The Human Experience II

Course Content

The Beginnings of Human Society
17 Topics
The Regionally Differing Courses of History
What happened on all the continents to 11,000 BCE?
How Geography Molded Societies
The Rise and Spread of Food Production
Farmer Power
Gender Roles
Geographic Differences in the Onset of Food Production
Causes of the Spread of Food Production
The Unconscious Development of Ancient Crops
Why did peoples of some regions fail to domesticate plants?
Why were most big mammal species never domesticated?
Livestock and the Evolution of Germs
The Evolution of Writing
The Evolution of Technology
The Evolution of Government
The Evolution of Religion
Thought and Belief
49 Topics
Why religion?
Evolutionary Models
Psychological and Sociological Approaches
How to Study Religion Anthropologically
Semiotic Approaches to Religion
Religion, Art, and Symbolic Thought
Theory of Religion: Animism and Magic (Tylor and Frazier)
Magic and Divination
Sorcery, Witchcraft, and Modernity
Theory of Religion: Society as Sacred (Durkheim)
Structure
Anti/Structure
Ritual and Social Transformation
Ritual and Ritual Specialists
Sacred Space and Material Culture
Aesthetics
Religion as a Cultural System
Religion and the State
Colonialism and Globalization
Religion in Migration
Global/Local Frictions
Theory of Religion: Religion and Personality (Freud)
Materiality and the Body
Gender and Sexuality in Religion
Performance and Power
Theory of Religion: Religion as Alienation (Marx)
Theory of Religion: Reality of the Sacred (Eliade)
Sensing the Sacred
Divine Presence
Symbols, Syncretism, and Folk Saints
Pilgrimage
Creation Narratives
Myth
Taboo
Beyond Belief
Theory of Religion: Religion as Cultural Symbol (Geertz)
Evil and the Uncanny
Death
Religion as Practice
Revitalization and New Religious Movements
Cults
Firewalking and “New Age” Rituals
Altered Consciousness
Virtual Religion and COVID
Poetic Justice
The Future of Religion
Religious Effervescence
Reflecting on Religion
Orientalism
28 Topics
Edward Said’s Orientalism
The Age of Empires: Understanding “Us” and the “Other”
Orientalism and White Settler Colonialism
The Politics of Heritage: The Case of Ghana
The Politics of Heritage: The Case of Egypt
Iran and the Politics of Gender
Singapore and the Politics of Race
Orientalism and Idyll
Orientalism and Soul
The Discourse of Orientalism
Critique of Orientalism
Visual Orientalism
The Orient in Painting
Harems and Veils
World’s Fairs and Biennale Culture
The Orient Speaks Back
Exhibiting Islam
Neo-Orientalism and Activism
Decolonizing the Museum
Orientalism and Globalization
Postcolonial and Border Feminisms
Intersectionality and Decolonial Theory
Nationalisms, Borders, and Sovereignty
Media and Gazes
Orientalism, Fantasy, and Desire
Biblical Orientalism: 19th-Century Travel to the Holy Land
Twain and Orientalism
Ancient Southwest Asia
81 Topics
The Politics of Defining a Region
Art and Archaeology of Prehistoric Communities
Landscapes
Samarra, Halaf, and Ubaid
Ceremonial Centers and Temples
Early Dynastic Period in the South: Khafadje and Tell Asmar
Royal Tombs of Ur
Narrative in Early Mesopotamian Art
Girsu and Ur: Mesopotamian Art and the Ruler as Shepherd of His People
Nippur and Ur: Urban Space and City Fabric in Southern Mesopotamia
North Syria and Iraq in the Middle Bronze Age: Mari, Ebla, and Assur
The Formation of a Shared Architectural Culture
Suhis-Katuwas Dynasty at Karkemish
Nimrud, Balawat Gates, Source of the Tigris
Khorsabad and Ninevah
Rock Reliefs of the Assyrian Kings at the Edges of Empire
The Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Building Program of King Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus
The City as a Work of Art
Akitu Festival and the Renovation of the Cosmic Order
The Legacy and Heritage of Mesopotamian History
A Hybrid Art of Mesopotamia and Greece
Objects of Studying the Ancient World
Orientalism and the History of Archaeology in the Near East
Archaeology in the Service of Biblical History
Urbanization and Social Complexity in Southern Mesopotamia
Seals and Sealing in Uruk Mesopotamia
Kingship, War, and the Early mesopotamian State: Umma and Girsu
The Kingdom of Agade: Monuments and Memory
Text and Archaeology: The Third Dynasty of Ur
Isin larsa Kings and the City Lament
Hittite Rock Reliefs in Anatolia
The Amarna Letters
The Temple of the Storm God in Aleppo
Foundation of an Empire: Assyria in the Iron Age
Archaeological Sites as Sites of Conflict
Myth and Science, Religion, and Philosophy
