HRS 10: ARTS AND IDEAS: ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL WEST
Professor Mary Doyno
Fall 2016
T/TH 1:30-2:45
BNC 1025
Catalogue Description
Introduction to the literature, art, architecture, philosophy and history of the ancient and medieval
West, with an emphasis on Classical Greece, Rome, and the European Middle Ages
Course Requirements
No previous background in this era or material is necessary. In this course, students will learn not
only about the people and problems of the period, but also about the discipline of cultural history
and how the skills and techniques of the historian help us to access the past. We will therefore study
a number of primary sources (i.e., sources created during the time that we are studying). This course
will include both lecture and in-class discussion.
While this is an introductory course, we will be reading some challenging works in philosophy,
religious thought, political theory, and other subjects that have influenced the arts and ideas of
Western cultural history. This class forms a foundation that allows you take advanced classes not
only in Humanities and Religious Studies but also in pre-modern history, art history, political science,
and literature. That means we will cover a lot of ground, and quickly.
HRS 10 is a lecture/discussion course. It has no prerequisites. It is a required course for Humanities
and Religious Studies majors. It also satisfies the 3-unit General Education Category C2 requirement.
Requirements for this course are attending lectures, doing weekly readings, participating in
discussions, as well as completing six quizzes.
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of the course, students will: understand the ideals and values that
inspired and informed each of these cultures; be able to describe important ways in which these
ideals and values were expressed in art, architecture, literature, religions, and philosophy; and be able
to explain how masterpieces in these areas of cultural expression represent diverse but legitimate
responses to fundamental questions faced by all individuals and cultures.
Required Texts
• Michael Burger, The Shaping of Western Civilization: From Antiquity to the Mid-Eighteenth Century,
Volume 1 (University of Toronto Press, 2014) ISBN 978 1 4426 0756 9
• Sources for the History of Western Civilization: From Antiquity to the Mid-Eighteenth Century, Volume
1, Second Edition, ed. Michael Burger (University of Toronto Press, 2015)
• Additional visual and written sources found in our SacCT site
Grading
Quizzes
Participation
75%
25%
1. Quizzes: There will be 5 quizzes during the semester. The questions asked on these quizzes
will be taken directly from your unit worksheets. If you miss a quiz, you will not be given an
opportunity to make it up.
1
2. Final: The Final is the same as Quiz #6. It will be based on your final worksheet but will
require you (as will be true of all of our quizzes) to use the critical reading and writing skills
that we have been working on all semester. If you miss the final, you will not be given the
opportunity to make it up.
3. Participation: Much of this class will be devoted to the discussion of our textbook and our
primary sources (both visual and textual). In our first week, you will be divided into
discussion groups that you will work in throughout the semester. Your work in these groups
as well as in our larger discussions will determine your participation grade. To get an “A” in
participation, you do not need to come up with particular answers or points. Instead, you
simply must be a regular, respectful and thoughtful contributor to our in-class work. If you
regularly come to class not having done the assigned reading, or without printed copies of our
texts, it will be impossible to do this work.
I will assign you a participation grade in all classes except ones that are “Lecture” or “Quiz”
days. An absence at one of these classes will give you an “F” in participation for that day.
Please feel free to ask to see your participation grades at any point in the semester.
Getting in Touch
Office: Mendocino Hall 2026
Office hours: Tuesdays 12:45-1:15; Thursdays 4-5:30 and 8:30-9:30pm (also by appointment)
Office phone: 916-278-7329
Email: [email protected]
Assignments, Lateness, and Absences
Students are expected to attend all classes. My policy is that assigned work is due in class on the days
noted below. I do not grant extensions or make-up exams other than for exceptional and
documented circumstances (for instance, an exam conflict, religious holiday, illness, or family
emergency).
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism and/or cheating on a quiz or exam will not be tolerated in this course, and all cases of
suspected plagiarism or cheating will be reported. See the campus policy on academic dishonesty at
www.csus.edu/admbus/umanual/UMA00150.htm.
If you turn in any work that is not your own or not principally your own, you are plagiarizing. This
includes exam answers drawn from Wikipedia or other online sources, even those prepared by other
students, and even if you change a few words. Your work must be your own! My policy is to give
offending students either a “0” on the assignment or an “F” for the entire class, depending on the
severity of the offense. The best way to avoid such penalties is to think (and write) for yourself.
No electronic devices are to be used in class. This includes laptop computers. Using
electronic devices in class will negatively impact your participation grade.
