Pre-Modern World History: Course Reader

Preface

Unit 1: Europe
Source 1.1: Mosaic of Empress Theodora in Ravenna, Italy
Source 1.2:  Procopius’s Account of Justinian and Theodora
Source 1.3: Bede’s Account of Augustine’s Christian Mission to England
Source 1.4:  Einhard’s Account of Charlemagne
Source 1.5: Selections from The Deeds of the Franks 
Source 1.6: The Sack of Constantinople
Source 1.7:  The Magna Carta
Source 1.8: Abelard and Heloise’s Romance 
Source 1.9: Thomas Aquinas’s Combination of Aristotle and Christianity in Scholasticism
Source 1.10: The Virgin Mary in Popular Religion 
Source 1.11: Catherine of Siena’s First Letter to Raymond of Capua

Unit 2: The Middle East
Source 2.1: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Qur’an 
Source 2.2: The Sunnah: Stories of Muhammad 
Source 2.3: Al-Baladhuri’s Account of the Battle of Yarmuk
Source 2.4: A Spanish Jew Visits Baghdad
Source 2.5: The Life of Ibn Sina
Source 2.6: The Great Mosque in Cordoba, Spain
Source 2.7: Courtyard of the Virgins in the Alcazar of Seville

Unit 3: The Americas
Source 3.1: Main Mound at Cahokia
Source 3.2:  The Mayan Alphabet
Source 3.3: The Temple of the Jaguars, Chichen Itza, c. 850–1000 CE
Source 3.4:  On the Maya Ball Game Tlachtli 
Source 3.5:  A Divine Invitation to a Ball Game
Source 3.6: Mexica Hymns
Source 3.7:  Bernal Diaz’s Account of the Mexica Marketplace in Tlatelolco
Source 3.8: Chronicles: On the Inca
Source 3.9: Pedro Cieza de León on Cuzco and Inca Roads, 1541–1547 
Source 3.10: The Walls of Cuzco 

Unit 4: China
Source 4.1:  Confucius’s Advice on Kingship
Source 4.2: Confucian Sayings from The Analects 
Source 4.3: Following the Way as a Ruler
Source 4.4: The Buddha Obtains Enlightenment 
Source 4.5: Lessons for Women
Source 4.6: Song Dynasty Funerary Mural 
Source 4.7: Marco Polo Meets the Great Khan

Unit 5: India
Source 5.1: The Sacrifice of Purusha 
Source 5.2: The Creation Hymn 
Source 5.3: On the Nature of the Soul 
Source 5.4:  Arjuna Refuses to Fight 
Source 5.5: A Hindu Description of an Ideal Wife
Source 5.6:  A Muslim Traveler Visits India

Unit 6: Africa
Source 6.1: Lalibela Churches 
Source 6.2: The Wall of Great Zimbabwe
Source 6.3: Leo Africanus’s Description of Timbuktu
Source 6.4: Ibn Battuta’s Travels in Africa
Source 6.5: Sankore Mosque in Timbuktu