affect the grade you receive for assignments so long as your thought, the general arrangement of your argument, and your points are clear (and you push yourself to improve over time).  Using AI-based correction software can prevent you from receiving such feedback and as such keep you from being able to develop your writing skills.  In the case that you do still make use of such software, you must explicitly identify that you did so and hand in a copy of what you wrote before having the software "fix" it.  If you do not do this and either the University's detection software or my reading of the piece suggests a likelihood that it was produced by generative AI, the work will not be counted towards completing course requirements (see above).

 Office Hours, Scheduling Appointments, E-mail Guidance, and So Forth

 My office hours are by appointment--to set one up, simply e-mail me or ask me just after class.  My office is on the Frohring/ex-Tiber Roof.

 Please know that I do not normally respond to e-mails during the weekend or after 6:30 p.m. (but feel free to write me whenever you wish--I'll respond as soon as I can the next week or the next day).  We all need to set aside time to work on other things, disconnect, recharge, and 'stay human.'  I encourage you to do the same in ways that work with your schedule and try to do what I can to provide you with as much flexibility as possible in structuring out-of-class activities.

Course Schedule (Please note that the following is subject to change--any updates will be made directly to the course Moodle page.  All discussion readings (except Bartlett's The Hanged Man) are accessible on the course Moodle page.)

9/2 Introductions--"Civilization?" and From Prehistory to History: Agriculture, Cities, Mesopotamia and Egypt Part I

Noble, Preface

FOR DISCUSSION: "Definitions of 'Civilization'"

 9/4 From Prehistory to History: Agriculture, Cities, Mesopotamia and Egypt Part II

Noble, Ch. 1

FOR DISCUSSION: “The Penitential Prayer to Every God,” “The Hymn to the Nile Flood,” and “The Negative Confession from The Book of Coming Forth By Day")

9/9 Mesopotamia and Egypt—Environment, Culture, and Politics

FOR DISCUSSION: “The Penitential Prayer to Every God;” “The Hymn to the Nile Flood;” and “The Negative Confession from The Book of Coming Forth By Day)

9/11 Monotheism’s Origins—Hebrews and other Near Eastern Peoples

Noble, Ch. 2

FOR DISCUSSION: Excerpts from Exodus, and Jeremiah, Books 7-8

9/16 The Ancient Greeks and their Neighbors

Noble, Ch. 3

FOR DISCUSSION: “Greeks and Non-Greeks in the Ancient Mediterranean”

9/18 Right, Might, Philosophy, and the Gods in Classical Athens

FOR DISCUSSION:  Thucydides, “Pericles’ Funeral Oration and The Melian Dialogue;” “Accounts of Hellenic Religious Beliefs;” Plato, The Apology (Excerpts)

9/23 The First World Conqueror’s World—Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World

Noble, Ch. 4

FOR DISCUSSION: TBA

9/25 Greeks and Non-Greeks in the Hellenistic World

FOR DISCUSSION: “The Hellenistic Encounter With The East”

9/26 (OFFICIAL FRIDAY MAKE-UP) and 9/30 Rome from City-State to World Empire

Noble, Chs. 5-6

FOR DISCUSSION: Livy, “The Rape of the Sabine Women;” Livy, “The Rape of Lucretia;” “Primary Sources for Gladitorial Games”

10/2 Monotheism, Part 2—The Rise of Christianity in the Roman World

FOR DISCUSSION: “The Sermon on the Mount;” Galatians 3:15-19; “Documents on the Persecution of Christians”

10/7 Monotheism, Part 2 Continued—Christianity from Illegal to Imperial Religion

FOR DISCUSSION: “Documents on the Persecution of Christians;” Augustine, “Account of His Own Conversion;” Augustine, “Excerpts from The City of God;” Jerome, “Letter to a Soldier;” Tertullian, “On Pagan Learning”

10/9 Where does the “West” Begin?—The Black Athena Debate and Beyond

FOR DISCUSSION: Noble, “Preface;” Bernal, “Review: Not Out of Africa;” Lefkowitz, “Response to Bernal;” Lenz, “Review of Black Athena Vol. II;” Primary Sources for the Debate

 10/14 MIDTERM EXAM

10/16 Transitions—The Fall of Rome? Barbarians?

