Active Outline

General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
HISTD006A
Course Title (CB02)
History of Western Civilization: Pre-History to 750 C.E.
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
The development of Western Civilization from the fourth millennium BCE to the eighth century CE.
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course is a major preparation requirement in the discipline for the Associate in Arts degree in History for transfer and at least one CSU or U.C., and is a requirement of a B.A. degree. In addition, it is part of a sequence and meets the needs for history majors and G.E. students as it satisfies a chronological sequence and offers European history from the Ancient period through late antiquity (750 CE).

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to both UC and CSU
ý GEArea(s)StatusDetails
2GC2ý GE Area C2 - HumanitiesApproved
2GDXý GE Area D - Social and Behavioral SciencesApproved
CSU GEArea(s)StatusDetails
CGC2CSU GE Area C2 - HumanitiesApproved
CGDYCSU GE Area D - Social SciencesApproved
IGETCArea(s)StatusDetails
IG3BIGETC Area 3B - HumanitiesApproved
IG4XIGETC Area 4 - Social and Behavioral SciencesApproved
C-IDArea(s)StatusDetails
HISTHistoryApprovedHIST D006A & HIST D006B required for C-ID HIST 170

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
4.0
Maximum Credit Units
4.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours4.08.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
48.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
96.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
96.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

(Not open to students with credit in the Honors Program related course.)

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

(See general education pages for the requirements this course meets.)

Methods of Instruction

Lecture and visual aids

Discussion of assigned reading

Discussion and problem solving performed in class

In-class essays

Quiz and examination review performed in class

Homework and extended projects

Collaborative learning and small group exercises

Collaborative projects

Film/documentaries

Assignments

  1. Reading Assignments: Regular reading assignments from the college-­â€level texts, including both primary and secondary sources, from which students will gain and demonstrate knowledge of political, economic, social, and cultural events of the historical era for this course.
  2. Writing Assignments: Writing to be selected from a combination of assignments such as research papers, in-­â€class essays in exam format, book reviews, and/or other analytic written assignments that critique and evaluate primary sources and secondary sources and demonstrate an understanding of the historical era for this course. Students will write a minimum of 1700 words during the quarter, including at least one individual typed paper of at least 750 words.
  3. Objective evaluation through assignments such as quizzes, map identifications, or objective sections of in-­â€class midterm(s) or the final examination in which students demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate primary and secondary historical sources.
  4. Group or individual participation in oral analytical expression such as in-class discussions, debates, or analysis of texts, including primary documents.

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Oral analysis: participation in and contribution toward classroom discussions, debates, or specified group project(s) in which students demonstrate analytical skills, such as clarity of argument and the use of evidence to support arguments, in oral interpretations of sources, including primary historical documents.
  2. Essay assignments that will demonstrate students’ ability to make and support meaningful statements about primary and secondary historical sources and historical events and to exhibit critical thinking and analytical skills in evaluating the era of history for this course. Students will write at least 1700 words during the quarter, including at least one individual typed paper of at least 750 words.
  3. Objective evaluation through assignments such as quizzes, map identifications, objective sections of in-­â€class exams, final exam or other analytical projects in which students demonstrate the ability to critically analyze college-­â€level secondary source readings and primary source documents in the era of history for this course.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • None.

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Coffin, Judith, et al. Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture (Seventeenth Edition) (Vol. 1) New York: Norton, 2011.
Hunt, Lynn, et al. The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, Vol. A: To 1500 (Fifith Edition). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2016.
Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. et al. Discovering the Western Past: A Look at the Evidence, Vol.I: To 1789 (Seventh Edition.) Boston: Wadsworth, 2014.

