HISTORY OF MIDDLE EAST CIVILIZATION I
HISTORY 251

History 251 Index l Semester Syllabus and Study Guides I  Requirements  I    Museum Field Trips  I  Cultural Projects  I  Videos  I  Maps  I  Websites  I  Bibliography

TEXTBOOKS:
Willaim Ochsenwald and Sydney Nettleton Fisher,  The Middle East, A History, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, Latest Edition, paperback
W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad, Prophet and Statesman, Oxford University Press, latest edition, paperback
Robert Hillenbrand, Islamic Art and Architecture, Thames & Hudson, latest edition, paperback

First Week

August 26, 2009



Study Guide 1

General Introduction
Outline of Course

Geographic Consideration

Why should Americans study the Middle East?
What is the Middle East?
Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapter 1
 

First Lecture

Complete "Introduction on Blackboard"

Library Assignment

The Arabs

Second Week

September 2, 2009

Study Guide 2

Byzantine Empire

Sassanian Empire
 

What caused the decline of  the Byzantine and Persian Empires?

 

Third Week

September 9, 2009

Study Guide 3

The Arabs and Ancient Empires
 

Al-Hajaz before Muhammad

Ochsenwald and Fisher,
 Chapter 2

 

Fourth Week

September 16, 2009

Study Study 4

Muhammad the Prophet

The Teachings of Muhammad
 

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapter 3

W. Montgomery Watt,
"Muhammad, Prophet and Statesman"

Fifth Week

Study Guide 5

September 23, 2009

What do Muslims Believe?

The Establishment of the Muslim State

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapter 4, 7

W. Montgomery Watt

"Highlights"
 Freer and Sackler, Daily 11:30 p.m.
No tour on Wednesdays

 

Sixth Week

Study Guide 6

September 30, 2009

The Spread and Organization of the Empire under the Abbasids

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapter 5

Seventh Week

October 7, 2009
 

Study Guide 7

The Flowering of the Muslim World under the Early Abbasids

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapter 6

First Examination,
Chapters 1-5 and Watt's, Muhammad
 This exam will be taken in the classroom on
October 7, 2009

Eighth Week

Study Guide 8

October 14, 2009

Muslim Civilization in the Middle East
Social Patterns
Muslim Theology and Law

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapters 8-9-10

Ninth Week

October 21, 2009

Study Guide 9

Decline of the Abbasid Empire
Crusaders and Mongols
The Arabs in Spain

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapters 11-12

Abbasids

Intellectual Awakening

End of  the Caliphate

Tenth Week

October 28, 2009
Study Guide 10

Seljuks and Ottomans

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapters 13-14
 

Seljuks and Crusaders

Eleventh Week

November 4, 2009



Study Guide 11

The Winning of the Ottoman Empire

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapter 15

The Mongols

The Rise of the Ottomans

Last Day for First Museum Project,
November 11, 2009

 

Twelfth Week

November 11, 2009

Study Guide 12

Expansion of the Ottoman Empire
The Flowering and Transformation of the Ottoman Empire

 

Ochsenwald and Fisher

Chapters 16, 17

The Ottomans

Thirteenth Week

November 18, 2009

 

Study Guide 13
 

Institutions of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire as a World Power

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapters 17-18

Mehmet II

Suleyman

Second Examination 
Chapters 4-17

Research Paper or Book Report must be turned in to the office (Room 252, Bisdorf Building) or sent by email between November 11 and November 18, 2009

Papers will be penalized after 
November 18, 2009

Fourteenth
 Week

December 2, 2009
Study Guide 14

Study Guide  15                    

Fifteenth Week

December 9, 2009


Study Guide 16

Study Guide
17

Safavid Iran

Decline of the Ottoman Empire

Outline 14

Ochsenwald and Fisher

Chapter 19-20

Sixteenth Week

December 16, 2009

 

Final Activity