14 May 2023

At our last meeting we’re continuing our discussion of the Roman principate. What do you think makes the principate continue to work even after rulers like Caligula and Nero? What do you think is good and bad for Rome and the empire about the principate? What does it mean to be Roman in the days of the emperors? Has that changed since the beginning of the Roman story?

Looking forward to an interesting discussion. Please make sure to attend and help bring our semester’s worth of explorations and insights together into focus. See you Tuesday!

Link to Schedule page

7 May 2023

This week we’re looking at the end of the Roman Republic, and the new kind of autocracy replaced it—the principate.

What was Caesar’s goal, for himself and for Rome, and why was he killed? All things considered, does he deserve praise as a great leader or censure as an ambitious seeker of power? What about Antony—he was the experienced lieutenant of Caesar, so why did he lose out to a kid who started with nothing but Caesar’s name?

What exactly is the principate? How is it that Rome, which was so intolerant of the idea of a king that the mere rumor he was angling to become king factored into Caesar’s assassination, accepted the one-man rule of Octavian, who came to be called Augustus? What made Augustus different from a king?

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

Link to Schedule page

30 April 2023

This week, after we discuss Roman contest with Carthage, we see the culmination of the Roman empire as it gains control over the west and east—only to fall apart at home in a series of assassinations, scandals, and civil wars.

Two factions emerge in the Roman aristocracy as we head into the Late Republic: the optimates—those who believe in tradition and the systems of the Republic; and the populares—those who insist Rome must take a new direction to survive. Why does this break occur? What do the two sides really stand for? Are populist firebrands like Tiberius Gracchus heroes of the people, or self-serving demagogues?

The next generation of Roman politics is dominated by the first two in a series of warlords—strongmen who use the loyalty of their legions to gain power in Rome. Why is Marius so successful in gaining the trust of the soldiers and the people? What was the optimate maverick Sulla truly fighting for? Why is his rise to power so fateful for the future of Rome?

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

Link to Schedule page

23 April 2023

This week we’re talking about the Romans replacing the kings with a Republic. What stands out to you as the defining characteristics of the Republic? What does this idea mean to the Romans? The early history of the Republic involves an ongoing conflict between the patricians (families that control the priesthoods) and the plebeians (all other families of any class). Where does this conflict come from? Why are the priest-families so important to the Roman political system?

This week we’re talking about how and why the Romans shift toward military expansionism, and some of the repercussions that follow. Why do the Romans become militaristic and expansionist?

How do you think they see their rivalry with Carthage? Why do you think Hannibal is able to almost win—and why does he ultimately lose? Why does Rome seem to have such an off-hand approach to governing the territories it consumes or conquers?

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

Link to Schedule page

15 April 2023

This week we’re finishing up the saga of the Greeks, then returning to the start of the Iron Age and shifting westward to discuss the Romans.

After the Peloponnesian War, more armed conflicts between the Greeks opened them up to invasion by Macedon and the famous conquests of Alexander the Great. Why do you think the Greeks couldn’t maintain any real peace in during this era, even when danger loomed from the north? What were they really fighting about?

A big part of this story are the two Macedonian kings, Philip and Alexander. What do you think was most instrumental in Philip being able to take over Greece? Was his son, Alexander, really that “great”? Was his conquest a failure because it didn’t remain unified? What are Alexander’s legacies for the world?

After that we’re looking at ancient North Africa and Italy, and then we’re starting our exploration of the Romans and their story. This is the beginning of the rise of the people that within a few centuries would dominate the entire Mediterranean, including most of the peoples we’ve studied.

At first Rome starts out as a city-state within the city-state culture of Latium with its own priest-king, just like the city-states in Sumer. But the Romans get fed up with the kings after a while and eject them from Rome. What do you think makes them turn against the kings? Is it just the actions of the kings, or does it go deeper? Why do you think the legends about the fall of the kings focus so much on the Rape of Lucretia as the thing that turns the Romans against the kings? What does the story of that rape signify to them?

Looking forward to your discussions and reactions. See you Tuesday!

Link to Schedule page

2 April 2023

This week we’re talking about the Peloponnesian War and its aftermath.

With the Peloponnesian Wars, the Greeks nearly destroyed their world in a generation-long war. Then, in the fourth century, more wars between the Greeks opened them up to invasion by Macedon and the famous conquests of Alexander the Great. Why do you think the Greeks couldn’t maintain any real peace in during this era, even when danger loomed from the north? What were they really fighting about?

