Calendar of Readings and Assignments

Below you will find a day-by-day list of all readings and assignments. The online version will always be the most accurate, so please check it regularly. I may need to change various things as the course progresses. From this page, you will find links to more detailed information, external resources, images, and other online content. You will need to enter the username and password given to you on the first day of class to access these pages.

Introduction

• M Jan 22 - Introduction to the class
• W Jan 24 - Primary Source Discussion, a "How To."
  • Reading: Excerpts from various sources on the Silk Road - Print out each one. Consider what we can learn about both the author and the subject based on the source. What can we not learn? How do we know what we can know?
    • Marco Polo
    • An Arab Ambassador in Constantinople
    • A Chinese account of the west
• F Jan 26 - Discussion: Cultural Contacts and Exchange
  • Reading: Bentley 3-29, D. Christian, " Silk Roads or Steppe Roads?" (On Project Muse)
  • Questions: Come to class prepared to compare the Silk Road as conceived by these two scholars, and to define the critical concepts of conversion, synchretism, and their variations. We will work with these concepts for the rest of the semester. Also be able to articulate Christian's thesis and his means of supporting that thesis.

Han China and the Steppe

• M Jan 29 - Film: Silk Road 1:1 - Glories of Chang'an
  • Read ahead for Wednesday
• W Jan 31 - Primary Source Discussion: Han Narrative Histories (Online Source)
  • Discussion Questions
• F Feb 2 - Lecture: The Formation of China
  • Reading: Bentley 29-67

The Silk Road and Buddhism

• M Feb 5 - Discussion: Overview of World Religions
  • Reading: Bentley 67-110
  • Questions: How do we differentiate among World Religions? What factors, according to Bentley, lead to their dispersal?
• W Feb 7 - Lecture: Buddhism
  • Reading: Foltz 23-60
  • Also look at the Kharosthi Documents. Come to class with a 1-page outline of a paper you would write if asked to put together a research paper on these sources.
• F Feb 9 - Film:1000 Kilometers beyond the Yellow River
• M Feb 12 - Primary Source Discussion: Xuanzang's Journey (Online Source)
  • Discussion Questions
• W Feb 14 - Film: Art Gallery in the Desert
• F Feb 16 - Primary Source Discussion: Faixan's Journey to India (Online Source)
  • This is a long source. You do not need to print it out, but you should read all of it. By now, you are ready. Come to class with detailed notes on each chapter, and be ready to discuss the discussion questions.
  • If the site doesn't load the document immediately, look at the bottom of the index page to .html and "main site." If the main site doesn't load, try a mirror site, such as this one or this one. If those don't work, email me.

Rome, Persia, and the Silk Road

• M Feb 19 - NO CLASS. Watch Film: Across the Taklamakan Desert in media center.
  • Paper Due: Faixan, Xuanzang and the Han Histories
• W Feb 21 - Lecture/Discussion: Rome and Persia and "the West."
  • Reading: Chinese Accounts of Rome, Byzantium and the Middle East, c. 91 B.C.E. - 1643 C.E. (Online Selections).
    • N.B.: Read everything, but come to class prepared to discuss all but the last two. Look for differences among the various texts. Imagine trying to trace the history of Rome through the eyes of the Chinese.
  • Due: 1-page summary of the contents of the film.
• F Feb 23 - Lecture/Discussion: The Spread of Christianity and the Rise of Constantinople
  • Reading: Gospel of Mark, Conversion of Constantine, Constantine founds Constantinople, The Roman Silk Industry, Hagia Sophia.
• M Feb 26 - NO CLASS.
• W Feb 28 - Lecture/Discussion: Heretics on the Silk Road
  • Reading: Foltz 61-89, Nestorian Stele (online)
• F Mar 1 - Midterm Exam - MACALESTER CLOSED FOR SNOW

Islam

• M Mar 5 - Lecture: Islam - The Emergence of Islam
  • For today, watch: Film: Khotan, oasis of silk and jade on your own.
  • MIDTERM RESCHEDULED FOR TODAY
• W Mar 7 - Lecture/Discussion: Islamicization of the Silk Road
  • Reading: Foltz 89-113.
  • Turn in 1-page summary of the film.
  • FILM CANCELLED. Read Foltz
• F Mar 9 - Primary Source Discussion: The Risala of Ibn Fadlan and the Scandinavian milieu
  • Reading: Ibn Fadlan and the Russiyyah

March 10-18 SPRING BREAK

• M Mar 19 - Lecture/Discussion: Sogdians and Uighurs on the Silk Road
  • Reading: Sogdian Letters, Histories of the Uighurs
  • Discussion Questions
• W Mar 21 - Film - Khotan: Oasis of Silk and Jade
  • Read Sinbad!
• F Mar 23 - The Stories of the Golden Age of Baghdad - The Arabian Nights
  • The Lady and Her Suitors
  • The Voyages of Sinbad

Life on the Silk Road

• M Mar 26 - Discussion: Lives I
  • Reading: Whitfield - Introduction and The Merchant's Tale
• W Mar 28 - Discussion: Lives II
  • Reading: Whitfield - The Soldier's Tale, The Horseman's Tale, the Monk's Tale
• F Mar 30 - Discussion: Lives III
  • Reading: Whitfield - The Princess' Tale, the Courtesean's Tale, the Nun's Tale
• M Apr 2 - Discussion: Lives IV
  • Reading: Whitfield - The Widow's Tale, the Official's Tale, The Artist's Tale, Epilogue

Changes on the Silk Road

• W Apr 4 - Lecture: The Crusades
  • Reading: Taxes of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Accounts of the Fall of Jerusalem in 1099, Saladin's Capture of Jerusalem in 1187

F Apr 6 GOOD FRIDAY

• M Apr 9 - Film : The dark castle (or other, tba)
  • Paper DUE : Whitfield - the history of the Silk Road through individual lives
  • Read ahead on Weatherford
• W Apr 11 - Lecture/Discussion: The Mongols
  • Reading: Weatherford Part I: 1-78
• F Apr 13 - Lecture/Discussion: The Mongol Empire
  • Reading: Weatherford Part II: 79-159
    • Discussion Questions
• M Apr 16 - Primary Source Discussion: Europe Responds to the Mongols - Diplomacy and Mission
  • Reading: Excerpts from William of Rubruck, and two different blocks from John of Plano Carpini. Part I - Travel, Part II - Warfare and Ethnography
• W Apr 18 - Primary Source Discussion: Europe Responds to the Mongols - Trade
  • Reading: Marco Polo in China (handout), Weatherford 195-217
• F Apr 20 - Lecture: The Black Death
  • Reading: Source packet handed out in class
• M Apr 23 - Primary Source Discussion: The Islamic World at the end of the Middle Ages
  • Reading: Ibn Battuta handout.
• W Apr 25 - Lecture/Discussion - Tamerlane and the new Samarkand
  • Reading: Armenian view of Tamerlane (print-out handed out in class).
• F Apr 27- Discussion: Europe and the late medieval World
  • Reading: Pegolotti (brief, print-out)
  • Reading: "The Islamic World and the Latin West" (j-stor, print out).
  • Reading: Clavijo - Skim online, but read the section on Samarkand carefully.
• M Apr 30- Lecture/Discussion: Mandeville and the opening of the Atlantic World
  • Reading: Columbus' Journal, Mandeville - Chapter 17 and Chapter 24 (see the whole text here).

Final Exam - May 7th, 9:30 A.M.