Lecture 3 - Sargon and the Dawn of Empire

Right from the beginning, the obvious question, Why is Lugalzagessi not considered as ruling the first empire? He consolidated most or all of lower Mesopotamia. Did he do it peacefully, administratively instead of by military conquest? If so, does that not count; is military not only the usual way but the required way to be considered an empire? Was the ruled area too small? But Dise has already said empires vary in size and can be very small or very large. I guess we'll find out.

Also, Dise assumes that small neighboring areas being ruled by separate kings automatically leads to warfare. Is that really true in human life? How sad. I think of neighborhoods with gangs and gang leaders but not all places are like that. Do humans really have to think of themselves as part of one larger unit to avoid most of the strife? *Okay, here's what he says about that -- Because dry land and resources were scarce, warfare was the norm among the closely packed city-states.
Many people lived in an area full of marshy channels with only isolated bits of dry ground, making life rather difficult.


Link to a useful map: Sumer and Akkad map
Link to Quizlet practice: Sargon and the Dawn of Empire and the password is empdawnlec3

Lecture 2 - Lands, Seas, and Sources

If you haven't yet bothered with a map of your own, get one now! This is the time to mark the geographical features, label the rivers, straits, and seas, to delineate the empires if they're not on your specific map. I haven't been able to find a map that shows all the areas and features I need at once so I've printed several. When you come across something in the lectures that don't show on your map, type it into search and see where and what it is if the lecture isn't clear enough or if it's too fast.

Wikipedia has an easy to see map of plate tectonics --Plate Tectonics


Worldatlas.com has a couple of  Useful maps of the modern Middle East
For a topographical map of the Middle East, needed for this lecture and to understand the later lectures better, try this one: topographical map of the Middle East


I also found this to better see where the Balkans and the Straits of Dardanelles and Bosporus are:
Bosphorus (also Bosporus) is red, Dardanelles is yellow, the Balkan Peninsula is the land in the upper left corner. This is where Turkey is divided into its Asian and European parts, the city of Istanbul lies on both sides of the Bosphorus Strait.

Link and password for questions and practice at Quizlet for this lecture: Quizlet and the password is rivlandlec2

Lecture 1 - A Meditation on Empire

Dise starts with an interesting discourse on what an empire is exactly. The actual meaning is rather subjective but I prefer the definition of "supreme rule". We use 'empire' as a noun defining the area that is ruled as in 'the Akkadian Empire' but, especially in modern times, empire could be more, like a financial empire. America has been considered an empire in a way but in exactly what way?

After the discussion of the meaning of the term 'empire', Dise goes on to discuss the three fundamental questions of the origin, governing and defense, and decline and fall of empires. Following that, he gives an overview of the empires he'll be teaching about, a very quick and general outline of the what and where. He uses maps of course, but it may be a very good idea to have your own available as well. If you're using a simple map of the ancient world, you may want to fill in features and areas as he discusses them.

Click here for Quizlet flashcards of this lecture:  Quizlet:
Use this password for access - sovlec1

Scope Notes

SCOPE NOTES: We'll be studying thirteen empires in four series of lectures:
1. Near East (Mesopotamia)
2. Club of Great Powers
3. Cataclysm, then rise of new powers
4. Near East again (Persia for one)
Each will discuss three questions about the empires:
1. How did it come into being?
2. How was it governed and defended?
3. How and why did it fall?

Ancient Empires Before Alexander by TTC

America is being called a declining Superpower, a dying empire. As an American, I worry. Is it true? Why is it happening or why do people think so? Can the decline be slowed or stopped? Reversed?
To begin finding out, I started looking into politics and discovered the same corrupt, often ineffective chaos that has been around since the beginning of society. When I found The Teaching Company's Ancient Empires Before Alexander, I decided to study those empires to see how they rose, why they fell, and what became of them. The professor is Robert L. Dise Jr.

There are maps on the DVD but I needed one that I can refer to while I listen; I also needed a modern map to see where in the world the sites he's discussing is in my day. If you're unfamiliar with the area, you can take the same extra step I did, which is to go to Owl and Mouse map puzzle, a children's learning site, and play a puzzle game to learn where the countries are. This helped me better than just looking at a map and it was more fun! You can also print or at least have access to maps of the area in ancient days like he uses in the lectures - look for ancient middle east empires or ancient near east empires. I suggest waiting to print them until you've tried following one you choose with the lecture and see if it's one you find useful. Once you're sure, print it and keep it handy while you study.
I'm providing passwords to Quizlet to help study what we learn in the lectures as well. Using the information helps make more sense of it and it certainly helps me remember better what I've learned. Quizlet has games, flashcards, and study pages; I'm making one for each lecture. When playing Scatter, take time to read instead of racing the clock to make the best use of the game. It's fun to beat your speed but kind of misses the point of study!