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
Allen, Lindsay. The Persian Empire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Anthony, David W. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010.
Berkey, Jonathan. The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Bernal, Martin. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, Ninth Edition (The Fabrication of Ancient Greece 1785-1985, Volume 1). New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1991.
Blundell, Sue, Women in Ancient Greece. London: British Museum Press, 1999.
Bradley, Keith. Discovering the Roman Family: Studies in Roman Social History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Brophy, James, et al. Perspectives from the Past: Primary Sources in Western Civilizations: From the Ancient Near East through the Age of Absolutism (Fifth Edition) (Vol. 1) New York: Norton, 2011.
Brown, Peter. The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1000, 3rd Edition. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
Caldwell, Amy R. Sources of Western Society, Volume I: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment (Second Edition). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010.
Donner, Fred. Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2012.
Finley, Moses. I. Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology. (Sub. ed.) London: Princeton: Markus Wiener, 2017.
Geary, Patrick. Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 1988.
Harris, W. V. ed., Rethinking the Mediterranean. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2006.
Homer. The Iliad. Robert Fagles, trans. New York: Penguin, USA, 1998.
Kamm, Antony. The Israelites: An Introduction. London: Routledge, 1999.
Lualdi, Katherine J. Sources of the Making of the West, Volume I: To 1740. (Fifth Edition) Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2015.
Kemp, Barry. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization. (Second Edition) London: Routledge, 2005.
MacMullen, Ramsay. Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.
McCormick, Michael. Origins of the European Economy: Communications and Commerce AD 300 - 900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Vintage, 1989.
Pomeroy, Sarah. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Shocken, 1995.
Price, Simon , Religions of the Ancient Greeks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Ramage, Nancy and Andrew. Roman Art (Fifth Edition). Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2008.
Suetonius. The Twelve Caesars. New York: Penguin Classics, 2013
Whittow, Mark. The Making of Byzantium, 600-1025. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Compare, contrast and develop a critical understanding of the historical method. Critically evaluate, explain, and defend informed study with respect to the history of western civilization with the use of primary and secondary sources.
  • Use primary and secondary sources from a diverse range of authors to contribute to an understanding of dominant themes in the development of Western Civilization, while also fostering recognition of the contributions of its diverse peoples.
  • Analyze and interpret historical evidence with both primary and secondary sources. Develop critical thinking skills within a multi-cultural diverse approach of the historical method. Use primary and secondary sources from a diverse range of authors to contribute to multi-cultural assessments and interpretations of historical problems within western civilizations. Understand the chronological survey of the stages of development in Western Civilization from the fourth millennium B.C.E. to the eighth century C.E.

CSLOs

  • Students will demonstrate and apply knowledge of Western Civ's earliest history through late antiquity (750 CE) to construct defensible statements of meaning and evaluation about this period's development.

  • Students will identify, critically evaluate, and interpret Western Civ's earliest through late antiquity (750 CE) primary documents to construct historical analysis.

