Author: Sevin Gallo PhD
Abstract: The objective of this course is to give the student an overview of Western Civilization from the ancient Near East to 1648.
Audience: Community college and high school students
Chapter 1 defines a complex society or civilization. Mesopotamian government and society are discussed as well as Gilgamesh, King Hammurabi, and Hammurabi’s code of law. Descriptions of the Syrians, Hebrews and Phoenicians are reviewed.
Chapter 2 discusses the Minoans as well as the Mycenaean civilization. The Athenian democracy is described as well as the Ionian city states. The Persian empire is reviewed as well as the Peloponnesian and Greco Persian war.
Chapter 3 discusses the Etruscans and the Roman Republic. The development of Christianity is reviewed. Important individuals such as Paul of Tarsus and Constantine are discussed.
Chapter 4 describes the Byzantine empire as well as Christendom’s five major centers. Iconoclasm is discussed as well as the Carolingian dynasty and Charlemagne. The plague, the Black Death and the Hundred Years’ War are reviewed.
Chapter 5 describes the Renaissance, the invention of the printing press and the development of Humanism. The Medici and Renaissance are discussed as well as Machiavelli, Rasmussen and Thomas More. The Catholic Reformation, the French Huguenots and the Spanish conquest of the Americas is reviewed.