Social Formations and Cultural Patterns of the Ancient and Medieval World

Paper Code: 
25CHIS 212
Credits: 
06
Contact Hours: 
90.00
Max. Marks: 
100.00
Objective: 

The Course seeks to develop a historical understanding of the major developments in some parts of the Ancient and Medieval world. These include the process of colonisation undertaken by the Greek city-states (polis) and by Rome and the far-reaching political experiments undertaken here. It provides a scope for understanding the subject of slavery in its varied dimensions and in turn prepares the students to understand historically the concepts of freedom and bondage as also the larger process of ordering and reordering of society through coercion, consent and revolts. One of the objectives of the course is to highlight the interconnectedness of Greek and Roman religion, culture and society. The Medieval world in the Course is discussed by analysing the nature of European ‘feudal’ society and economy of the 8th to the 14th centuries. It provides a scope to understand the medieval economy of Western Europe, particularly through its agrarian dimensions and relatively newer labour systems like serfdom. And finally, the Course allows an undergraduate student to reflect on questions related to the emergence and spread of Islam. An enquiry into the role that it played in the transformation of a tribal identity to a Caliphal State in West Asia from the 7th to the 9th centuries widens the quest for ‘training’ students to understand the long-term historical processes.

Course Outcomes: 

Course

Learning outcomes

(at course level)

Learning and teaching strategies

Assessment Strategies

Course Code

Course Title

25CHIS 212

Social Formations and Cultural Patterns of the Ancient and Medieval World

(Theory)

CO19-Categorise the important Historical Developments in politics, society, economy and Culture in Greece and Rome

CO20- Evaluate the emergence of states and Feudal societies in medieval Europe (8th – 14 century)

CO21- Determine the fundamental growth of religion, culture and growth in Medieval Economy from 11th -14th

CO22 Appraise the rise of Islam and the move towards state formation in West Asia

CO23-  Critically analyse the Sunna, the Shia and the Sufi traditions and literature

CO24-Contribute effectively in course-specific interaction

Approach in teaching

 

Lecture, PowerPoint presentations, Classroom discussions

 

Interactive sessions,

various online resources, PowerPoint presentations and case studies

Class test, Semester end examinations, Quiz, Solving problems in tutorials, Assignments, Presentation, Individual and group projects. Online Quiz
 
18.00
Unit I: 
Classical Greece and Rome

[a] Emergence of the polis and changing political formations in ancient Greece: Athens and Sparta.

[b] Rome from Republic to Empire: i) Conflict of the Orders; Imperial expansion and social tensions. ii)

The Augustan experiment. iii) Crisis of the Roman empire.

[c] Slavery in ancient Greek and Roman Economy and society

[d] Culture and religion in ancient Greece and Rome

 

18.00
Unit II: 
Feudal societies in medieval Europe (8th – 14 century)

[a] The emergence of states: medieval monarchies, aristocracies, nobility and the culture of chivalry;

church and state.

[b] The growth of seignorial authority: i) militarization ii) the creation of

a dependent peasantry: from colonate to serfdom.

Unit III: 
The growth of the medieval Economy from 11th -14th

Religion and culture in medieval Europe

centuries: agriculture, towns, trade and its impact on feudal relations.

The crisis of feudalism

 

Unit IV: 
Islamic Societies in West Asia

Rise of Islam and the making of political authority: from tribe to state. i) Prophet and Ummahii)

Caliphate and sultanate: Ummayads and Abbasids

18.00
Unit V: 
The Sunna, the Shia and the Sufi traditions

Adab, literature, and the urban tradition

 

Essential Readings: 
  • Anderson, P. Passages From Antiquity To Feudalism. London and New York: Verso, 1996.
  • Berkey, J. The Formation of Islam. Religion and Society in the Near East, 600–1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
  • Bloch M. Feudal Society vol. I, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961.
  • Bloch, M. “The Rise of Dependent Cultivation and Seignorial Institutions.” In The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, vol 1: The Agragrian Life of the Middle Ages, edited byM.M.
  • Postan, 224-77 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966.
  • Brunt, P.A. Social Conflicts in the Roman Republic. London: Chatto and Windus, 1971.
  • Cipolla, C.M., ed. Fontana Economic History, vol. I:The Middle Ages. New York: Harvester Press/Barnes and Noble, 1976.
  • Crone, P. “The Rise of Islam in the World.” In The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic
  • World, edited by Francis Robinson and Ira M. Lapidus,2-32. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
References: 
  • De Jong, M. “Carolingian Monasticism: the power of Prayer.” InThe New Cambridge Medieval
  • History, vol. 2: 700-900, edited by R. McKitter, 563-586. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
  • Duby, G. TheChivalrous Society, trans. Cynthia Postan. Berkeley: University of California Press,1977.Ehrenberg, V. From Solon to Socrates: Greek History and Civilisation During the 5th and the 6th  Centuries BC. London: Routledge, 1990.
  • Finley, M.I. Ancient Slavery Modern Ideology. London: Chatto and Windus 1980.
  • Finley, M.I. Politics in the Ancient World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
  • Hilton, R. Bond Men Made Free: Medieval Peasant Movements and the English Rising of 1381,London: Routledge 1973.
  • Hodgson, M.G.S. The Venture of Islam, Volume 1: The Classical Age of Islam, Marshall .
  • Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975. [pp. 22-67; 315-358; 359-409; 444-472; 750-945;) and The Venture of Islam, vol. 2: The Expansion of Islam in the Middle Period. Chicago:
  • University of Chicago Press, 1974. [pp. 62-151; 201-254; 293-328]
  • Lapidus, I.M. A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1988,2002.
  • Merrington, J. ‘Town and Country in the Transition to Capitalism’, in The Transition from
  • Feudalism to Capitalism, edited by Rodney Hilton. London: Verso, 1978.
  • Sca rre, C. and Brian Fagan, Ancient Civilisations. New Jersey: Pearson, 2008.

E-Resources :

Classical Greece and Rome

The growth of the medieval Economy from 11th -14th

Islamic Societies in West Asia

 

 

Academic Year: 
2025-26
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