Myth and Ritual, Literature, and Psychology
Myth, Structure, and Society
Sumerian Nature Mythology
Inanna and Dumuzi
Adapa
Gilgamesh
Creation and the Flood
Hurrian Mythology
Kirta
Daniel
Minor Ugaritic Myths
Settlement Archaeology
Uruk: Mass Production of Ceramics
Expansion and Late Uruk Cultures
Agricultural Extensification
History of Assyriology
Hieroglyphics
Sumer: Economic Life and Public Economies
Bureaucracy and the Ur III Texts
Sumerian Political Identity
Sumerian Social Life and Social Relations
Emergence of Class
Women of the Ancient Near East
Religion and Temples
Palaces and the Rise of Secular Public Households
Bronze Age World Systems: Craft Specialization, Trade, and Transport
Dilmun, the Arabian Gulf Coast, and Oasis Life
Tribal States and Regional Pastoralism: Ebla, Mari, and Brak
Sargon of Aggade and the First Empire
Ideologies and Monumental Works
Death and Community
Ancient Egypt
129 Topics
Centering the Land
Colonialism and the (Re)Creation of Egypt’s Ancient Past
Egyptology
Heritage and Tourism
The Land That Holds Beings: (Non)Human Remains
The Land That Holds Things: The Case of Papyri
Papyrology
Sacred Lands
The Spirited Land: “Magic” and Divination
The Golden Land: Nubia
(Un)Settling the Land: Egypt’s Oases
Wet Lands: The Menzaleh Lake Area
Naming the Land: Lower Egypt aka The Delta
The Land in Between: (Re)Inventing Alexandria
Emergence of the Egyptian State
The Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom
The Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period
The Middle Kingdom
The Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period
The New Kingdom
The New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period
The Late Kingdom
Egypt Under Persian Rule
Egypt of the Ptolemaics
The Ancients’ Attitudes Toward the Past
The King and His Family
The Elite and Nobility
Priests
Merchants
Scribes
The Scribe as Our Window
The Common People
The Occupational Stratification of the Common Man
Slavery
The Territorial State
The City-State
The Vassal State
The Colony
Egyptian Worldview and Maat
Cosmological and Political Maat
Law, Justice, and Fairness
Royal Power, Maat, and Stasis
Cosmologies and Philosophy in the Ancient World
The Birth of Speculative Philosophy
The Creation of the World
The Position of Man and Earth in the Cosmos
Conceptions of Chaos
Religions with the Judeo-Christian and Islamic Traditions
Types of Religion
Divine and Royal Religion
Funerary Religion
Popular Religion
The Gods and Humanity
“Church” and “State”
The King’s Religious Role
The King as God
Urban Life in Mesopotamia vs. Egypt
Cities and Commercial Life
Palaces and Display
Egyptian Kingship and the Palace
The Question of the Temple as Part of the State
Practical and Mythic Concerns in the Design of Temples
Landlords – Institutional and Private
The Civil Status of the Peasant
Women in a Male-Dominated Society
Wives and Daughters
Priestesses
Queens
Literacy in the Ancient World
Scribal Training
The Question of Patronage
On Translating Ancient Languages
Languages and Writing
The Question of Register
Toward a Definition of Literature
The Genres of Ancient Literature
The Narrative Tale
Didactic Literature
The Development of Didactic Literature
Proper Behavior
Biographical Inscriptions as Literature
The Relationship of Didactic Literature and the Ideal Biography
Royal Texts as a Dominant Type
Poetry and Songs
Historical Literature and How it Relates to the Bible
Religious Texts
The Military
Soldiers
Mercenaries
Equals, Overlords, and Vassals
Prestige and Interest
Letters, Emissaries, and Diplomacy
The Question of “Empire” in the Ancient World
Relationship between People, Moral Behavior, and the Golden Rule
Is virtue its own reward?
Does fate have a role? Fate and Destiny
The Relationship between God and Man
Dreams, Oracles, and Miracles
Communication between the Living and the Dead
Prayers and Humns
Public and Prviate
Cult and Religion
Offerings
Festivals and Other Celebrations
Festival and Myth
Personal and Popular Religion
Foretelling the Future and Divining the Meaning of the Past
Magic and Mainstream Religion
Love
Sex for Pleasure and Sex for Procreation
Coming into This World
Patriarchal and Matriarchal Modes of Familial Organization
The Position of the Family in Society and Religion
The Child in Society and as an Autonomous Being
The Egyptian Way of Death
The Cosmology of the Afterworld
Class Structure and the Afterlife
Sin, Judgment, and Punishment
Types of Law
Decrees and Promulgation of Law
Law as a Confirmation of Societal Order
Criminal Law
Civil Law
