For notes to lectures, click on the appropriate topics, organized by weeks. This page will also be used to post study guides for the three exams.

• Weeks 1-4. Aug 18-Sep 11: What is Human? What is Civilization?
  • Pre-Historic Humanity
  • What Makes Us Civilized?
  • Mesopotamia and Pharonic Egypt
  • Harrapa and the Aryan Invasion - Ancient India
  • Magic and Rationalism in Ancient China
• Weeks 5-6. Sep 15-23: Heaven and Earth - Developing the Human Conscience.
  • Rethinking the Meaning of Sacred: Hebrews, Zoroastrianism, and Radical Theology
  • Challenging Hinduism: Jainism and Buddhism in India
  • Li and Dao - Ethics, Religion, and Government in Ancient China
• Weeks 6-7: Sep 24-Oct 7: What is Truth and How do We Know It?
  • The Ancient Greeks Ask all the Really Big Questions
    • Part I: Greek Civilization -- From the Minoans to Alexander
    • Part II: Greek Philosophy and Art
• Weeks 8-9: Oct 6-14: The Rise of Empire: Ch'in&Han China; the Pax Romana
  • The Rise of the Roman Empire
    • Part I: Roman Civilization Before Caesar
    • Part II: Rome -- From Republic to Empire
  • When in Rome.........
  • The Day After - The Generation of the Fall
  • The Middle Kingdom: Ch'in and Han China
• Weeks 9-10: Oct 15-21: The Great Evangelical Religions - Islam and Christianity.
  • Religious Life in the Roman Empire
  • Why Jesus was Different - A Religion for Everyone
  • "...and his messenger is Mohammed" - The Man from Mecca
  • Merchants, War, and the Spread of Islam
• Weeks 10-11. Oct 22-28: Trade and Islam in the Development of Civilization.
  • The Medieval Trading Empires of  Africa
• Weeks 11-12. Oct 29-Nov 6: The Flowering of China; The Mongolian Explosion; The Rise of Japan
  • Culture and Ethics in Song and Tang China
  • The Real Wrath of Khan - The Mongols Conquer the Universe
  • Being Japanese - Buddhism, Confucianism, and Bushido
• Week 13. Nov 10-13: Rising from the Ashes - The Emergence of Medieval Europe.
  • Seeds of Medieval Civilization
  • How the Irish, and Few Monks, Saved Civilization
  • Charlemagne and the Development of Feudalism
  • The Joys of Serfdom
  • Cities, Churches, and Education in the Middle Ages
• Week 14. Nov 17-20. Living in Isolation - The Great Amerindian Civilizations
  • Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas, Oh My!
  • The "Miracle" of the Spanish Conquest, or Why the Spanish were Really, Really Lucky.
• Weeks 15-16. Nov 24-Dec 4. Crisis, Rebirth, and the Emergence of Modern Europe
  • The World Comes to an End - The Calamitous 14th Century
  • Discovering the Human Being - The Renaissance
    • Part I: The Italian Renaissance
    • Part II: The Northern Renaissance
  • And Just for Fun, Religious Wars - The Reformation and Counterreformation