Outline

  1. Compare, contrast and develop a critical understanding of the historical method. Critically evaluate, explain, and defend informed study with respect to the history of western civilization with the use of primary and secondary sources.
    1. The Study of History
      1. History defined
      2. History and myth compared
      3. Introduction to the development of the philosophical approach to history
      4. The practical importance in the study of history
    2. Historiography, and the study of ancient civilizations and Classical Antiquity
      1. The historical method
      2. Critical analysis of evidence (primary and secondary sources)
      3. Epistemology of historical study
      4. The role of formal and informal logic in the historical method
      5. Deciphering ancient texts
      6. Key issues and debates across cultures that define the human condition within western civilizations
  2. Use primary and secondary sources from a diverse range of authors to contribute to an understanding of dominant themes in the development of Western Civilization, while also fostering recognition of the contributions of its diverse peoples.
    1. Major Themes in Western Civilization
      1. Examine Economic organization in western society including trade and Communication Networks
      2. Explain the Impact of Science and Technology, including significant inventions and achievements.
      3. Expansion, conquest and other conflicts between East and West
      4. Cultural (including artistic, literary and architectural contributions), Religious and Philosophical Perspectives
      5. Environment Factors
    2. Recognition of the contributions of diverse peoples in the development of western civilizations.
      1. The place of slavery
      2. The roles of women
      3. The impacts of ethnic and racial diversity
      4. The role of religious dissent
      5. The role of human sexuality
  3. Analyze and interpret historical evidence with both primary and secondary sources. Develop critical thinking skills within a multi-cultural diverse approach of the historical method. Use primary and secondary sources from a diverse range of authors to contribute to multi-cultural assessments and interpretations of historical problems within western civilizations. Understand the chronological survey of the stages of development in Western Civilization from the fourth millennium B.C.E. to the eighth century C.E.
    1. Prehistory
    2. Neolithic Cultures
      1. Altamira, Lascaux, Chauvet
      2. Hunter-gatherer societies
      3. First urban settlements (Jericho and Catal Huyuk)
    3. Mesopotamia
      1. The Agricultural Revolution
      2. Geography and its impact
      3. Urbanization and the rise of city-states (Sumeria, Babylonia, Akkadia, Assyria)
      4. Cuneiform
      5. Population growth
      6. Gilgamesh
      7. Ziggurats, local deities and polytheism
    4. Ancient Egypt
      1. The Nile
      2. Isis and Osiris
      3. Pre-dynastic unification of Upper and Lower Egypt
      4. Old Kingdom
      5. Pyramids
      6. Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate period
      7. Hyksos invasions
      8. New Kingdom (Hapshepsut, Akhenaten, Ramses II)
      9. Egyptian art and monumental architecture
      10. Nubia
    5. Near Eastern Cultures
      1. Hittites, Phoenicians and Philistines
      2. Persians
      3. Hebrews and monotheism
    6. Cycladic, Mycenaean, and Minoan Greece
      1. Bronze Age culture
      2. Shaft graves
      3. Minoan Palace culture
      4. Trading
      5. Warrior-Aristocracy at Mycenae
      6. Linear A and B
      7. Dark Age Greece
    7. Archaic Greece
      1. Homer
      2. Hesiod
      3. Greek Religion
      4. Greek colonization and the diaspora
      5. Hoplites
      6. The polis
      7. Geometric art
      8. Political reforms (Draco, Solon, Peisistratus, Cleisthenes)
    8. Classical Greece
      1. The Persian Wars
      2. The Peloponnesian Wars
      3. The Age of Pericles
      4. Greek comic and tragic theater
      5. Women, slaves, and metics
      6. Pre-Socratic thought and the rise of philosophy (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle)
      7. Classical architecture (The Parthenon, the Erectheion, and the Agora)
    9. Alexander and the Hellenistic World
      1. Philip of Macedon
      2. Alexander and his military campaigns
      3. Hellenistic culture (philosophy, art and education)
      4. Hellenistic Empires
    10. The Etruscans
      1. Kingship
      2. Burial tombs and sarcophagi
    11. Republican Rome
      1. Founding Myths
      2. Patrician/Plebeian conflict
      3. The Punic wars
      4. Civil War
      5. Reform efforts (the Gracchi and Marius)
      6. Political institutions
      7. Roman religion (public and private)
      8. The status of women
      9. Julius Caesar
      10. Octavian/Augustus
      11. The end of the Republic
    12. Imperial Rome
      1. Roman expansion
      2. Pax Romana
      3. Slavery
      4. The Roman Military
      5. Roman art and architecture
      6. Stoicism and Epicureanism in ancient Roman culture
      7. Mystery cults
      8. The Julio-Claudian line
      9. Trajan
      10. Diocletian
      11. Constantine
      12. Invasions and theories of the fall of Rome
    13. Early Christianity
      1. Jesus
      2. Pharisees/Sadducees
      3. St. Paul
      4. Epistles
      5. Gospels
      6. Roman persecution
      7. Early church communities
      8. Doctrine
      9. Church councils
      10. Heresies
      11. Church fathers
    14. The Byzantine Empire
      1. Founding of Constantinople
      2. Justinan and Theodora
      3. The Codex
      4. Hagia Sophia
      5. Theme system
      6. Patriarchate
      7. Iconoclasm
    15. Post-Antiquity and the Rise of a New Order
      1. Establishment and evolution of feudalism
      2. Latifundia
      3. Germanic Kingdoms
      4. Monasticism
      5. Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties
    16. The Coming of and Establishment of Islam
      1. Pre-Islamic Arab culture
      2. Mecca
      3. The Ka’ba
      4. Mohammad the Prophet
      5. The Quran
      6. Conversion of the Mecca to Islam
      7. The spread and fracturing of Islam
      8. Umayyad caliphate
      9. Abbassid Caliphate
Back to Top