Common Law
Trials, Judgments, and Punishments
Rivers and Caravan Routes
Seafaring in the Ancient World
Trade and Exchange and Their Relation to Ancient Economies
Ancient Greece
346 Topics
The Early Bronze Age – Mainland Greece and Cycladic Islands
The Early Bronze Age on Crete
Palatial Society on Crete
Minoan Religion
Minoan Art and Architecture
Akrotiri on Thera and the Eruption
The Mycenaean Shaft Graves
The Mycenaean Palaces
Mycenaean Administration and Linear B
Mycenaean Trade and Exchange
The Trojan War
The “Homeric Question”
The Trojan Cycle of Myth
Finding Troy and the Trojan War
Homer and the Oral Epic Tradition
Homer and the Wrath of Achilles
Greeks and Trojans
Achilles, Patroklos, and Hektor
The End of the Iliad
The Fall of Troy
Archaeology and the “Homeric Question” Revisited
The Sack of Troy in Athenian Literature and Art
Trojans, Romans, and Christians
Troy and the Modern Mind
Troy and the 21st Century
The Collapse of Mycenaean Culture and the End of the Bronze Age
Diaspora and Olympics
Sport in Homer and the Epic Tradition
The Panhellenic Sites and “Crown Competitions”
Greek Nudity
The Running Events
Isthmia and Nemea as Archaeological Sites
Wrestling, Boxing, the Pankration, and Combat Sports
The Pentathlon
Equestrian Events and Hippodromes
Athletic Training, the Gymnasion, and the Palaistra
Laws Governing Athletes in Public
Organizing the Games, Rituals and Sacrifices, Cheating, and Judges
Music Competitions, Poetry, Pindar’s Odes, and Athletes as Heroes
Athletics in Sparta
Athens and the Panathenaic Festival
Women in Athletics
Athletics and Greek Education
Sport and Society in Ancient Greece
The Body and Ancient Medicine
Egyptian Cultural and Religious Attitudes to the Body
Egyptian Anatomical and Medical Theories
Early Greek Culture and Sculpture
Greeks on Egyptians
The Body in Homer and in Greek Tragedy
Orphics and Pythagoras
Pre-Socratics: Alcmaeon, Empedocles, and Diogenes of Apollonia
Hippocrates
The Cult of Asclepius
Hippocrates on the Heart and Brain
Thucydides on the Plague
Plato on Physiology and the Soul/Body Dichotomy
Old Comedy
Aristotle on Respiration
Classical Sculpture
Aristotle on the Brain and Senses
Aristotle on Reproduction and Embryology
New Comedy
Diocles of Carystus, Praxagoras, and Hippocratic “On the Heart”
Hellenistic Alexandria
Hellenistic Sculpture
Herophilus
Erasistratus
Greek Novels
Etruscan and Early Italian Attitudes and Art
Haruspicy
Roman Medicine and Greek Doctors in Rome
Roman Attitudes, Religion, and Art
Early Christians
Galen
Aelius Aristides and Sacred History
Soranus
Roman Childbearing
The Body in Islam
Prophetic Medicine
The Body in the Arabic Novel
Arabic Reception of Greek Science: Hunayn ibn Ishaq and al-Razi
Arabic Reception of Greek Science: al-Majusi, Avicenna, Ibn al Nafis
Bias: Ancient Islamic Science in Modern Scholarship
Archaic Athens and Sparta
Persian Wars and Empire
Themes: East vs. West, Us vs. Them
Greek Settlements in Ionia
The Near East in the First Millennium
Greek Trade with Persia
The Rise of Persia
Persian Kingship and Religion
The Buffer States: Lydia and Phrygia
Herodotus’ Histories
The Fall of Lydia
The Conquest of Asia
Darius Enters Europe
The Ionian Revolt
The Persian Perspective: Who are the Greeks?
The First Persian War
The Second Persian War
The End of the Persian Wars
Images of Persians in Greek Literature and Art
The Palace Complexes at Persepolis, Susa, and Pasargadae
The Persepolis Reliefs
Administration of the Achaemenid Empire
The Aftermath of the Persian Wars in Greece
The Achaemenid Empire After the Persian Wars
The Egyptian Revolt
The Peloponnesian War and the Persian Role
Greek Mercenaries and the Instability of the Persian Empire
The Rise of Macedon and Alexander’s Invasion of Asia and Egypt
The Battle of Gaugamela and the Burning of Persepolis
The Death of Darius and the Trek to India
The New “Great King”, Alexander’s Death, and the Seleucid Empire
The World Alexander Created: The Art of Seleucid Asia
Orientalism and the Persian Past
Detecting Scholarly Bias: Civilized Greeks and Persian “barbaroi”
Justice
Agamemnon
Libation-Bearers
Eumenides
The Athenian Constitution
The Clouds
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Plato’s Euthyphro
Plato’s Apology
Crito
Greek Law
Greek Tragedy of Crime
Modern Criminology and Ancient Crime
Athens and Draco’s Homicide Law
Greek Philosophy of Crime
Democracy: Theory and Practice
Democratic Values and Ideology
The Solonic Reforms
The Peisistratid Tyranny
The Cleisthenic Constitution
The Marathon Campaign
