Course Syllabus

Meeting Time: Tue-Thu 1:30-2:45pm, section TBA
Location: Sever Hall 206
Instructor: Gabriel Pizzorno (pizzorno@fas.harvard.edu)
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 9-11am, and by appointment (Robinson Hall 210)
TF: Henry Gruber (hgruber@g.harvard.edu)
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 1-3pm (Café Gato Rojo)
Course Website: hist1039-19.omeka.fas.harvard.edu

Description:

This course traces the continuum of socio-political and cultural developments in the Near East that led, over the course of three millennia, from stateless societies to the emergence of Assyria as the first true empire in history. The class focuses on the long-term history of power centralization, and the role of ideology and propaganda in overcoming resistance to this concentration of authority. The course material covers a broad evidentiary and chronological range. We will employ textual, visual, and archaeological sources to explore the evolution of the political and cultural landscape in the Near East and the Mediterranean, from the emergence of the first city-states in the late fourth millennium BCE to the early development of Roman imperial ideology around the start of the Common Era.

The course will begin by looking at the workings of stateless societies and how, through processes of cultural resistance, they inhibit the centralization of political power. We will then look at a series of political and cultural developments in southern Mesopotamia that managed to overcome this resistance, leading to the formation of the first city-states. From there, we will follow the development of new mechanisms of power centralization in these societies that led to the emergence of large territorial states and, eventually, imperial domination.

The core of the course will be an exploration of the formation, expansion, and eventual collapse of the Assyrian Empire, from the diverse perspectives of the individuals and social groups that acted as beneficiaries, agents, and victims of imperial domination. We will track changes in economic organization, social structure, government, religion, art, and literature, paying close attention to strategies of control and power legitimization, the role of ideology in overcoming societal resistance, and the function of propaganda in transmitting this ideology and weaving it into the cultural tapestry of a society.

The last part of the course will be devoted to an analysis of the long-term historical consequences of Assyrian imperialism. We will look at how the Persian Empire integrated Assyrian and other influences into a unique syncretic character, and how it influenced the philosophy, religion, culture, and politics of Greece and Rome, thus helping to shape Western civilization. Finally, the course will end with a discussion of how Assyrians shaped, in many ways, the complex web of politics and ethnic identities that continue to define the Middle East to this day.

Please review the course's requirements as well as the policies and expectations.