Ancient Civilizations
Course Info
Assignments
Content
Resources
Schedule
For each meeting, please come into class having read and thought about the readings assigned for that class.
Readings listed with the book icon () are from the assigned textbook, Mathisen, Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations, 3rd Edition.
Everything listed under each meeting—the textbook readings, Gilgamesh, and Clouds—is fair game for the quizzes we’ll have at the start of some meetings.
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Click on the highlighted days in the calendar to jump to that meeting.
Beginnings
1 Introduction and Themes
Tuesday, September 1
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 3-5, “Laying the Groundwork”
pp. 5-13, ”The Palaeolithic Age (2,000,000–10,000 BCE)”
2 The Origins of Civilization
Thursday, September 3
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 13-24, “The Neolithic World (8000–5500 BCE)”
pp. 24-33, “The Chalcolithic Period (5500–2000 BCE)”
The Bronze Age
3 Mesopotamia
Tuesday, September 8
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 37-45, “The Origins of Mesopotamian Civilization (6000–3000 BCE)”
pp. 45-52, ”The Rise of Sumerian Civilization”
4 Sumer
Thursday, September 10
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 52-60, “Historical Sumer (3000–2300 BCE)”
5 Semitic Mesopotamia
Tuesday, September 15
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 60-75, “The Semitic Peoples and the First Near Eastern Empires (2300–1200 BCE)”
Gilgamesh, Tablet 5: The Combat with Humbaba [see Note button]
6 God-Kings of Egypt
Thursday, September 17
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 77-84, “Before The Pharaohs (5000–3000 BCE)”
pp. 84-92, “The Early Dynastic Period (3000–2700 BCE)”
Gilgamesh, Tablet 6: Ishtar and the Bull of Heaven [see Note button]
7 Egyptian Empires
Tuesday, September 22
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 92-97, “The Old Kingdom (2700–2200 BCE)”
pp. 97-103, “The Middle Kingdom (2050–1786 BCE)”
pp. 103-109, “The New Kingdom (1534–1070 BCE)”
Gilgamesh, Tablet 7: The Death of Enkidu [see Note button]
8 The Bronze Age Aegean
Thursday, September 24
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 111-113, “Early Civilizations of the Levant (2500–1500 BCE)”
pp. 113-125, “Aegean Civilizations (3000–1100 BCE)”
Gilgamesh, Tablet 11: Immortality Denied [see Note button]
The Iron Age
9 Dawn of the Iron Age
Tuesday, September 29
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 125-131, “The Iron Age In The Eastern Mediterranean (1200–800 BCE)”
pp. 131-140, ”The Hebrews (2000–900 BCE)”
10 How Not to Run an Empire: The Assyrians
Thursday, October 1
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 142-155, “The Assyrian Empire (850–605 BCE)”
pp. 155-159, “The Successors of the Assyrians (605–550 BCE)”
11 The Success of the Persian Empire
Tuesday, October 6
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 159-163, “The Persian Empire (550–331 BCE)”
pp. 163-171, ”Darius and the Operation of the Persian Empire”
Essay #1 is due Monday, Oct. 5.
12 Ancient Asia: China, India, and the Steppes
Thursday, October 8
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 296-301, “The Eurasian Steppes”
pp. 301-310, ”Eastern Asia”
13 Midterm Exam
Thursday, October 15
➊ Before the meeting:
The exam will take place in our normal meeting room during our regular class period.
The Greek Idea
14 The Greek Dark Age
Tuesday, October 20
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 175-180, “The Greek Dark Ages (1100–776 BCE)”
pp. 180-187, ”The Construction of Greek Identity”
Clouds, Section 1 [see Note button]
15 Archaic Hellas
Thursday, October 22
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 187-202, “The Archaic Age (776–500 BCE)”
Clouds, Section 2 [see Note button]
16 Sparta and Athens
Tuesday, October 27
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 205-211, “The Spartan Way”
pp. 211-218, ”The Rise of Athens”
Clouds, Section 3 [see Note button]
17 The Persian Menace
Thursday, October 29
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 218-226, “The Greeks and Persia (547–465 BCE)”
pp. 226-231, ”The Golden Age of Athens (465–431 BCE)”
Clouds, Section 4 [see Note button]
18 Wars Between the Greeks
Tuesday, November 3
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 231-246, “The Peloponnesian War (431–387 BCE)”
Clouds, Section 5 [see Note button]
19 The Rise of Macedon
Thursday, November 5
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 249-257, “After the Peloponnesian War (387–336 BCE)”
pp. 257-265, ”The Age of Alexander (336–323 BCE)”
Clouds, Section 6 [see Note button]
The last day to withdraw from Fall 2026 courses is Friday, Nov. 6.
20 The Legacy of Alexander
Tuesday, November 10
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 265-279, “The Hellenistic Kingdoms (323–120 BCE)”
The Might of Rome
21 Early Rome
Thursday, November 12
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 319-326, “Carthage”
pp. 339-341, ”Cultural Encounters of the Early Romans”
pp. 341-349, ”Rome of the Kings (753–509 BCE)”
22 The Roman Republic
Tuesday, November 17
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 349-356, “The Early Roman Republic (509–246 BCE)”
Essay #2 is due Monday, Nov. 16.
23 The Acquisition of Empire
Thursday, November 19
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 356-371, “Warfare and Expansion (390–133 BCE)”
24 The Republican Crisis
Tuesday, November 24
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 379-390, “From One Crisis to the Next (150–88 BCE)”
25 Collapse of the Republic
Tuesday, December 1
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 390-399, “An Age of Generals (88–60 BCE)”
26 Crossing the Rubicon
Thursday, December 3
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 399-409, “The Triumvirates (60–31 BCE)”
pp. 409-414, ”The Establishment of the Principate (31–21 BCE)”
27 Augustus, Princeps, Imperator
Tuesday, December 8
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 415-430, “The Age of Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE)”
Essay #3 is due on Monday, Dec. 7.
28 The Roman Principate
Thursday, December 10
➊ Before the meeting, read all of the following:
pp. 430-440, “The Julio-Claudian And Flavian Dynasties (27 BCE–96 CE)”
pp. 440-451, ”The Antonine Dynasty (96–192)”
29 Final Exam
Tuesday, December 15
➊ Before the meeting:
The Final Exam will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 15 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.