The Continuation of the Persian Wars
The Establishment of the Athenian Empire and Radical Democracy
Decision Making in a Direct Democracy: The Assembly
Other Democratic Institutions
Demes and Local Democracy
The Demos and the Wealthy
Political Participation by Common Athenians
Critics and Citicism
The Athenian Court System
Approaching Forensic Evidence
Making Arguments from Lawcourt Speeches
Leaders, Demagpgues, Sykophants, and Experts
Athens’ Self-Image and Exploitation of the Delian League
5th and 4th Century Democracy Compared
Drama and Democracy
Athenian Democracy and the Peloponnesian Wars
Politicians After Pericles: Cleon, Nicias, and Alcibiades
Athenian Women and Democracy
Democracy and Slavery
Free Non-Citizens
Revolutions of 411/10 and 404/03 BCE
Democracy with Diminished Empire
Athens and Macedonia
Plato’s The Republic
The Archaeology of Democracy
Hellenistic Democracy
Gender
Mythologizing Gender and Sexuality in the Homeric Epics
Reception of Homeric Gender and Sexuality
Women in Archaic Art
Sappho and the Lyric Poets
The Female Body and the Nature of Women
The Young Girl
Clothing and Adornment
The Greek Wedding
Marriage in Greek Law and Life
The Greek House
Domestic Labor and the Seclusion of Women
Gender and the Greek City
Women’s Education
Pregnancy and Childbirth
Rearing a Child
Children and Parents
Divorce
Dissolution of Marriage: Old Age and Death
Foreign Women/Metics
Sexuality, Sexual Identities, and Sexual Systems
Sex Workers and Sexuality
Female Homoeroticism
Female Slaves
Staging Gender and Sexuality in Classical Athens
Religious Life of Women and Girls
Reception of Greek Gender and Sexuality in the Modern Age
Gender and Romance: The Greek Novel
“Romantic” Friendships between Women and Men
Legalizing Gender and Sexuality in Classical Greece
Greek Democracy and Male Homosexuality
Philosophizing Gender and Sexuality in Classical Greece
Cursing Gender and Sexuality in Greece and Rome
Slavery
Slavery and Alienation
Modern Theories of Ancient Slavery
The Origins of Slavery: Chattel Slavery and Other Forms of Servitude
Debt Bondage and Slavery
Means of Enslavement
Slave Supply and Slave Numbers
Economic Role of Enslaved People
Enslaved People and the Law
Treatment of Enslaved People
Enslaved People as Members of the Household and Agricultural Workers
Enslaved People as Public Employees, Officials, and Business Agents
The Family Life of Enslaved People
Enslaved People in Literature and Subversions of Stereotypes
Manumission
Freedmen
Other Forms of Partial or Conditional Servitude
Creative Approaches to Slavery
Resistance and Revolt
Justifications and Criticisms of Slavery
Slavery and Morality/Natural Law
Stoic and Christian Views on Enslaved People and Slavery
Slavery, Ancient and Modern
Religion and Sacrifice
The Divine Apparatus
Gods and Mortals in Myth
Private Religion and Rites of Passage
Polis Religion
Sanctuaries and Religious Professionals
Sacrifice and Prayer
Religious Festivals at Athens
Panhellenic Festivals and Games
Oracles and Dreams
Mystery Religions
Magic and Foreign Cults
Religion in the Hellenistic World
The Archaeology of Religion
The Peloponnesian Wars
Thucydides
The Sicilian Expedition
Athens in Defeat
Socrates and the 4th Century
Material Monism
Material Pluralism
Socrates in the Clouds
Socrates at a Dinner Party
Socrates in Court
Socrates in Jail
The Last Hours of Socrates
Antisthenes as a Socratic Philosopher
Aristippus as a Socratic Philosopher
Socrates Gone Mad: Diogenes the Dog
The Rise of Thebes and the Fall of Sparta
Sparta According to the Greeks
Plutarch and His Influence
The Revisionist Approach to Sparta
Attitudes to Sparta in Europe and North America
Case Study: The Battle of Thermopylae
The Battle of Chaeronea and Aftermath
Philip and Alexander
How the Sources Survived: Books and Libraries in the Ancient World
The Historical Alexander – Sources
Visual Sources and the Genesis of Alexander’s Image
Arrian: Who was he, and how reliable a source?
Alexander’s Successors and the Hellenistic Age
From Alexandria to Afghanistan: Alexander’s Cities
The Image of the King and Macedonian Palaces
A New Form of Civic Life: Macedonian Cities
Urban Layout
Agoras
Gymnasia
Theaters
Domestic Archaeology
Funerary Archaeology
Hellenistic Sanctuaries
Honorific Statue Habit in the Hellenistic Period
Nemrud Dag: Constructing Identity in the Hellenistic World
Plutarch as a Historical Source and the Nature of Ancient Biography
Biography and Psychology: Conflicting Views of Alexander’s Character
The Enemy Within: Alexander the Alcoholic?