A big part of this story are the two Macedonian kings, Philip and Alexander. What do you think was most instrumental in Philip being able to take over Greece? Was his son, Alexander, really that “great”? Was his conquest a failure because it didn’t remain unified? What are Alexander’s legacies for the world?

Link to Schedule page

27 March 2023

The grades and markups for the Gilgamesh essay are posted on the grading page. Sorry about the delay! Overall I’m very pleased with the essays. There were a lot of interesting discussions and, here and there, some unusual perspectives I don’t see often. Many of you really made the most of this opportunity to understand the values and ideal of a culture that lives four thousand years ago, and I’m gratified to see it.

Reversible deductions. Some of you may find that you received “reversible deductions” for issues relating to formatting and citations. The good news is, those are points that you can get back. Check the cover page of your markup to see if there are any hand-written points taken off next to the reversible deductions. If there are, I made notes on the cover sheet or in the essay about the issue, and included a handout with the requirements.

Please resubmit your essay to BlackBoard with those problems fixed, and I’ll be in a position to reverse those deductions. Only reversible deductions can be reversed, so don’t resubmit for anything other than reversible deductions.

Missing essays. If you have not submitted your Gilgamesh essay, I strongly advise you to do so even though it is late. The lateness penalty is capped at 30 points maximum, and submitting an essay and getting a reduced grade is much, much better than a zero on the assignment for your overall course grade.

Clouds essay. I’m sure some of you are thinking ahead to your Clouds essay (in some part of your brain, at least!). As you continue reading Clouds, please consider the prompts and how what you read in the play as we go might shape what you have to say in your second essay. Be thinking about what other work will be effective as a comparison to Clouds. Make sure to watch the Essay #2 overview video if you have not done so.

Remember, just as the goal of the first essay was to better understand how people thought and interacted with each other in Bronze Age Sumer, with the Clouds essay your purpose is to use this play and the work with which you are comparing it to gain insights into the culture and values of fifth-century Athens. As always I am happy to discuss the play, possible comparison works, and approaching the assignment.

Link to My Grades page

25 March 2023

This week, after we finish talking about Athens, we’ll turn to the Persian Wars—a huge watershed for the Greeks. Even the battles of this war will be remembered forever—Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis. Why do you think the Greeks are really able to defeat the vastly more powerful Persians? How do you think the war changes them? What was most remarkable to you about the Persian Wars?

With the Peloponnesian Wars, the Greeks are fighting each other in a massive, generation-long slog unlike anything the ancient war has seen. Why? Why are they fighting, and why does it last for decade after decade? What is this war really about? Can we blame a particular city for this? Why do you think it turns out the way it does?

Also, we see the middle section of Clouds, where the “Socrates” character gets weirder and weirder, and Strepsiades gets more and more confused. What do you think Aristophanes is getting at here? What was he trying to show by having “Socrates” talk about the gods and he-chickens and she-chickens and things like that? What is the critical debate scene in section 5 really telling us?

Looking forward to discussing all of this with you. See you on Tuesday!

Link to Schedule page

19 March 2023

This week we’re talking about the period after the so-called Greek Dark Age, when from our perspective Hellas can be heard and seen again, with the foundations of Greek culture already laid down in the previous, unseen centuries.

Two influential cities emerge in this period, both with opposing and increasingly extreme ideas of what it means to be Greek. One is Sparta, a society dedicated to the art of war. What do you think goes into making the Spartans like this—so different, so focused on being warriors? What does being a warrior society mean to them? Why aren’t more poleis like this, especially given the other cities are so impressed by the Spartans’ dedication? Is the Spartan experiment a success, in Greek terms? What are the most positive aspects of the Spartan society in terms of the well-being of its citizens? What are the biggest drawbacks of the Spartan system?

We’re also looking at the foundations of Athenian society. Culturally, Athens is the most important of the Greek poleis—just ask them!—but their story is like a fever dream, starting out as a tightly-managed oligarchy of a few privileged families and ending as Hellas’s only radical democracy. Why do you think Athens was so volatile? What is it about Athens that made them become so aggressive in seeking cultural dominance?

Link to Schedule page

12 March 2023

This week we’re taking the midterm exam. Be sure to prepare using the review sheet linked on the Exams page. The exam will begin at 3 p.m. in our regular class meeting room, and will last 75 minutes only.

