History of Ancient History 180

Professor: Dr. Touraj Daryaee Class: ET 204 / T-TR 2:00-320 Office: Humanities 720B Office Hours: T-Th 1:00-2:00 E-mail: [email protected]

Required Readings:

R.N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia, Mazda Publishers, Costa Mesa, 1992. J. Wiesehofer, Ancient Persia, I.B. Tauris, 2001. M. Boyce, , Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism, Chic, 1984.

Course description:

This course is a survey of Iranian history from the earliest times to the Arab Muslim conquest in the seventh century CE. The course will concentrate on several themes in Iranian history which include the Elamite empire, the arrival of the Indo-Europeans and their settlement; Persian social and political history; the Zoroastrian religion and mythology; critique and interpretation of the literary sources from the Avesta to the royal inscriptions; studying and using primary sources such as coinage and pottery for writing and understanding Persian cultural and social history. The course will concentrate on the cultural contacts between the Persian, Indian, Greek, Roman and the Turkic world and how they have influence one another.

Learning Goals:

1. To introduce students to the main topics, historical problems, themes, debates, and interpretations centering on the ancient Mediterranean and the Asiatic World; 2. To hone students’ ability to read and critically analyze historical literature; 3. To improve students’ oral and written communication skills through class discussions and written assignments.

Assessment: Students will be assessed on their ability to absorb, assess, critique, and communicate the main themes and interpretations found in the assigned reading. There will be a midterm and a final. Graduate Students enrolled are expected to do extra work.

*There are NO MAKEUP EXAMS. Grade breakdown: Exams (50 points each) 1 Schedule:

Week 1: The Iranian Plateau: Autochthonic People and Kingdoms (January 8, 10) Frye Chap. 1 & 2 / (Boyce pp. 9-15 / 34-43 /.94-96) Lecture and Reading Topics: Introduction to things general and specific; why the study of ancient Iran matters: , Mannai, Elamites and Assyrians; The oldest Civilization of the Iranian Plateau; Jiroft: A new civilization?; The Assyrians and Babylonian; The Medes: an empire? 614BCE: The fall of Assyria and Median domination; Medes: People and religion; The archaeological remains.

Week 2: Indo-European Immigrants: (January 15, 17) Frye Chap. 1 & 2 Lecture and Reading Topics: The Indo-Europeans; BMAC; The Aryan background; Zoroaster and his message; Sagas of the East; Iran and Turan; Social structure; The Avesta and the Vedas; India and Persia; Iranian people and the early Persians.

Week 3: The Rise of the Achaemenid Dynasty (January 22, 24) Reading assignments: Frye Chap. 3 / Wiesehofer Part I / Boyce 1 (pp. 27-31 / 104-106) Lecture and Reading Topics: The heritage of the ages; Upstart dynasts; The rise of Persis; The crisis of empire; The one world of the Achaemenids; The court and bureaucracy; Economic life; Cyrus the Great; Darius I and local uprisings; Xerxes; The Greco-Persian Wars; Egypt; Dahyava and Bagi: The kingdom, the Peoples and the Tributes Paid to the King; Everyday Life in Achaemenid Persis; women in Achaemenid Persia; Royal women and common women; The Postal system and royal roads; Tolerance and order; Divine kingship or sacred kingship.

Week 4: Religion in the Achaemenid Empire (January 29, 31) Reading assignments: Frye Chapter 3 / Wiesehofer part I / (Boyce, pp. 106-107) Lecture and Reading Topics: Ahura Mazda; Mitra; Anahita; Baga; Other deities and demons; Early Zoroastrianism; The destruction of idol temples; Zoroaster and his message; monotheism vs. dualism; the Avesta; Later Achaemenid Zoroastrianism; Jews in the empire; From Judaism to paganism in Achaemenid provinces.

Week 5: Alexander, the Seleucids and the Rise of Parthians (February 5, 7) Reading assignments: Frye Chapters 4 / Wiesehofer Part 2 Lecture and Reading Topics: The fall of the Achaemenid empire; Alexander the Great and his legacy, Seleucid centralism; The Hellenistic heritage; The extended cultural area; The Graeco-Bactrians; Gandhara and Western influences; The harvest of Hellenism; the impact of Hellenism on daily life, language and culture; Parthian Origins.

Midterm (February 7th)

Week 6: The Parthians: Religion, Hellenism and the Romans (February 12, 14) Reading assignments: Frye Chapter 5 / Wiesehofer Part 3 / (Boyce pp.61-65/ 108-109) Lecture and Reading Topics: The road westwards; Parthia and Rome; The government and bureaucracy of the empire; Literature and culture; The Kushans and the East; The testimonies; The king and his Subjects; The Sistanic epics and the heroic era. Zoroastrianism; Parthian Satraps; Army and the Cults; Mithra.

2 Week 7: Local Dynasties and the Rise of (February 19, 21) Reading assignments: Frye Chapter 6 / Wiesehofer Part IV (Boyce pp. Boyce pp. 67-70; 109-111) Lecture and Reading Topics: The Elamayis and their kingdom; Persis and tradition; Religion under the Persis kings; Ardashir and the cycle of history; The imperialism of ; Divine kingship; The church and State; The search for identity; the three Bahram’s and the power of Shapur II; From the lineage of gods to the Kayanid kings.

Week 8: Religion in the Empire (February 26, 28) Reading assignments: Frye Chapter 6 / Wiesehofer Part 4(Boyce pp. 84-89 / pp. 112-114) Lecture and Reading Topics: The foundation of Zoroastrianism; The surviving documents; Mazdaism; Kerdir and Adurbad i Mahrspandan; Mani and his religion; Jews and Christians in the empire; Heresies and the church; Mazdak and his movement; The Roman Empire as an adversary. Rome and Persia: friend and foe.

Week 9: The Later Sasanian Empire (March 4, 6) Reading assignments: Frye Chapter 6 & 7 / Wiesehofer part IV (Boyce 90-94 /.p. 115) Lecture and Reading Topics: The zenith of the empire; Xusro I and his reforms; Xusro II and the conquest of Egypt and Byzantium; Disorder and disintegration of the empire; fratricide and civil war; The rule the two queens: Buran and Azarmiduxt; the Perso- Byzantine wars and the destruction of the Near East. Yazdgird III and the Arab Muslim Conquest; Local reaction and apocalyptic expectations; Islam versus Iran; Central Asian particularism; Orthodoxy in Fars; The new Persian renaissance; Zoroastrians under Arab rule; the landed gentry and the survival of old traditions The compilation of the Avesta; The compilation of Xwaday-namag and epic; Pahalvi texts record on history and society; Royal records and material evidence for imperial ideology; secular literature; minstrels and singers; games and chivalry.

Week 10: Society, Women, Law, Literature and History (March 11, 13) Reading assignments: (Handout in class) Lecture and Reading Topics: Eranshahr: The Empire, its Inhabitants and their Way of Life; Women's law and women's rights; marriage and divorce; class and caste; who can own property ? foreigners and citizens; Christians, Jews, Manichaens, Mazdakites and the Zoroastrians; Cults, local and foreign.

Final EXAM II: Thursday, March 20th / 1:30-3:30

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