Civilizations of the Ancient World

    Week 6: How to (and How Not to) Run an Empire

    Meeting Day: Thursday, October 7

    BEFORE THE MEETING DAY

  1. Watch the video lectures.
  2. Do the readings.
    •  MATHISEN “The Assyrian Empire (850–605 BCE)” (pp. 142-155)
    •  MATHISEN “The Successors of the Assyrians (605–550 BCE)” (pp. 155-159)
    •  MATHISEN “The Persian Empire (550–331 BCE)” (pp. 159-163)
    •  MATHISEN “Darius and the Operation of the Persian Empire” (pp. 163-171)

    ON THE MEETING DAY

  3. Post in the discussion area below.
  4. Join the discussion on Thursday morning at 9:30, where we’ll all respond to and discuss the readings and lecture.

  5. Upload your Gilgamesh essay.
  6. Upload your Gilgamesh essay to BlackBoard by Oct. 7.

    Before you upload, make sure your paper meets the specific requirements and scope for this assignment and the basic requirements for all papers.

    Go to BlackBoard

  7. Take the quiz.
  8. Take Quiz #4 by Oct. 13. (Closed)

  9. Prepare for the Midterm Exam.
  10. The midterm exam will be posted on the Week 7 page on Thursday, Oct. 14 Saturday, Oct. 16, and your responses are due via BlackBoard on Monday, Oct. 18 Wednesday, Oct. 20.

    Open Midterm Review Sheet (HTML version)Open Midterm Review Sheet (PDF version)

Week 6 Discussion Area

Meeting time: Thursday morning at 9:30

Respond to and discuss the readings and lecture. Also try to react to what other students are saying. This is where we get at what these readings and ideas are all about, so discussing and interacting here is absolutely vital.

  • Your comments should include your reactions to the arguments made in the readings, both specific points made by the writers and their overall claims, assumptions, and biases, as well as responses to comments made by other students.
  • Your participation grade will be derive not only from the fact that you have posted, but on how well you contribute to the discussion of that day’s topic.
  • If your comment is flagged as spam, let me know so that I can release the comment and whitelist your account.
  • Make sure to include a question that arose for you from today's readings or lecture. It can be any kind of question, but ideally something that provokes more discussion.
  • You can test your Disqus login on the Disqus test page.

Important: Please treat this as an in-class discussion, not like an internet comment board. What I'm asking for is reaction, discussion, and real questions about the material, as a part of your weekly participation in the course.