AST/GST 217 

Ancient Empires: China & Rome

Dr. Jeff Richey, Instructor (x 3186) and Ms. Kelli Burton, Teaching Assistant (502-744-7598)

Berea College, Short Term 2006             M-F 9-12, Draper 215

COURSE DESCRIPTION COURSE REQUIREMENTS COURSE CALENDAR This site was last updated by Jeffrey L. Richey on January 19, 2006.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course offers a comparative examination of two of the world's most influential civilizations: Han and Tang dynasty China and the ancient Roman Empire.  Each dominated its corner of the Eurasian continent -- China in the east, Rome in the west -- and each was dimly aware of the other through indirect contacts via the Silk Road trading network.  Each maintained its foundational idealism in the face of increasing corruption; each first confronted, then assimilated, a new religious tradition imported from foreign lands (Buddhism from India, Christianity from Palestine).  Each of these ancient empires eventually collapsed, but managed to exert a powerful and persistent influence on the shape of successor and neighbor civilizations.

Course Goals

• A basic acquaintance with the classical literary, philosophical, and religious traditions of early China and ancient Rome
• A basic introduction to intercultural comparative studies
• A basic competence in speaking, listening, reading, and writing about primary texts

Course Materials

1. Kenneth J. Atchity, ed., The Classical Roman Reader (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) (RR)
2. Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. I: From Earliest Times to 1600, 2nd ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999) (SOCT)
3. Patricia Buckley Ebrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) (C)
4. Greg Woolf, ed., The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Roman World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) (RW)

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COURSE REQUIREMENTS

• Participation in all class sessions. The instructor reserves the right to reduce the final grades of students who miss class. Excuses for absences may be sought, but may not necessarily be granted.

• Submission of weekly responses to assigned readings, e-mailed to the instructor by noon most Thursdays beginning on January 5, and consisting of questions and concerns raised for you by each week’s assigned readings. Do not summarize the assigned readings. In order to receive full credit, the text of each e-mailed response must be no less than 250 words, and should be composed in clear standard English prose without any mechanical errors. Each response will be graded pass/fail, and cannot be made up at a later date.

•Oral presentation of 1 agenda. Classroom discussion of each assigned reading will be preceded by the oral presentation of an agenda by one student; scheduling of these presentations will take place on January 3.

•Oral presentation of 1 artifact study.   Using the ARTstor online database, each student will select two objects (one of early Chinese origin, one of ancient Roman origin) to research and present to the class on January 24 or 25, as scheduled by the instructor.  Be sure to follow the guidelines (available here) and refer to this bibliography.

• Completion of 2 examinations, to be administered in class as scheduled below. A study guide for examination #1 is available here. A study guide for examination #2 is available here.

Course Assessment

Reading responses = 20% of course grade
Agenda = 20% of course grade
Presentation =  20% of course grade
Examinations = 40% of course grade (20% each)

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Course Calendar

MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
	Jan. 3 -- Orientations & Occidentations Introduction to course P. B. Ebrey, “The Origins of Chinese Civilization: Neolithic Period to the Western Zhou Dynasty” (C 10-37) C. S. Mackay, “The Republic” (RW 26-47) ARTstor orientation (laptop required)	Jan. 4 -- Foundations I Excerpts from the Classic of Documents (SOCT 29-37) Excerpts from the Record of Rites and the Evolution of Rites (SOCT 339-343) Livy, “Early History of Rome” (RR 137-144) Virgil, The Aeneid, Book 6 (RR 100-119)	Jan. 5 -- Foundations II P. B. Ebrey, “The Creation of the Bureaucratic Empire: The Qin and Han Dynasties” (C 60-85) David Potter, “The Emperors” (RW 50-67) Jia Yi, “The Faults of Qin” (SOCT 228-231) Suetonius, “From The Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Julius Caesar” (RR 284-292) READING RESPONSE DUE BY NOON!	Jan. 6 -- Foundations III “The Rise of Liu Bang, Founder of the Han” and “Liu Bang Becomes the First Emperor of the Han Dynasty” (SOCT 232-234) Augustus, “Acts” (RR 153-162) Guest lecture by Dr. Grant Hardy (UNC-Asheville): “Ideas of Empire in China and Rome”  3 p.m., Draper 100 BACK TO TOP
Jan. 9 -- Confucians and Stoics Dong Zhongshu, “From Luxuriant Gems of the Spring and Autumn Annals” (SOCT 295-301) Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” (RR 314-319)	Jan. 10 -- Taoists and Epicureans Guo Xiang, “Commentary on the Zhuangzi” (SOCT 386-390) Lucretius, “On the Nature of Things” (RW 82-87)	Jan. 11 -- Body and Cosmos "The Medical Microcosm" and “Han Views of the Universal Order” (SOCT 273-278, 346-352) Celsus, "On Medicine" (RR 184-189)	Jan. 12   Film: The Emperor's Shadow (dir. Zhou Xiaowen, China, 1996; unrated) READING RESPONSE DUE BY NOON!	Jan. 13 EXAMINATION #1 BACK TO TOP
Jan. 16 NO CLASS -- MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY	Jan. 17 -- New Religions I P. B. Ebrey, “Buddhism, Aristocracy, and Alien Rulers: The Age of Division” (C 86-107) Richard Lim, “The Gods of Empire” (RW 260-289) Mouzi, “Disposing of Error” and Huiyuan, “A Monk Does Not Bow Down Before A King” (SOCT 421-429) Acts 17-19	Jan. 18 -- New Religions II Han Yu, “Memorial on the Bone of Buddha” (SOCT 583-585) “Emperor Wuzong’s Edict on the Suppression of Buddhism” (SOCT 585-586) Roman accounts of early Christianity	Jan. 19 -- New Religions III "The Doctrine of the Three Heavens" (SOCT 400-402) "Buddhism's Assimilation to Tang Political Culture" (SOCT 476-480) Constantine I, "Laws for Christians" Augustine of Hippo, "Excerpts from The City of God" Video: From Jesus to Christ, pt. 4 (in class) READING RESPONSE DUE BY NOON!	Jan. 20 Film: Gladiator (dir. Ridley Scott, UK/USA, 2000; rated R) BACK TO TOP
Jan. 23 -- When Empires Collide P. B. Ebrey, “A Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty 581-907” (C 108-135) Neville Morley, “Luxury and the Eastern Trade” (RW 304-305) Ian Haynes, “The Limits of Empire” (RW 340-351) Chinese Accounts of Rome, Byzantium, and the Middle East  Video: The End of the Ancient World, A.D. 100-A.D. 600 (in class)	Jan. 24 ARTIFACT STUDY PRESENTATIONS	Jan. 25 ARTIFACT STUDY PRESENTATIONS	Jan. 26 EXAMINATION #2	Jan. 27 NO CLASS  -- INSTRUCTOR AWAY BACK TO TOP