The Sexuality of Alexander
Military genius or dumb luck? The Logistics of Alexander’s Campaigns
The So-Called “Divinity” of Alexander
Alexander and the (Supposed) “Brotherhood of Man”
Alexander Magnus: Roman Responses to Alexander
The Alexander Romance: Origins and Diffusion
The Alexander Romance and the Ancient Novel – Romance
Some Tall Tales
Re-Presentations of Alexander in Eastern and Western Art
Alexander in Fiction: Kipling and The Man Who Would Be King
Alexander, the Macedonian Question, and Contemporary Greek Politics
Alexander’s Conquest of Perisa
Alexander’s Later Career and his Greco-Oriental Empire
The Ambitions of Antigonus and the Initial Emergence of the Kingdoms
The Consolidation of the Kingdoms and Fall of Lysimachus
Ptolemaic Egypt
Ptolemaic Administration of Egypt
Seleucid History and Political History
The Attalid Kingdom of Pergamum
The Antigonid Kingdom of Macedonia and the Greek Leagues
Philip V and Rome
Rome and Antiochus III and Later Relations with Macedonia
The Later Seleucids
Roman Domination of the Hellenistic East
Hellenistic Society
Hellenistic Economy
Hellenistic Culture
Archaic and Classical Art
Precepts, Styles, and Themes in Hellenistic Art
Rise of Argeads and the Royal Tombs at Vergina
Lysippos and the Court Artists: Image-Makers
Pergamon: Attalids, Gauls, and the Pergamene “School”
The Altar of Zeus
The City and the Lesser Attalid Monuments in Athens
Hellenistic Luxury Arts
Hellenistic Painting and Mosaics
Hellenistic Sculpture: New and Evolving Physical Forms
Hellenistic Sculpture: Images of Women and Children
Gandharan Art and the Fringes of Hellenistic Style in the East
Roman and Hellenistic Style in the Empire
Hellenistic Literature
Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics
Cynics
Cyrenaics
Pyrrhonian Sceptics
Introduction to Epicureans
Epicurean Ethics
Criticism of Epicurean Ethics
Introduction to Stoics
Stoic Ethics
Criticism of Stoic Ethics
Academic Ethics
Introduction to Seneca
Tranquility
Shortness of Life
Consolation
Anger
Mercy
Philosphers in Elite Circles
Philosophers in Popular Culture
The Etruscans and Rome
186 Topics
Geography, Geology, Materials/Resources, and Ethnicities of Italy
Beginnings of Etruscology
The Villanovans: Prehistoric Europeans?
Who were the Etruscans, and where did they come from?
The Orientalizing Period
The Formation of Settlements
The Archaic Period
Social and Political Organization
Etruscan Women
Urban Planning
Etruscan Language
Religion and “Mythology”
Burial Practices
The Classical Etruscans
Commerce and Connections
Etruscans at Sea and Interactions with the Greeks
Material Cultulre
Looking at Greek Vases
Architecture, Science, and Technology
Etruscan Temples
Bronze Production
Expansion in the Po Valley
The Importance of Archaeological Survey
Rome vs. the Etruscans
Tribes and Kings
Sources on Early Rome
The Archaeology of Early Latium
The Political and Social Structure of 5th Century Rome
The Ideology of the Republic
Rome, the Latins, and the Balance of Power in Central Italy
The Struggle of the Orders
The Decemvirate and the Twelve Tables
Roman Aristocracy and Religion
The Republican Constitution
Roman Expansion in Italy
The Pyrrhic War
The Roman Army
Rome’s “First” Encounter: Is anything Vergil said true?
The Early History of Romano-Carthaginian Relations
The First Punic War
The Second Punic War
Roman Imperialism in the East
Third Macedonian War
The Influence of Greece
Roman Imperialism in the West
Early Roman Literature
Domestic and Factional Politics in the Second Century
Roman Society and Economy in the Second Century
Roman Administration of the Republican Imperium
Later History of North Africa and the Third Punic War
Numidia and Jugurtha
Juba II and Mauretania
Africa, “The Granary of Rome”
Colonialism, Post-Colonialism, and Decolonization
Abrahamic Religions in North Africa
Martyrdom
The Persecutions and Martyr Narratives
Women and the African Church
African Catholicisms and the “Donatist” Schism
Latin and Non-Latin Africa
Circumcellions and the “Macarian” Persecution
Augustine the Roman
Augustine the African
Macedonia, Greece, and the Achaean War
The Social and Political Structure of Second Century Rome
The Bacchic Scandal
The Consequences of Empire
The Gracchi
The Rise of Gaius Marius
Roman Religion
Gods and Goddesses
Priests and Priestesses
Sacred Time and Space
Ritual and Sacrifice
Magic and Divination
Death and the Afterlife
Founding Roman Religion: Identity and Power
Republican Expansion and Religious Expansion
Increasing Power and Control
Diaspora Religions in the Roman Empire
Imperial Cult and Imperial Religions
The Universal Goddess
“Barbarian” Wisdoms
Local Religions in an Imperial Frame
Religion and the Imperial Order: Tolerance, Rebellion, and Persecution
God(s) of the Philosophers
Local and Global Perspectives
Roman Society
Roman Houses
Pompeii and Herculaneum: Urban Layout
Politics and the Forum of Pompeii
Religion in Pompeii: Buildings and Their Cults
Spectacles and Entertainment: Theater and Gladiatorial Combat
The Late Republic: Popular Entertainment or Political Bribery?
