Course Schedule, Classical Near East {330 BC – 630 AD}, (History 239-1)

William J. Hamblin, Winter 2005, MWF 2-2:50 (253 MARB)

#	Date	Topic	Reading Assignment	Optional Readings
1	W 5 Jan	Introduction to the Course
2	F 7 Jan	Background on the Classical Near East Greek Historians; Maps	Shipley, 1-32; Frye 1-14; AAH 60-67	CHW 1-16
3	M 10 Jan	The Achaemenid Persian Empire Inscriptions and coins	Frye, 53-123; AAH 68-72	Wiesehofer 29-65
4	W 12 Jan	Alexander and the Successors Art History and Iconography	Shipley, 33-58; Frye 124-30; AAH 73-77	CHW 17-50
5	F 14 Jan	Power and Society in the Hellenistic era Archaeology	Shipley, 59-107	CHW 354-372
	M 17 Jan	Holiday
6	W 19 Jan	Macedonia and Greece Paper Topic Due	Shipley, 108-152	CHW 134-174, 407-430
7	F 21 Jan	Religion and Philosophy	Shipley, 153-191	CHW 407-430, 464-476
8	M 24 Jan	Ptolemaic Egypt	Shipley, 192-234; AAH 78-79	CHW 105-120
9	W 26 Jan	Literature, Art and Culture The Occult	Shipley, 235-270	CHW 477-514
10	F 28 Jan	The Seleukids (Seleucids) Pergamon; Apocalyptic	Shipley, 271-325; Frye 130-152; AAH 80-81, 84-87	CHW 121-133; CHI 3/1:3-20
11	M 31 Jan	Hellenistic Science and Technology	Shipley, 326-367	CHW 449-463
12	W 2 Feb	Central Asian Nomads Mandeans Paper Bibliography Due	Frye, 152-169	CHI 3/1:232-62, 3/2:965-1025
13	F 4 Feb	Zoroastrianism Indic Religions in Iran	Frye, 15-52	CHI 3/2:819-908; Wiesehofer, 94-101
14	M 7 Feb	The Parthians (Arsacids) Mithraism	Frye, 170-97; AAH 88-89	CHI 3/1:21-99; Wiesehofer, 117-149
15	W 9 Feb	The Sasanids Manichaeans	Frye, 198-223	CHI 3/1:116-180; Wiesehofer, 153-182
16	F 11 Feb	Iranian Culture and Literature Vision of Kirdir		CHI 3/2:1027-1260; Wiesehofer, 183-245
17	M 14 Feb	Background to Rome Roman Historians	Shipley 368-399; AAH 82-83	Millar, 1-26
18	W 16 Feb	Establishment of Rome in the East Apocrypha Paper Outline Due	Ball 1-14; AAH 90-95	CHW 51-102; Millar, 27-79
19	F18 Feb	Early Christianity; Spread of Christianity Early Christian Literature
	M 21 Feb	Holiday
20	T 22 Feb	Make-up
21	W 23 Feb	Review for Midterm
		Midterm: Testing Center
22	F 25 Feb	Imperial Age Neoplatonism	Ball 15-21; AAH 96-103	Millar, 80-126
23	M 28 Feb	Rome and Persia OT Pseudepigrapha	Ball 106-148	CHI 3/1:559-592; Millar, 127-173
24	W 2 Mar	Armenians Armenian Literature		--
25	F 4 Mar	The Age of the Tetarchy; Decline of Rome Divine Kingship; Mystery Religions	Ball 21-24, 207-245; AAH 104-5	CHW 177-95, 431-445; Millar, 174-222
26	M 7 Mar	Jews Jewish Texts	Ball 47-60	CHW 264-279; Millar, 337-386
27	W 9 Mar	Syria and Phoenicia Syriac Literature	Ball 30-47, 149-180	Millar, 225-296
28	F 11 Mar	Syria; Palmyra and Zenobia Dead Sea Scrolls	Ball 74-87, 247-306	Millar, 296-336
29	M 14 Mar	Arabs; Nabataeans	Ball 60-73, 96-105, 181-206	Millar, 387-436
30	W 16 Mar	Nubia and Ethiopia Ethiopic Literature		--
31	F 18 Mar	Euphrates and Mesopotamia Egypt in Late Antiquity	Ball 87-96, 306-356	Millar, 437-488
32	M 21 Mar	East and West Mysticism Papers are Due	Ball 397-450	Millar, 489-532
33	W 23 Mar	Monasticism	Ball 356-396
34	F 25 Mar	Constantine Byzantine Jerusalem	Norwich, 31-79; AAH 106-14
35	M 28 Mar	Julian the Apostate Byzantine Historians	Norwich, 80-118; Ball 24-26
36	W 30 Mar	The Fall of Rome; Germans and Huns Nag Hammadi Texts and Gnosticism	Norwich, 119-159
37	F 1 Apr	Justinian Byzantine Fathers and Patrology	Norwich, 160-204; Ball 26-27
38	M 4 Apr	Belisarius Church Councils; Apostasy	Norwich, 205-244
39	W 6 Apr	Decline NT Pseudepigrapha	Norwich, 245-283
40	F 8 Apr	Heraclius Coptic Literature Conclusions	Norwich, 284-311; Ball 27-29
41	M 11 Apr	Make-up
42	W 13 Apr	Review for the Final
		Final at Testing Center

Required Readings

AAH = Colin McEvedy, The New Penguin Atlas of Ancient History, (London: Penguin, 2002)

Ball = Warwick Ball, Rome in the East (Routledge, 2000)

Frye = Richard Frye, The Heritage of Persia, (World Publishing, 1963)

Norwich = J. Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries, (Knopf, 1989)

Shipley = Graham Shipley, The Greek World After Alexander, (Routledge, 2000)

Optional Readings

Millar = Fergus Millar, The Roman Near East, (Harvard, 1993)

Wiesehofer = Josef Wiesehofer, Ancient Persia, (Tauris, 1996)

CHI 3/1 = E. Yarshater (editor), The Cambridge History of Iran, 3/1: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods, (Cambridge, 1983)

CHI 3/2 = E. Yarshater (editor), The Cambridge History of Iran, 3/2: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods, (Cambridge, 1983)

CHW = Andrew Erskine, A Companion to the Hellenistic World, (Blackwell, 2003)