ANTH 324
Empires of Antiquity
Fall 2012
Division II
Writing Skills
This is not the current course catalog
Class Details
Cycles of rise and collapse of civilizations are common in our human past. Among the most fascinating cases are those of empires, conquest civilizations, or states that encompass a number of different ethnicities, polities and peoples. However, their rise and often rapid collapse begs an important question: how stable have empires been in human prehistory? Are they intrinsically unstable political forms? The course will address these questions by examining the major empires of the Old and New World in pre-modern history: Persian; Assyrian; Mongol; Roman; Chinese; Ottoman; Aztec; and Inca empires. Using readings by political scientists, historians, epigraphers, archaeologists and political anthropologists, we will consider the causes of the expansion and collapse of these empires. We will also explore their sociopolitical and economic structures as mechanisms for their maintenance in order to provide a cross-cultural comparison of the differential success and final decline of all these empires.
The Class:
Format: seminar
Limit: none
Expected: 15
Class#: 1302
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Limit: none
Expected: 15
Class#: 1302
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation:
weekly short response papers and a research paper, class presentation and participation
Prerequisites:
none; open to first-year students
Distributions:
Division II
Writing Skills
Class Grid
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HEADERS
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ANTH 324 - 01 (F) SEM Empires of Antiquity
ANTH 324 - 01 (F) SEM Empires of AntiquityDivision II Writing SkillsTF 2:35 pm - 3:50 pm
Hollander 1581302
Megamenu Social