History

History 116, the first part of the introductory surveys of Western Civilization. This course covers the period from “early civilized man to the early Middle Ages of Europe, with emphasis on Greece, Rome, Egypt and other Mediterranean peoples.

This course focuses on the history of Greek and Roman civilizations beginning with the origins of ancient Greek culture in the Aegean Bronze Age (c. 3000–1100 BCE) through the period of the Roman Empire at the height of its greatest extent and prosperity (c. 31 BCE–235 CE).

"This course surveys the social, cultural, and political development of western Europe between 500 and 1350. A number of topics are incorporated into the broad chronological sweep of the course, including: the Germanic conquest of the ancient Mediterranean world; the rise of a distinct northern culture and the Carolingian Renaissance; the emergence of feudalism and the breakdown of political order; contact with the Byzantine and Islamic East and the Crusading movement; the quality of religious life; the vitality of the high medieval economy and culture; and the catastrophes of the fourteenth century."