Schedule of Classes and Assignments
**Please do all assigned readings by the date they are listed.**
Week One
T Aug 30
Unit 1: The Ancient Near East
1.1 Lecture: Course Introduction and The Origins of Civilization
2
Th Sept 1
Week Two
T Sept 6
Th Sept 8
Week Three
T Sept 13
Th Sept 15
Week Four
T Sept 20
Th Sept 22
Week Five
T Sept 27
Th Sept 29
Unit 1: The Ancient Near East
1.2 Lecture: Mesopotamian, Mycenaean, and Minoan Culture
Reading: Burger, pp. 1-35
Unit 1: The Ancient Near East
1.3 Texts: The Descent of Ishtar and The Code of Hammurabi (SB, pp. 3-18)
Unit 1: The Ancient Near East
1.4 Images: Please watch the following short videos [links to these videos are to be
found under the content folder “videos”]—
• Standing Male Worshipper from Tell Asmar
• Standard of Ur from Royal Tombs at Ur
• The Law Code of Hammurabi
• Ishtar Gate and Processional Way
Unit 1: The Ancient Near East
1.5 Discussion:
Please come to class with notes that will help you contribute to our discussion of
the questions listed under “Discussion” on our unit 1 worksheet
Unit 1: The Ancient Near East
1.6 Quiz
Unit 2: The Greeks
2.1 Lecture: Archaic Greece
Reading: Burger, pp. 39-53
Unit 2: The Greeks
2.2 Lecture: Classical Greece
Reading: Burger, pp. 53-81
Unit 2: The Greeks
2.3 Texts: Homer, The Iliad (SB, pp. 49-60, and 67-74)
Unit 2: The Greeks
2.4 Images: Please watch the following short videos [links to these videos are to be
found under the content folder “videos”]:
• The classical orders
• Ancient Greek vase production and the black figure technique
• Attic Black Figure: Exekias amphora with Ajax and Achilles playing a
game
• New York Kouros
• Ancient Greek temples at Paestum
• Kritos Boy
• Artemision Zeus or Poseidon
• Polykeitos, Doryphorus (Spear-Bearer)
3
Week Six
T Oct 4
Th Oct 6
Week Seven
T Oct 11
Th Oct 13
Week Eight
T Oct 18
Th Oct 20
Week Nine
T Oct 25
Th Oct 27
Week Ten
T Nov 1
Th Nov 3
•
Grave Stele of Hegeso
Unit 2: The Greeks
2.5 Discussion:
Please come to class with notes that will help you contribute to our discussion of
the questions listed under “Discussion” on our unit 2 worksheet
Unit 2: The Greeks
2.6 Quiz
Unit 3: Rome
3.1 Lecture: Origins and the Republic
Reading: Burger, pp. 85-100
Unit 3: Rome
3.2 Lecture: The Empire
Reading: Burger, pp. 101-129
Unit 3: Rome
3.3 Texts: Vergil, The Aeneid, pp. 175-207
Unit 3: Rome
3.4 Images:
Please watch the following short videos [links to these videos are to be found under
the content folder “videos”]:
• Ancient Rome
• Digging Through Time
• Temple of Portunus
• Capitoline Brutus
• Augustus Primaporta
• Ara Pacis
• Colosseum
• The Pantheon
Unit 3: Rome
3.5 Discussion:
Please come to class with notes that will help you contribute to our discussion of
the questions listed under “Discussion” on our unit 3 worksheet
Unit 3: Rome
3.6 Quiz
Unit 4: Rome’s Fall?
4.1 Lecture: Rome’s Fall and the Rise of Christianity
Reading: Burger, pp. 131-154
Unit 4: Rome’s Fall?
4.2 Lecture: Barbarians, Franks, Muslims and the Making of Medieval Europe
4
Reading: Burger, pp. 154-179
Week Eleven
T Nov 8
Th Nov 10
Unit 4: Rome’s Fall?
4.3 Texts: Pliny the Younger, Letters; Perpetua and Others, The Martyrdom of Saint
Perpetua; Benedict of Nursia, The Rule (SB, pp. 217-219; 232-238; 282-309)
Unit 4: Rome’s Fall?
4.4: Images:
Please watch the following short videos [links to these videos are to be found under
the content folder “videos”]:
• Catacomb of Priscilla
• Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus
• Basilica of Santa Sabina, Rome
• Santa Maria Maggiore
• Hagia Sophia
• San Vitale, Ravenna
• Charlemagne: An Introduction
• Charlemagne and the Carolingian Revival
Week Twelve
T Nov 15
Unit 4: Rome’s Fall?
4.5 Discussion:
Please come to class with notes that will help you contribute to our discussion of
the questions listed under “Discussion” on our unit 4 worksheet
Th Nov 17
Unit 4: Rome’s Fall?
4.6 Quiz
Week Thirteen
T Nov 22
Unit 5: The High and Late Middle Ages
5.1 Lecture: TBA
Reading: Burger, pp. 181-211
Th Nov 24
THANKSGIVING—NO CLASS
Week Fourteen
T Nov 29
Unit 5: The High and Late Middle Ages
5.2 Lecture: TBA
Reading: Burger, pp. 211-233
Th Dec 1
Unit 5: The High and Late Middle Ages
5.3: Texts: Speech of Urban II at the Council of Clermont: Two Accounts; Two Letters
from Crusaders (SB, pp. 337-344); and excerpts from the canons of the Fourth
Lateran Council (on SacCT under “Extra Sources”)
Week Fifteen
T Dec 6
Unit 5: The High and Late Middle Ages
5.4 Images:
Please watch the following short videos [links to these videos are to be found under
the content folder “videos”]:
• Last Judgment Tympanum, Cathedral of St. Lazare, Autun
• Pentecost and Mission to the Apostles Tympanum, Vézelay
5
• Birth of the Gothic: Abbot Suger and the ambulatory at St. Denis
• Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres (parts 1-3)
Th Dec 8
Unit 5: The High and Late Middle Ages
5.5 Discussion:
Please come to class with notes that will help you contribute to our discussion of
the questions listed under “Discussion” on our unit 5 worksheet
**FINAL EXAM**
Unit 5: The High and Late Middle Ages
5.6 Quiz—Thursday, December 15th 12:45-2:45pm
6