Noble, Ch. 7

FOR DISCUSSION: Tacitus, “Excerpts from Germania;” “Letters of Sidonius,” “Priscus at the Court of Attila”

10/21 Rome’s Heirs, Part I—Islamdom and the Byzantine Empire

Noble Ch. 8

FOR DISCUSSION: Excerpts from the Qu’ran; “The Pact of Umar;” “The Christianization of Russia;” TBA

10/23 Rome’s Heirs, Part II—Germanic Kingdoms, the Carolingians, and the Birth of Latin Christendom

FOR DISCUSSION: Einhard, “The Life of Charlemagne (Excerpts);” TBA

10/28 More Invasions and the Development of Feudal Rule

Noble, Ch. 9

FOR DISCUSSION: “Annals of Xanten, 845-853;” Fulbert of Chartres, “On Feudal Obligations;” “Fief Ceremonies”

Start Reading Bartlett, The Hanged Man

10/30 The Sword and the Staff—Latin Christian Monarchies and the Church

FOR DISCUSSION: Henry IV, “Letter to Gregory VII;” Gregory VII, “Letter to Henry IV; ”Charter of Liberties of Henry I, 1100;” “Constitutions of Clarendon;” Roger of Hoveden, “The Order of Coronation of Richard I”

Continue Reading Bartlett, The Hanged Man

11/4 Latin Christendom on the March—The Crusades

FOR DISCUSSION: Urban II, “Speech at Clermont 1095;” Soloman bar Samson, “The Crusaders in Mainz;” Anna Comnena, “The Bad Manners of a Crusading Prince;” Fulcher of Chartres, “The Latins in the East;” Usmah Ibn Munqidh, “Autobiography, excerpts on the Franks”

Continue Reading Bartlett, The Hanged Man

11/6 Cathedrals and Universities—The “High Culture” of Latin Christendom

Noble, Ch. 10

FOR DISCUSSION: Robert de Courçon, “Statutes for the University of Paris;” Frederick II, “Lictere Generales;” “Courses in Theology and Medicine;” Peter Abelard, “From Sic et Non;” Jacques de Vitry, “Life of the Students at Paris;” “Medieval Students’ Songs”

Continue Reading Bartlett, The Hanged Man

11/11 Miracles and Memory—A Different Look at Latin Christian Culture

FOR DISCUSSION:  Robert Bartlett, The Hanged Man

SHORT PAPER ON BARTLETT, THE HANGED MAN DUE BEGINNING OF CLASS

11/13 Times of Trouble—The “Great” Schism, the Black Death, and the 100 Years’ War

Noble, Ch. 11

FOR DISCUSSION: Boccaccio, “The Decameron—Introduction;” “The Black Death and the Jews 1348-1349 CE”

11/18 Times of Transition—Renaissance Humanism and Changing Views of the Past

Noble, Ch. 12

FOR DISCUSSION: Petrarch, “Letters to Cicero;” Vergerius, “The New Education;” Machiavelli, “The Ancients and Liberty”

11/20 Latin Christendom on the March, Part II—Columbus, Vasco de Gama and the Quest for the “Indies”

Noble Ch. 13

FOR DISCUSSION: TBA

11/25 Worlds Colliding—Latin Christendom and the New Worlds of the 16th Century

FOR DISCUSSION: Columbus, “Extracts from Journal;” Sepulveda, Democrates Secundus (Excerpts); Las Casas, In Defense of the Indians (Excerpts); Montaigne, “Of Cannibals (Excerpts)”

12/2 The Fall of Christendom?—The Reformation

Noble, Ch. 14

FOR DISCUSSION:  Martin Luther, “Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation”

12/4 Latin Christendom Challenged—Religious Schism, Witch Scares, and the Ottoman Turks

Noble, Ch. 14

FOR DISCUSSION: “Challenges to Christendom in Reformation Europe”

 FINAL EXAM DATE TBA