The Early Empire, the Reforms of Augustus, and an Imperial Monopoly
The Emperor, the People, and Spectacle: Commodus in the Arena
The Social World of the Gladiator and Charioteer
Training and Social World of Performances
Gender and Sexuality
Elite and Popular Cultural Discourse
Roman Baths
Food and Banqueting
Ancient Evidence for Food and Drink
Arable Farming
Starches
Ranching
Meats
Fishes
Fish Sauce
Vegetables and Fruits
Dairy
Trade
Spices
Food Supply
Alcohol
The Symposium
Food and Religion
Utensils and Kitchens
Dining Spaces and Dinnerware
Banquets and Guest Friendship
Manners and Entertainment
Cena Trimalchionis
Gourmets, Luxury, and Consumption
Cook Shops
Nutrition
Food for Soldiers
Barbarians and the Food of “Others”
Forbidden Foods
Food and Medicine
Food and the Body
Verism and Social Power in Republican Portraiture
Representing the Emperor
Embodying Power and Pleasure
Bodies in Victory and Defeat
Slaves, Freedpeople, and Social Transformation in Roman Art
Honor, Gender, and Identity: Portraits of Women
Bodies of Desire: The Female “Nude”
Power and Penetrability
Bodies in Between: Hermaphrodite
Monsters and Hybrids
How to Look at Mythological Bodies
When Bad Things Happen to Good Statues
The Corpse and the Divine
Late Antique Transformations
Sex and Gender
From Greece to Rome: The Body Female and the Body Politic
Roman Men and Social Ideals
Roman Law and Cultural Relativity
Roman Comedy
Catullus and the Elegists
Ovid: Proto-Feminist or Extreme Sexist?
Ethno-Sexuality
Domestic Spaces
Love and Marriage
Women and Religion
Gender and Magic
Women and the Law
The Social War
The Sullan Settlement and its Failure
Systematic Disintegration
The Rise and Fall of the First Triumvirate
Caesar in Gaol and Provincial Administration
The Civil War and Dictatorship
The Antonine Age – Rome in its Grandeur
Culture and Learning in the High Empire
The Severan Dynasty
The Third Century Crisis
Christianity in the Roman Empire
Dicoletian
Constantine and the Arian Controversy
Law, Religion, and Culture Under the Constantinian Empire
Julian
Valentinian, Valens, and Theodosius – Politics, Culture, and Law
Christianity and Paganism Under the Theodosian Dynasty
The Empire Divided: Arcadius, Honorius, and the Two Roman Empires
A Generation Living through Roman Decline
Culture, Religion, and Law in Post-Roman Gaul
Culture, Religion, and Law in Post-Roman Italy
Culture, Religion, and Other Concerns in Post-Roman Africa and Spain
The Eastern Empire in the 5th Century
The Levant
29 Topics
The Levant Before Israel
The Emergence of Israel
The Rise of Israelite Monarchy
Women, Sex, and Gender in Ancient Israel
Collective Politics and the Split of the Kingdom
The Omride Dynasty of Israel
The Nimshide Dynasty of Israel
Writing, Scribalism, and the Beginnings of Hebrew-Language Literature
Jersualem and Judah in the Late 8th Century BCE
Gods, Goddesses, Humanity, and Afterlife in the Netherworld
Judah Under Empire: Postcolonial Theory and Assyria
Jersualem’s Destruction and the Trauma of Exile
“Yelud” as Province of Imperial Persia
The Diasporic Jewish Communities in Babylonia and Elephantine
Jews in the Hellenistic Period
The Neolithic Levant
The Hasmonian Period and Eventual Rule Under the Romans
Egypt and the Levant
Anatolia (Hittites) and the Levant
Mesopotamia (Assyrians and Babylonians) and the Levant
Achaemenid Persia and the Levant
Judaism and Christianity
47 Topics
What is Judaism?
Israelite-Judean Religion vs. Canaanite Religion vs. Biblical Religion
Primary Themes of the Deuteronomic Tradition
Primary Themes of the Priestly Cultic Tradition
Major Themes of Genesis and Exodus
Major Themes of the Deuteronomistic History
Major Themes of the Literayr Prophets and the Wisdom Books
Biblical Israel to Second Temple Judaism
Jewish Identity and Greek Culture
The Rise of Apocalypticism
The Formation of Sects and Charismatic Figures Opposed to Roman Rule
Second Temple Period
The Emergence of Rabbinic Judaism
The Role of Scholars/Sages
Consequences of the Christianization of the Empire
Jewish Communities in Palestine
Emergence of the Babylonian Jewish Community
The Rabbinic “Myth of Origins”
The Rabbinic Concept of “Torah”
The Literary Output of the Rabbinic Community
The Study and Interpretation of Torah
Themes in Rabbinic Writings
The Rabbis’ Role in Jewish Society and Relationship to Other Groups
Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Philo, Apocrypha, and Pseudepigrapha
Narratives of Christian Origins
The “Parting of the Ways”
Thomas Aquinas and “The Triumph of Faith”
The Quest for Certainty
The Quest for Virtue
Absorbing the East: Rome and the Integration of Greek Culture
The Roman Empire at its Height
Political Transformations in the Third Century
Jesus
Paul, “The Founder of Christianity”?
