Mar 29, 2024  
Undergraduate/Graduate Catalog 2014-2015 
    
Undergraduate/Graduate Catalog 2014-2015 [ARCHIVED CATALOG] See drop-down menu above to access other catalogs.

HIST 474 - Islamic Civilization to 1400

(3 credits)
Prerequisite: One of the following: HIST 111, HIST 112, HIST 121, HIST 131, HIST 132
A survey of Middle Eastern history from the rise of Islam in the seventh century through the Mongol conquests in the 13th century. Coverage will include political, social and religious developments during the formative centuries of Islamic civilization. Topics include the career of the Prophet Muhammad and the origins of the earliest Muslim state; the attempt to create a universal Muslim empire (the Caliphate) and its ultimate collapse; the transmission of knowledge and learning; mystical and sectarian forms of piety and their social and political expressions; forms of household, and the place of slaves, women and non-Muslims in Islamic society; tribes, cities, and the rise of warrior elites; and the popular imagination. Attention will be given to long-term cultural and social continuities between the Islamic and ancient Near East, evolving conceptions of religious and political authority, and the relationship between rules and ruled. May be taken for graduate-level credit.