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 27, 2008

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
 

Complete "Introduction on Blackboard"

Library Assignment

Second Week
September 3, 2008

Study Guide 2

Byzantine Empire

Sassanian Empire
 

What caused the decline of  the Byzantine and Persian Empires?

 

Third Week
September 10, 2008
 

Study Guide 3

The Arabs and Ancient Empires
 

Al-Hajaz before Muhammad

Ochsenwald and Fisher,
 Chapter 2

 

Fourth Week

September 17, 2008

Study Guide 4

Muhammad the Prophet

The Teachings of Muhammad
 

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapter 3

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

Fifth Week
September 24, 2008

Study Guide 5

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

 Petra

Abbasids

Sixth Week

October 1, 2008

Study Guide 6

The Spread and Organization of the Empire under the Abbasids
 

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapter 5

Intellectual Awakening

Breakup of the Caliphate

Seventh Week
 

October 8, 2008

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 8, 2008

Eighth Week

October 15, 2008

Study Guide 8

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

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapters 8-9-10

Ninth Week

October 22, 2008

Study Guide 9

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

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapters 11-12

Tenth Week

October 29, 2008

Study Guide 10

Seljuks and Ottomans

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapters 13-14

The Crusades


The Mongols

Eleventh Week

November 5, 2008

Study Guide 11

The Winning of the Ottoman Empire

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapter 15

Last Day for First Museum Project, November 5, 2008

The Ottomans

From Ohrhan to Murat

 

Twelfth Week

November 12, 2008

Study Guide 12

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

 

Ochsenwald and Fisher

Chapters 16, 17

Thirteenth Week

November 19, 2008

Study Guide 13
 

Institutions of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire as a World Power

Ochsenwald and Fisher
Chapters 17-18

Research Paper or Book Report must be turned in to the office (Room 252, Bisdorf Building) or sent by email between November 7 and November 14, 2008

Papers will be penalized after 
November 14, 2008

Second Examination

Fourteenth
 Week

December 3, 2008

                                            Study Guide 14
Study Guide 15

New York Study Trip
December 6, 208

Board bus in front of Bisdorf Building at 7:00 A.M..;  leave New York at 9:30 P.M.. from  Lincoln Center, arrive back at the Alexandria Campus at approximately 2:00 A.M.

Fifteenth Week
December 10, 2008

Study Guide 16

Study Guide
17

Safavid Iran

Decline of the Ottoman Empire

Outline 14

Ochsenwald and Fisher

Chapter 19-20

Sixteenth Week

December 17, 2008

 Final Exam Week