Readings

1. Everyman His Own Historian The famous 1931 address by American HIstorical Association President Carl Becker about the purposes and uses of history. Read this not later than the second day of class.
2. "The Judgements of the Dead" from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Read this along with Chapter 1 of Spielvogel.
3. The Gatha of the Choice. A Zoroastrian hymn. [S:2] (That means read this selection along with Chapter 2 of Spielvogel.)
4. Pericles's Funeral Oration. [S:3]
5. APHORISMS FROM TWO SOPHISTS [S:3]
   • Protagoras
   • Gorgias
6. Plato 's Republic, Book VII: On Shadows and Realities in Education The first portion of this selection is the famous Allegory of the Cave, one of the most influential pieces of philosophical writing in the history of Western Civilization. You are required to read this (not the entire selection, just the portion describing the cave and its denizens) along with Ch. 3 of Spielvogel.
   Here are a couple of video clips illustrating key pointS in Plato's allegory. Check'em out if you wish.
   • [1]
   • [2]
7. an animated map of the conquests of Alexander the Great. Not required, but worth a quick look if you'd like to look at it in connection with S:4.
8. Livy: The Rape of Lucretia a legend of early Rome illustrating the importance of honor.
9. Chart: Checks and Balances in the Structure of the Roman Republic
10. "Why Did Christianity Succeed?" In the Spring of 1998, the Public Broadcasting System showed a series called "From Jesus to Christ." It was about the origins and early history of Christianity. As often it does, the network established a website containing a lot of good supplementary material. This link takes you to that portion of the site which deals with Christianity's rise to power. Nothing in here is absolutely required, and you won't be tested specifically on it, but it might give you some good background on the subject. Since this subject matters to many people for reasons going beyond history class, it might be of particular interest to some of you.

The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook. This is a large collection of links to sites having source materials, not just texts, but other kinds as well, pertaining to Ancient History.

The Internet Medieval Sourcebook As the name implies, this is a large collection of source materials from the medieval period. It also contains links to other websites concerning medieval history.

The Internet Modern History Sourcebook. A collection of links to source materials in Modern History. Only the first few sections are relevant here, the rest having to do with materials appropriate to HIST 102.

If you come across any particularly interesting sites, either by surfing from these or in any other way, please let the rest of the class know.

Back to the History 101 Home Page

Back to Tom Powers's history page

E-mail Tom Powers at tpowers@uscsumter.edu