Announcements

Midterm Exam review sheet posted

3 October 2026

The midterm review sheet is now available on the Exams page, either as a web page or as a PDF. The first page details the content and structure of the midterm, which will cover everything up through the prior class meeting, October 8. (There is no class meeting on Tuesday, October 13.)

The midterm exam will be held in person on Thursday, October 15 in our normal meeting room and class period. Please arrive on time. You will only have the normal class period (from 3:00 to 4:15 p.m.) to take the exam. Please note: You must attend and take the exam in person on October 15. I do not give make-up exams except in the case of a documented medical/family emergency.

The review sheet is not designed to be a list of answers so much as questions you can use to guide you toward the areas you want to focus on in your review. As you read through the questions on the review sheet, group those you have a sense of how you might answer as having a lower priority for review than those questions you’re not sure how you would answer. The ones you’re less sure of, you’d then want to go back and spend some time reviewing, using your notes, the readings, the videos, quiz notes, and class discussions.

Also note that the terms are a useful way of finding concepts you need to go back and review, so I’d advise stepping through the terms at the end of each topic and making sure you have a sense of what they mean and why we’re studying them.

To prepare for the written portions, I suggest that you focus on the main themes of the course as discussed in the first meeting and the welcome video—individual/community, mortal/divine, male/female, city/empire—and think about possible questions that relate to those topics across the cultures and peoples we’ve explored. As you prepare, you can sketch out a question about (for example) ancient peoples and their gods and three similar or contrasting examples of societies that show what the gods meant to the ancients.

We will discuss further in class. Please come to class with questions about anything you’re not sure of or want to hear more about.

Link to Exams page

Welcome to Week 6!

3 October 2026

This week we’re talking about the Persians and taking a look at some of the ancient cultures of South and East Asia.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. Did the Neo-Assyrians and the Persians have anything in common apart from being empires? What do you think were the most important keys to the success of the Persian empire a century or so later?

This course focuses on the Mediterranean, but after the exam we’re taking a side trip to ancient Asia this week as well. Why did the Greeks romanticize the Scythian barbarians? Is it a coincidence that the same kinds of things are happening in the Indus valley as are happening in Mesopotamia and along the Nile? What jumps out at you about the culture and religion of ancient South and East Asia?

Make sure to look over the review sheet and come to class with questions about the exam and the places and peoples we've discussed so far.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and reactions. See you Tuesday!

Link to Schedule page

Welcome to Week 5!

27 September 2026

This week comes the dawn of the Iron Age, which we see first in Canaan—now that it’s not being warred over by the surrounding Bronze Age empires, the lands along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean are free to develop their own strength and economic reach. And they’re very characteristic of how the Iron Age differs from the Bronze Age. We’re focusing on three very distinct peoples who are rivals for land and independence in early Iron Age Canaan: the Phoenicians, the Philistines, and the Hebrews.

Why is the Iron Age so different, do you think? Why does a shift to iron matter so much? What do you think most sets apart a trade empire like that of the Phoenicians from the empires of the Bronze Age we discussed? What do you think are the biggest factors in the Hebrews being able to create their own state in Canaan despite huge disadvantages? How does religion factor into the story?

After visiting the peoples of Canaan we’ll encounter the Iron Age empire that eventually conquered them, the Neo-Assyrians. Was the Neo-Assyrian empire really a failure? What went wrong, and why did it come apart so catastrophically? What lessons about empire can be drawn from this tale?

Remember to come to class with any questions you have about Gilgamesh and the essay. What is the author trying to emphasize? What is the story telling us about what it was like to live and think as a Sumerian?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and reactions. See you Tuesday!

Link to Schedule page

History Club and Phi Alpha Theta

21 September 2026

The Lehman College History Club is looking for students to fill its leadership positions! Interested in joining or becoming President, Vice President, Secretary, or Treasurer? Please contact Professor Holtzman at benjamin.holtzman@lehman.cuny.edu.

The Club is open to ALL, not just History majors. In the past, the Club has organized movie nights, study sessions, trivia nights, field trips, etc. The Club has also tabled at various student events, which has helped draw students to the Club and to our classes.

The purpose of the History Club is to discuss topics about history, make friends who are interested in history, and create an environment where people can discuss history and their interest in history, and give advice to those who are unsure of what they want to pursue in history and related fields.

