HIS431 The Ancient World
Lead Faculty: Dr. Daniel R. Thorburn
Course Description
Examines ancient world history from 10,000 B.C.E. to 500 B.C.E., including Neolithic revolution; rise of settled agriculture; complex societies and organized
states in North Africa, Southwest Asia, South and East Asia, Mesoamerica, and South America; rise and decline of great powers in those areas; formation of Aegean civilization in Greece.
Learning Outcomes
- Identify the peoples who inhabited different regions of the ancient world.
- Explain the processes by which settled agriculture, state structure, and civilization arose in different parts of the world at different times.
- Outline the major similarities and differences between ancient Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Nubian, Indian, Chinese, and Native American civilizations.
- Elucidate the rise and fall of Babylonian, Hittite, Assyrian, and Egyptian Empires.
- Analyze the rise and decline of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties in China.
- Clarify the origins and characteristics of early civilizations in lowland and highland Mesoamerica and the Andes.
- Analyze primary sources for information, bias, values, and tone.
