HIST 105: THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD, I

Boğaziçi University, Department of History

HIST 105: THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD, I FALL 2008

Coordinator: Ahmet Ersoy

e-mail: ersoya@boun.edu.tr office hours: Tuesdays 13:30-15:00, TB 512

Teaching Assistants: Melek Cevahiroğlu (Head T.A.) hist105@boun.edu.tr
Ceren Abi, Ümit Fırat Açıkgöz, Seren Akyoldaş, Ayşe Tek Başaran, Banu Kaygusuz

Lectures: MWF 4, GKM
Discussion sessions: Fridays, Kuzey Park, hours TBA
Web: hist.boun.edu.tr

Course Description:

The Making of the Modern World (Hist 105; Hist 106) is a two-semester elective course providing a thematic history of the world from ancient to modern times. The course surveys the major patterns and events of human activity from a global perspective within a broad chronological framework, while familiarizing students with interactions, parallellisms, and incongruities in the historical and cultural patterns of diverse societies and civilizations. The course aims to develop an understanding of modes and patterns of historical change, and provides a perspective on the complex ways in which the legacy of the past shapes our present.
The first part of the course (Hist 105) focuses on the ancient and the medieval world, and approaches the formation and transformations of specific social, political, cultural, and economic patterns through a global perspective. Beginning with the first steps of humanity and the first permanent settlements and urban centers of the ancient Near East, the course turns to the Ancient Greek, Roman, and East Asian civilizations. Broad historical transformations of the medieval era in the eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Middle East and Asia constitute the last main focus. For each of these three major periods, the course examines aspects of political, cultural, ideological and institutional structures and transformations, as well as aspects of daily life and material culture. Connections and interactions across spatial and cultural divides remain a focus throughout the survey.

Format:

The course is team-taught by members of the History Department. Each week’s lectures will be followed by one-hour discussion sessions on Fridays led by the teaching assistants.
There are two types of reading for the course. The textbook [P.N. Stearns, M. Adas, S.B. Schwartz, M.H. Gilbert, World Civilizations: The Global Experience (New York, 2007)], provides an introduction and background to the topics to be covered in the lectures. The primary source readings for each week introduce a set of particular issues and themes directly related to the lecture topics. The Friday sections with the teaching assistants will be devoted in part to the in-depth discussion and interpretation of the primary sources, and in part to the discussion of the main themes and issues of the week. Four historical movies or documentaries related to course themes will be screened through the semester.
It is highly important that you participate fully in the course by attending the lectures, doing the readings (preferably before lectures, certainly before the Friday discussion hours), and partaking in the discussions led by the teaching assistants.
All readings will be available as electronic documents on the Boğaziçi Library web site (go to Catalogue Search; Search Course Reserves). Stearns, et al, World Civilizations: The Global Experience is also available in the Boğaziçi University Bookstore. Lecture outlines and course announcements will be posted on the course website.

Requirements:
Mid-term exam: 40%
Final exam: 50%
Attendance and participation in discussion sessions: 10%

HIST 105 THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD, I FALL 2008


24 September W Introduction Ersoy

PART 1: FROM PREHISTORY TO HISTORY

26 September F Agricultural Transformation and
the First Permanent Settlements Özyar

Reading, week 1 (26 Sept.): P.N. Stearns, M. Adas, S.B. Schwartz, M.H. Gilbert, World Civilizations: The Global Experience (New York, 2007), pp. 2-25.

29 September M No class
1 October W No class
3 October F No class

6 October M The Rise of Civilization: Early Urban
Centers of the Ancient Near East Özyar

8 October W Egypt: The Pharaonic Kingdom
and the Nile Özyar

10 October F From Accounting to Writing: Early Scripts
and Ancient Languages Özyar

Readings and sources, week 2 (6-10 Oct.): Stearns et al., pp. 25-35
from The Epic of Gilgamesh
from The Edict of Telipinus


13 October M Social Stratification and Historical Records:
Anatolia in the Bronze Age Özyar


PART 2: THE ANCIENT WORLD

15 October W Cultural Continuity and Political
Fragmentation: Anatolia in the Iron Age Özyar

17 October F Greeks and Barbarians:
Cultural Exchange in the Ancient World Vasilakeris

Readings and sources, week 3 (13-17 Oct.): Stearns et al, pp. 35-45
from Heredotos, Histories, “The Greeks in Egypt, Nubia and Scythia.”