This course focuses on the Mediterranean, but on Thursday we’re talking a side trip to ancient Asia. 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?

Looking forward to discussing all of this with you. See you Tuesday for the midterm!

Link to Schedule page

5 March 2023

This week we’re talking about the second of two very different empires in the same part of the world: the Persians, successors to the Neo-Assyrians. 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 week, as we continue exploring the early Iron Age, we’re talking about the so-called Greek Dark Age—the period during which the Greeks recovered from the collapse of the Bronze Age and built a new civilization.

The Greek Dark Age is frustrating and fascinating to historians of ancient Greece, because this period of rebirth, during which the foundations and chief elements of Hellas as we know it come into being, happens while the Greeks have no writing system and so there are no literature or records until the very end—we can’t hear them creating a new Greek society.

What do you think most drove the Greeks during the Dark Age? If the communities of the Aegean were so isolated and so fiercely independent, how did they end up having so much in common? How did they end up with such a clear idea of what it meant to be Greek?

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

Link to Schedule page

26 February 2023

This week, after we finish up with the Bronze Age Aegean, we’re talking about 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?

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

Link to Schedule page

19 February 2023

This week we’re talking about 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.

There are a lot of things to talk about here. What strikes you as most intriguing about the Minoans—what 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?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and reactions. Remember, there’s no class meeting Tuesday. See you Thursday!

Link to Schedule page

12 February 2023

This week we’re talking about Egypt! This is a society that emerges around the same time as Sumer, and yet they could not be more unlike. 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? This 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? How is Egypt during the New Kingdom different from the Old Kingdom?

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?

Speaking of death, this week we also read the next two assigned tablets of Gilgamesh. Why do the gods agree to send the bull and to punish Enkidu, when they were the ones that created Enkidu in the first place? What does Enkidu’s death mean for Gilgamesh? What is the author trying to impress on the reader in this climax to Gilgamesh’s relationship with Enkidu?

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

Link to Schedule page

5 February 2023

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 settle 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.

In the discussion this week I want to talk about lots of things. What characteristics are distinctly Sumerian? How do they see the world, and why? Another topic 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?

This week we’re also looking at tablets 2 and 5 of Gilgamesh—the taming of Enkidu and the fights with Humbaba, the forest guardian. What jumps out at you most from these two tablets? 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? And what about the way Enkidu and Gilgamesh interact in these tablets? What’s that telling us about these two, and why Enkidu was the gods’ solution to Gilgamesh’s bad rule?

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

Link to Schedule page

30 January 2023

This week we’re talking about the origins of the land of Sumer, one of the earliest civilizations, and their unique city-state culture. What do you think drives your identity—your sense of who you are—if you’re from one of these city-states?

We’re also reading Table 1 of Gilgamesh. Pay special attention to why the citizens of Uruk are angry with Gilgamesh. What does that tell us about the role of the king in their community?

Looking forward to discussing all of this with you. Make sure to email me with any questions about the readings or how the course works. See you Tuesday!

Link to Schedule page

23 January 2023

This is just a quick note to welcome you all to the beginning of Civilizations of the Ancient World. I’m looking forward to exploring the ancient world with all of you, starting with our first meeting on Thursday. The meeting is in-person, 3:00 – 4:15 p.m., in Carman 209.

At our first meeting we’ll be laying some important foundations we’ll be building on throughout the semester, including the themes of the course and some of the things we’ll be looking for as we explore the ancient world. One of the things I want to talk about on Thursday is the word “civilization” itself. What does it mean to have become “civilized”? What kinds of changes do you think it involved? What’s likely to be different from one early community to the next, and what might they maybe have had more in common?

Syllabus and video: As a reminder, the syllabus, assignments, and requirements are all on my website, markbwilson dot com. Make sure you’ve looked through the site and that you’ve watched the welcome video, which talks about how the course works and answers some common questions.

Books: Also make sure you have the books. We won’t need the Four Texts about Socrates until March, but you’ll need both the textbook and Gilgamesh right away, as there are assignments this week. The reading assignments on the Schedule page of the website are what you need to have read (and thought about) before coming to class.

Email me: Many of you replied back to the welcome-to-the-course email I sent you after you enrolled, confirming that I have a good email address for you. If you didn’t, could you do me a favor and email me and let me know that I can use this address, or that that a different email is better for you? Thanks.

That’s it for now. Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll see you all on Thursday!

Link to Schedule page