The First Christian Communities
Constantine and the Coming of the Christian State
Emperors and the Making of Christian Doctrine
Bishops and Society in the 4th Century
Six Emperors and a Bishop: Ambrose of Milan
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus and the Defense of Paganism
The Ascetic Odyssey
Eastern Christianity and the Emergence of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantium
41 Topics
Peoples and Languages of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantium’s Neighbors
Byzantium’s Greek, Roman, and Christian Roots
Modern Byzantine Studies
Sources for Byzantine History
Constantinople
Justinian’s Roman Empire
Sources for Justinian’s Reign
Life in the New Rome: Games, Law, and the Plague
Philosophy and Religion: Development and Conflict
Heraclius and After: Persians and Arabs, Slavs and Bulgars
The Theme (Themata) System
Byzantine Coins and Lead Seals
The Decline of Cities: A Survey of Sites in the Balkans and Asia Minor
Iconoclasm: Political Background
Theology
Education, Icons, and Authority
Missionary Activity and the Lives of Saints Cyril and Methodios
Byzantium and Bulgaria
The De Administrato Imperio and Imperial Diplomacy
Monasticism
Liutprand’s Embassy
Nikephoros II Phokas and Imperial Triumph
John Skylitzes
Basil II “The Bulgar-Slayer”
The Emperor and Ceremonial
Coronation
Medieval Constantinople and the Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai
Michael Psellos
The Emergence of a Provincial Military Aristocracy
Seals and Surnames
Alexios Komnenos and the West
Anna Komnene and Her Alexiad
The Empire of Manuel Komnenos
The Image of the Emperor
The Economy and the State Economy
The Final Centuries to 1453: A Christian Empire?
The Death of the Emperor
Dying Rich and Dying Poor
The End of Times
Eastern Europe
20 Topics
The Early East Slavs and Their Neighbors in Eastern Europe
The Calling of Riurik
Oleg and the Unificatin of Rus’
Raids on Constantinople and the Caspian
Igor’ and Ol’ga
Sviatoslav’s Raid on the Khazars and Relocation of Rus’
Vladimir and the Establishment of Rus’
Ol’ga’s Christianization
European Orientation and Integration
Vladimir’s Conversion of Rus’
Iaroslav Mudryi
Byzantine Appropriation
Interconnectivity throughout Europe
Dynastic Marriages
How Rus’ is Governed
Russian Governmental Infighting
Role of the Steppe Peoples in Rus’
Dissolution of Central Control
Beginnings of Rus’ as an “Other” to the West
The Bulgars
The Celts
44 Topics
Cultural Geography
The Druids
The Warriors’ Feast
Other Social Customs
Tales of Women and Goddesses
Brennos I: The Invasion of Italy (387 BCE)
Brennos II: The Invasion of Greece (279 BCE)
Early Irish Contacts and First Impressions
Caesar’s First Invasion (55 BCE)
Caesar’s Second Invasion (54 BCE): Cassivellaunus
The Claudian Invasion: Breaking the Catuvellauni
Expansion: Caratacus, Cartimandua, Venutius
Boudicca’s Rebellion
Agricola’s Conquest of the North
The British Tradition: Before the Romans
The British Tradition: The Roman Period
The British Tradition: Danger, Decline, Collapse
Vortigern and the Anglo-Saxon Influx
The Tale of Emrys
The Life of Saint Patrick
Earliest Mentions of Arthur
The Wonders of Britain, Mona, and Ireland
The Voyage of Saint Brendan
Myths of Time and Place
Travels to the Otherworld
Horror, Face, and Fighting at Feasts
Heroes within and without the Tribe
Bards and Heroes
Communities across the Christian-Pagan Divide
The Myth of the “Celtic Church”
Art and Architecture of the Early Church
Art of the Golden Age
Marrying the Land
Christianizing the Sacral
“Celtic” Institutions
Rewriting the Law
Rewriting the Past
Rewriting Heroic Tradition
Rewriting Gender
Gaels and Normans
The Legacy of the Hywel
Kingship and Celticity in Medieval Scotland
The Archaeology of Arthur
The Appropriation of Arthur
Britain and Ireland
57 Topics
Environment, Culture, and Chronology
The Earliest Britons – Paleolithic and Mesolithic Peoples
Early Hunters: Coastal and Inland Adaptations
Early Neolithic Times: The Domestic Lives of Early Britons & Irish
The End of the Neolithic and Beginning of the Bronze Age
The Early Iron Age: 700-150 BCE
The End of Prehistory: The Later Iron Age to Roman Times
The Arrival of Anglo-Saxons
The Conversion of the English
Non-Christian Religion
Sutton Hoo and the Staffordshire Hoard
The Golden Age of Northumbria
The Ascendancy of Mercia and the Age of Offa
The Viking Impact
Wessex under Alfred the Great
The Rise of Wessex from Edward to Edgar
Aethelraed “the Unready” and King Canute
Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon Poetry
The Celts and the Anglo-Cambro-Normans
Dumonia
Wales
Early Christian Monuments
Wroxeter, Britannia Prima, and York
The North of England
The Picts
Dal Riata
Ireland
Rules and Resistance, and the Domesday Book
The 10th Century (the “Dark Ages”)
Cnut the Dane and Edward the Confessor
Wililam the Conqueror
Life in an Occupied England
Order and Disorder
The Angevins
The Irish in Wales
Gildas and the Ruin of Britain
Aneirin, Taliesin, and “Nennius”
The Welsh and the English
