Prerequisite
English 100/101 and History 233
Course Description
This upper-division course investigates major issues in ancient world history from roughly 5000 B.C.E. to roughly 500 B.C.E. Topics examined include the Neolithic revolution; the rise of settled agriculture; complex societies and organized states in Mesopotamia, the Nile Valley, the Indus Valley, the Yellow River Valley, the highlands and lowlands of Mesoamerica, and the Andes; the Indo-European and Bantu migrations; the rise and decline of great powers in North Africa, Southwest Asia, and East Asia; and the formation of Aegean civilization in Greece. Examining these topics, the course will stress issues of gender, class, religion, as well as urban life and rural social relations in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. One of the chief emphases of the course will be the interpretation of primary sources.