3 credits
Fall 2025 Lecture Lower Division
This course is a survey of the development of the ancient Near East, from its pre-history to Alexander the Great. It emphasizes the evolutions of various Near Eastern cultures in their many manifestations; art, government, agriculture, economics, philosophy, religion, ethics, and science. Taught in English.
Learning Outcomes1Understand the difference between pre-history and history.
2Understand various ancient and modern ideas of the purpose of writing history.
3Understand how the invention of writing and the origins of cities were coordinate developments.
4Understand something of the flow of empires that succeeded each other, eventually displaced by the empire of Alexander the Great, whose conquests shaped the contours of the world much as we know it.
5Become aware how art reflects the development of thought and idealism; how ideas of human government evolved; how religion, science, agriculture, and much else developed as empires built onto those they displaced.
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