The Welsh in the Viking Age
England and Wales
Gruffudd ap Llywelyn
The Three Patron Saints of Ireland
Gender in Medieval Ireland
The Coming of the Vikings
The Battle of Clontarf: History and Story
Creating Identity and Imagining the Past
A Sense of Person and Place in the Genealogies and Dindsenchas
Art and Architecture in Medieval Ireland
Ecclesiastical Change and Renewal
The Anglo-Norman Incursion and Gerald of Wales
[Medieval Scotland]
The Vikings
58 Topics
Scandinavia and the Background to the Viking Age
The Written Sources
Geography of the Viking World
Viking Society
Daily Life
Rigsthula
Art
Cultural Beliefs
Political Power and Social Norms
Havamal and Rigsthula
Religion and Spiritual Values
Norse Mythology
Prose Edda
Lindisfarne
Ships, Merchants, and Traders
Tactics and Technology
Raids and Settlement
Vikings in France
Vikings vs. Charlemagne
Rollo of Normandy
The Development of a Continental Army
Vikings in Russia
Consolidation of Power in Norway
Vikings in Iceland
A Land without a King
The Literati of the Viking World
The Discovery and Settlement of Greenland
The Discovery of Vinland
The Controversy over Vinland
The End of Scandinavians in the New World
Vikings in Britain
Targets of Raids
Targets of Settlement
Creation of the Danelaw
A British Navy
The Wealth of Ireland
The Creation of Dublin
Creating Kingdoms in the North Sea
Sources of the Sagas
Egil’s Travels, and Relationship with Authority and with Family
Role of Christianity in the Saga
Traditional Raiding in the Eastern Baltic
The Routes to Constantinople and Baghdad
The Importance of Gotland
Violence, Blood Feud, and Their Consequences
Outlawry
Wergeld
Slavery
The First Christian Missionaries
The Christianization of Norway
The Christianization of Iceland
A New Religious Norm Emerges
The Role of Women in Viking Society
Women as Displayed in the Sagas
The Consolidation of Kingdoms
The Empire of Cnut
1066: Stamford Bridge and Hasting
Viking Legacy
The Ostrogoths
7 Topics
Origins of the Goths
The Conquest of Italy by Theoderic the Great
Government, Society, and Economy in the Kingdom of Theoderic
The Gothic Renaissance under Theoderic
Theoderic’s Death and the End of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy
The Gothic War
The Byzantines and the Lombards
The Franks
9 Topics
The Barbarian World in the 6th Century
Creation of the Frankish Kingdom
Barbarian Conversion to Christianity
Monasticism and Mission: The Vision of Gregory the Great
Carolingian Assumption of Frankish Leadership: Charles the Hammer
Charlemagne – The Early Years
Louis the Pious and the Christian Frankish Empire
The Carolingian Renaissance
Ruling Structures
The Ancient Arab World
14 Topics
Sources and Provinces
Dilmun
Magan
Alexander the Great and the Seleucids
Mesenem Gerrha, and Omana
The Gulf and the Sasanians
The Ancient Tribes of ‘Ad and Thamud
South Arabia: Location, Archaeology, Inscriptions, and Trade
Ma’in, Himyar, and Thire Civilization
The Hijaz and its Main Cities
The Nabateans
Palmyra
The Arabic Kingdoms of Ghassanids and Lakhmids
The Persians
19 Topics
Assyrian and Median Empires
Cyrus
Darius and his Coup d’etat
The Royal Inscriptions
The Royal Court and Administration of the Achaemenids
The Persians and the Greeks
Establishing and Maintaining Frontiers – Internal and External
The Aftermath of Alexander
The Seleucids, the Parthians, and the Roman Annexation of Syria
Rome, the Parthians, and the Buffer States
The Rise of the Sasanids of Persia until the Defeat of Narse
The Empires at War
Armenia and the Caucasus between the Empires
Persian Ascendancy
The Collapse of the Persian Empire and Muhammad’s Movement
The Persification of the Arabs
Persian Revival in the East: The Samanid Dynasty
Persianate Sphere in Afghanistan and Northern India
The Rise of Islam
22 Topics
Apologetics, Islamophobia, and Unlearning What We Think We Know
Persian Culture and the Silk Road
Traces of Paganism in the Arabian Peninsula
Byzantines vs. Sasanians: Imperial Collapse
Muhammad and the Early Muslim Community
Outlines of a New Community
Syncretism
Prophets and Lore of Islam
Civil War into an Islamic Empire
Early Doctrinal Disputes
The Edge of the Islamic World: North Africa and Central Asia
Islamic Coins as Historical Sources
The Abbasid Revolution and the “Golden Age” of Islam
One Religion, Many Interpretations
Aristotle in Arabic
Multifconfessional Empire
The Search for Truth
Competing Caliphates, Struggling Sultanates
Sunnisms and Shi’isms
Religion as Law
Climate Change and Nomads
Culture and Conflict in the Medieval Islamic Court
Islamic Golden Age
32 Topics
Religious Influence
Government Sponsorship
Earlier Cultural Influence
New Technology
Metaphysics
Epistemology
Algebra
Geometry
Trigonometry
Calculus
The Scientific Method
Astronomy
Physics
Mechanics
Chemistry
Geodesy
Biology
Hospitals
Pharmacies
Medicine
Surgery
Poetry
Art
Materials and Craft-Working
Architecture
Moorish Architecture
Law, Bureaucracy, and Government
Invasions
Economics
Cultural Decline
Islamic Contributions to Medieval Europe
Transmission Routes