20 October M The Greek City and Democracy Durak

22 October W Economy and Material Culture
in the Greek City Durak

24 October F The Hellenic World:
From City State to Empire Durak

Readings and sources, week 4 (20-24 Oct.): Stearns et al., chapter 5, pp. 94-115
from Homer, The Odyssey, “King Nestor Remembers”
from Aristotle, “Virtues and vices”
from Thucidydes, The Peloponnesian War, Book II, Chapter VI, Funeral oration of Pericles

27 October M Rice Agriculture, Communal Life,
and the Confucian State in China Togan

29 October W No class

31 October F The Persian Empire and the
Alexandrian Legacy in Asia Togan

Readings and sources, week 5 (27, 31 Oct.): Stearns et al., pp. 55-93
from Lao Tzu, The Classic of the Way and of Virtue
from Confucius, K’ung fu-tzu, (469-399 B. C. ) Analects

3 November M Rome: the Republic Durak

5 November W Rome: the Empire Durak

7 November F The Fall of Rome and the Roman Legacy Durak

Readings and sources, week 6 (3-7 Nov.): Stearns et al., pp. 140-157, pp. 218-222.
from Polybius, History, Book 6, “Rome at the End of the Punic Wars”
from the correspondance of Pliny and Trajan


10 November M Religion in the Mediterranean World
and the Rise of Christianity Vasilakeris


PART 3: THE MEDIEVAL WORLD


12 November W The Byzantine Empire: from Constantine the Great
to the Age of Justinian Necipoğlu

14 November F Byzantine Society from
Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages Necipoğlu

Readings and sources, week 7 (10-14 Nov.): Stearns et al., pp. 222-227.
from Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History
from Eusebius of Caesarea, Life of Constantine
Constantine's Coins, Statues and the Arch of Constantine in Rome

17 November M From the Iconoclastic Controversy to the Great Schism:
Christianity Divides Necipoğlu

19 November W Midterm

21 November W Byzantium from the age of the Crusades
to the Ottoman Conquest Necipoğlu

Readings and sources, week 8 (17, 21 Nov.): Stearns et al., pp. 304-319 (chapter 14)
from Anna Comnena, Alexiad
from Manuel Palaiologos, Letters


24 November M Medieval Europe: Rural Society
and Feudalism Eldem

26 November W Medieval European Politics:
Kings and Vassals Eldem

28 November F Medieval European Politics:
Popes and Bishops Eldem

Reading, week 9 (24-28 Nov): Stearns et al., pp. 320-343 (chapter 15)
The Constitution of Emperor Conrad II Concerning the Fiefs of Italy
The Dictatus Papae, [On Papal Power]
Letter of Fulbert of Chartres on the Obligation of Vassals

1 December M Medieval Europe: Towns and
Urban Institutions Eldem

3 December W Feudalism in Japan:
the Samurai and the Peasant Aoki Girardelli

5 December F Religion in the Irano-Mediterranean World
and the Rise of Islam Pancaroğlu

Readings and sources, week 10 (1-5 Dec.): Stearns et al. pp. 388-403

8 December M No class
10 December W No class
12 December F No class

15 December M The Caliphate: From Medina
to Damascus and Baghdad Pancaroğlu

17 December W Religious and Political Fragmentation
in the Islamic World Pancaroğlu

19 December F Medieval Near Eastern Societies Pancaroğlu

Readings and sources, week 11 (15-19 Dec): Stearns et al., pp. 236-270.
from Mawardi, The Ordinances of Government (a Juridical Theory on the Caliphate)
from Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddima: An Introduction to History
examples of Umayyad and Abbasid Coinage

22 December M Medieval Encounters:
Conflict and Coexistence Ersoy

24 December W The Greco-Roman Legacy
in the Medieval World Ersoy

26 December F Medieval Chinese Society and Culture Togan

Readings and sources, week 12 (22-26 Dec): Stearns et al., pp. 230-235.
Stearns et al., pp. 366-387; pp. 450-451.
from Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354
Letters from the documents of the Cairo Geniza

29 December M Medieval Central Asia: Pancaroğlu
Sufis, Saints and Nomads

31 December W The Genghisid World-Empire Kafescioğlu

Readings and sources, week 14 (29, 31 Dec.): Stearns et. al., pp. 412-433 (chapter 19).
from Yusuf Khass Hajib, Wisdom of Royal Glory (Kutadgu Bilig): A Turko-Islamic
Mirror for Princes