1000 BCE to 500 CE

King David's Empire and the Israel-Judah separation – David and rebellion, Solomon, an empire breaks up

Rise and Fall of the Assyrian Empire – empire through Israel and Judah to Egypt and beyond and falls by 605 BCE

Captives put together the Hebrew Bible – the first five books and its sources.

The Persian Empire and Judaism – Cyrus Conquers and frees Hebrew captives; Jewish priesthood and ideology

Religion, Myth and the Ancient Greeks – Homer, Hesiod, resurrection, Olympics, war

Greeks, Democracy and Slavery , 650-501 BCE – Athens, Sparta, the culture of slavery

The Greeks at War, 494 to 371 BCE – the Greco-Persian and Peloponnesian Wars

Alexander the Great – Philip II, Alexander conquers from Egypt to Afghanistan

Hellenistic Civilization – empire, dissintegration, Jews and failed revolutions

Hellenism and Jews – Septuagint, Maccabees, loss of independence, Essenes, John the Baptist

India, Empire and Chaos – Hinduism, Buddhism, rise and fall of the Maurya and Gupta empires

Dynastic Rule and the Chinese – monarchy and rebellion, Zhou to Liu-Song dynasties

Rome Staggers to Empire – from early republic to hegemonic power

The Roman Republic's Civil Wars and End – Tiberius Graccus the younger to Octavian

Roman Emperors, Prosperity and Decline – Augustus Caesar to Constantine the Great

Jewish Revolts and Christian Identities – Jews and Christians divide. Christian hierarchy

Christianity becomes Dominant – Constantine, pagans, Eusebius, Julian the Apostate

The Roman Empire Disintegrates – Christian emperors fail, Rome burns, and the empire is overrun

Additional Church Ideology – Augustine overthrows Eusebius, bishoprics and rival views

Religion, Politics and Persia – more rise and fall empires; Zoroastrians, Manichees and Christians

Africa, Iron and Empire – the Nubians, iron, Askum, Meroe, the Bantu

The Ancient Japanese – from the legend of Jimmu to the rise of the Yamato dynasty

Korea: Three Kingdoms – Confucianism, animism and wars fought under the banner of Buddhism

North Americans – Woodland, Adena and Hopewell cultures, the plains and ancient southwest

MesoAmerica – the Olmecs, Teotihuacán, and the Maya

Societies in South America – Rise and fall of Chavin culture. Moche, Nazca, chiefdom and other societies.

Southeast Asia and Oceania – migrations.

Struggle with Ideas

Greek philosophy before Socratics – From Thales to Protagoras

Socrates, Plato and Aristotle – gods of Homer, nature of idea, categories and science

Cynics, Skeptics, Stoics and Epicureans – Antithenes, Diogenes, Pyrrho, Arcesilaus, Zeno of Citium, Epicurus

Roman Contemplations – myths, religious authority, concrete, Epicureans, Cicero, Senaca, Lucian, Galen, Plotinus

Religion and Philosophy in China – conqurors, human sacrifice, Confucius, Mozi, Buddhism, Taoism, I-ching