Lehman College also hosts the Pi Upsilon chapter (established in 1970) of Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honors Society. After several years of inactivity, the chapter has experienced a resurgence in recent years, inducting two dozen new members. Phi Alpha Theta members are among our most accomplished students. The national Phi Alpha Theta Society was formed in 1921 and boasts over 900 chapters with more than 350,000 members. It sponsors regional meetings, scholarships and prizes, and the student journal Historian.

To be eligible, students must maintain at least a 3.1 GPA in four or more History courses and a 3.0 overall GPA (non-History majors are eligible to join). If you meet these standards and are interested in joining Lehman’s chapter, please contact Prof. Rhiannon Dowling (rhiannon.dowling@lehman.cuny.edu) or Prof. Benjamin Holtzman (benjamin.holtzman@lehman.cuny.edu).

Link to History Club

Welcome to Week 4!

20 September 2026

This week we’re talking about the rise of Egypt as a power in the Mediterranean world, and how that affects the power dynamics of Egypt. We’ll then move on to the Bronze Age Aegean: the indigenous inhabitants, especially the mysterious Minoans, and the invading Greeks, who swarm in from the north and take over the Aegean world before bringing about their own spectacular collapse, bringing down the whole Bronze Age with them.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. Why is New Kingdom Egypt so different from Old Kingdom Egypt? What does the reign of Akhenaten tell us about the New Kingdom? After all that change, what's constant about what it means to be an Egyptian?

What strikes you as most intriguing about the Minoans—given what little we know of them? Why do you think the Mycenaean Greeks were so successful in surpassing them? If you were to talk about what was important to the Minoans and to the Mycenaean Greeks, what would be similar, and what would be distinctive? Were the Mycenaean Greeks their own worst enemy in too-greedily building a trade empire, or should we emphasize other factors in the great cataclysmic collapse of the Bronze Age and its civilizations?

We'll also be looking at the death of Enkidu. How does that come about, and how do Enkidu and Gilgamesh react to it? What is the story telling us about the Sumerian attitude toward death? How does the encounter with the flood survivor Utanapishti affect Gilgamesh?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and reactions. See you Tuesday!

Link to Schedule page

Welcome to Week 3!

13 September 2026

This week we’re progressing through the story of the civilizations of Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers: the original inhabitants in Sumer to the south, and the alien newcomers, the Semitic tribes that settled in Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria. They’re the strangers with their own languages and cultures who start to emulate, and, later, absorb the great cities and culture of the Sumerians.

After we finish with Akkad and Babylon, we’re moving on to the other earliest civilization—Egypt! This is a society that emerges around the same time as Sumer, and yet they could not be more different. Ancient Egypt has fascinated and perplexed students of history for thousands of years. What stands out the most to you about Egyptian society and culture?

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. One is how different the Sumerians and the Semitic peoples were—why did they build Sumer-style city-states, even down to the ziggurats for their own gods, and end up adopting Sumerian technology? Why do you think the Sumerians didn’t survive? When Sargon of Akkad built an empire, what was it based on, and why didn’t it last very long after he died? Why do you think so much significance is attached to the Code of Hammurabi?

Egypt is one of those rare cultures where absolute monarchy remains stable and effective for century on century. Why is that? What do you think makes the role of the pharaoh work without abuse of power? What do you think are the most important values and beliefs to an Egyptian? How does this affect the way they think about the gods? How does it affect how they think about death?

It’s striking how different Sumer is from Egypt. What do you think goes into making them so opposite to each other? Egypt unified early. Why was it possible there, and not in Sumer, where the city-states remained fiercely independent? What’s most different about their views of the gods, of kings, of death?

For Gilgamesh, we’re reading tablet 5 this week: the combat with Humbaba. Why do Gilgamesh and Enkidu go on this quest? Is it just about glory, or is there more to it? What do you think is the symbolism in Gilgamesh and Enkidu attacking the guardian of the cedar forest? Note what happens to the cedar, too—what can we say about that?

In tablet 6 we encounter the fiery goddess Ishtar and her face-off with Gilgamesh. What motivates Ishtar to approach Gilgamesh, and why does Gilgamesh defy her?

Looking forward to discussing this with you. See you Tuesday!

Link to Schedule page