Civilizations of the Ancient World (Fall 2025)

Welcome to Week 3!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0400

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.

Then 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. 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 tablets 5 and 6 this week: the combat with Humbaba, and the fiery goddess Ishtar and her face-off with Gilgamesh. 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? What motivates Ishtar to approach Gilgamesh, and why does Gilgamesh defy her?

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

Welcome to Week 2!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 31 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This week we’re talking about the story of the civilizations of Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers, starting with the earliest culture to arise there: the unique culture of Sumer and their city-state culture.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. What do you think drives your identity—your sense of who you are—if you’re from one of these city-states? How do the Sumerians think about the gods? Why do you think they see the gods this way? Also, what kind of impact does that perspective have on how they look at life and the world around them?

We’re also reading Tablets 1 and 2 of The Epic of Gilgamesh, which introduce us to king Gilgamesh, the harlot Shamhat, and the wild man Enkidu. As you read the story, I want you to think about what is motivating these characters to do what they are doing, and what ideas you think the author might be trying to get across.

For example, 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?

Enkidu undergoes a change in this part of the story. What is this change about, and what role does the harlot Shamhat play in it? Also, think about the way Enkidu and Gilgamesh interact in these tablets. Why was Enkidu the gods’ solution to Gilgamesh’s bad rule?

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

Welcome to Week 1!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This is just a quick note to welcome you all to the first week 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 Tuesday. 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 October, 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 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 Tuesday!

Welcome to Civilizations of the Ancient World! (Fall 2025)

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Welcome to Civilizations of the Ancient World! I’m looking forward to a great semester exploring the cultures and transformations of ancient societies, from “prehistory” to the rise of the Roman Empire.

Right now, I need you to do three things.

First, look over the course web page, which will be our base of operations. Watch the quick welcome and orientation video (linked here and on the overview page). Look through each of the pages on the website to see how the course will work, and make sure to click through to the schedule page to see how the readings, videos, and discussions are set up. Any questions about how it works, please send me an email.

Second, get the books now if you can. A lot of you will be ordering books online, and you need to make sure you have the books and are ready to go when the course starts on August 26. On the “Books” page I’ve tried to give you some different options for getting what you need, but you should order now if there’s going to be any kind of shipping involved. (If you come across a legitimate online/e-text version of one of the assigned readings that’s not already listed, please let me know.)

Finally, send me an email so that I know I have a working email address for you. You can just send a blank email, email and say “hi”, or email with a question or concern, but I want to make sure I can contact everyone. If you receive an email from me but there is an email address you prefer I use instead of this one, please definitely reply and tell me that.

Email me anytime with questions at mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu. I’m looking forward to starting our journey together.