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EMORY UNIVERSITYDept. of HistoryHistory 204-000: The Silk Road & Central Eurasia, 1750 BCE-1750 CESpring 2015Professor Matthew PayneSpring 2015119 Bowden HallTuThFri 10:00 -10:50email: mpayn01@emory.eduMath & Science N304Office Hrs: Tues. 2:00-3:30Course PurposeThis course will introduce students to the central nexus of commercial, cultural and political exchange in Eurasia over the course of nearly three millennia. From the Bronze Age to the fall of the Timurids Central Asia linked the civilizations of East Asia, the Near East, South Asia and Europe into one, "global" system. The route that later was associated with its most precious commodity, silk, sent the horse and Buddhism to China, silk and the Black Death to Europe, Islam and waves of conquerors into South Asia. From the great world Empires of Chinggis Khan and Alexander to the mercantile city-states of Sogdia and Sinkiang, the lands of the Silk Road shaped human history profoundly. The story of the region will be told by ancient mummies and Chinese monks, Greek adventurers and Arab poets, Venetian merchants and warrior princes. And in their story, students will understand the tale of the world’s first globalization and see, it is hoped, a mirror of their own world. This class will meet the General Education Requirement in History, Society and Culture (HSC); it is not intended to be a preparation course for later Eurasian history courses nor does it presume that students have knowledge of the topic. It is hoped, however, that the students having completed the course will be able to critically read historical primary sources, analyze them in context, and express this analysis cogently using the historical method. For this reason, reading, discussion and presentation are emphasized in this class.Available at Emory Bookstore:Available at Emory Bookstore:Elizabeth Barber, The Mummies of Urumchi (W. W. Norton) [ISBN: 0393320197] $19.95Richard C. Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road; Pre-modern Patterns of Globalization. (Palgrave Macmillan) [ISBN: 0230621252] $25.00Peter B. Golden, Central Asia in World History. (Oxford, USA) [ISBN: 0195338197] $19.95Xinru Liu, The Silk Roads: A Brief History With Documents (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012) [ISBN-10:0312475519] $19.75.James A. Millward, The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction. (Oxford University Press) [ISBN-10: 0199782864] $11.95Susan Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road. (University of California Press) [ISBN: 0520232143] $24.95S. Frederick Starr, Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. (Princeton University Press) [ISBN: 0691157733] $39.50.REQUIREMENTSParticulars:This course requires the fulfillment of all class assignments, attendance of class, and participation in class activities. Class assignments will include weekly Blackboard postings of discussion responses, exams on class readings and quizzes. Grading:The grading is broken down as follows:Quizzes, attendance and participation: 10%Weekly discussion question responses:25%Mid-term in-class exam: 30%Final take-home exam: 35%Grading is not done on a curve but based on individual mastery of the concepts and skills highlighted in the course. These are a combination of understanding historical methodology, ability to engage in sustained critical reading, proficiency in historical analysis and skill with written exposition. Both content and style are graded. I will discuss in class and provide a handout that details my grading policy.Assignments:Quizzes will normally be very short identifications to test knowledge of each; week’s general readings. Weekly discussion responses will be required to be posted by 9:00 p.m. each Wednesday. Each week students will chose one of several questions (usually focused on the principal reading) to discuss in two to three well-crafted paragraphs. Successful answers will provide specific information garnered from the texts we have read (not textbooks!). The discussion questions will be given two points for a well-argued, well supported answer; one point for an answer deficient in either of these areas and a zero for deficiencies in both. Answers posted late will receive an automatic zero. The mid-term exam will be a take-home exam involving a short essay (three to five pages). Several essay questions will be distributed on Tuesday, 2/24, as a Safe-Assign assignment on Blackboard. It will be due, via Safe-assign, by 8:00 pm Monday, 3/1)The final exam will be a take-home essay exam due on the day of our final exam, Wednesday, May 6th, by 10:30 am via Safe-assign. It will be distributed on Friday, April 27th via Blackboard.COURSE POLICIESAbsences and Make-Up Policy: Class attendance is mandatory and unexcused absences will be detrimental to the class participation grade (five unexcused absences will lead to automatic failure in the classroom participation grade). Moreover, missed assignments may not made up without permission of the instructor. Excused absences include emergencies and illness and permitted absences (sports commitments, interviews, religious holidays). The policy for notifying the instructor differ for each. Emergences and Illness: Medical and other emergencies require either a communication before class (email, phone call, etc) or an explanation after the fact. However, to receive permission to make-up a missed exam, you need to obtain an excuse from the Dean’s office. To not be penalized on an exam because of such an emergency, College policy is to require such an excuse from the Dean’s office, not the instructor. If you have an emergency or are very sick, please contact me by voice mail (727-4466) or email. “Emergency” is a grave matter, such as an illness of a family member or your car suddenly breaking down. An emergency is not an inconvenience such as “I can’t print out my assignment” or “my alarm clock did not go off.”Excused absences: Important life events such as pre-scheduled sporting events (as a participant, not spectator), job interviews or religious holidays will be excused, provided the student notify me well in advance (think one week) and not abuse the privilege (scheduling one internship interview during class may be unavoidable; scheduling multiple interviews sequentially is not). Education is like parenting, you got to show up. So show up! Missed Assignments: Missed assignments may only be made up with permission of the instructor due to unforeseen emergency or pre-arranged alternate commitment (see above). Otherwise, late assignments will be penalized one grade per day.Extra Credit: This class encourages outside the classroom learning. Emory offers a treasury of riches, in the form of outside speakers, internal seminars, exhibits, etc. Those talks, etc., deemed of interest to class will be publicized in class and on our learn-link conference. Modest credit will be granted to your final grade for attendance of these events and short write-ups required. It is your responsibility to fit such opportunities you’re your schedule, not the instructor’s to work around 40 individuals’ hectic schedules.Other Resources: The Writing Center provides individualized mentoring on exposition provided by a gifted cadre of mentors. Their sessions are rewarding and beneficial even to accomplished writers. For more information and to schedule an appointment see: Emory University Honor Code. As in all Emory classes, the strictures of the honor code apply. Infractions of the honor code, especially cheating and plagiarism, will be handled with the greatest possible severity. All work in the class should be your own and plagiarism from the web (including cutting and pasting of other’s text, but also use of others material or arguments without citation), use of others’ papers, etc, will lead to an honor council referral. The code is located at: and Lecture ScheduleCLASS INTRODUCTIONTuesday, 1/13: IntroductionWeek 1: The Centrality of Central Eurasia Thursday, 1/15:Lecture: What is the Silk Road?Readings:Secondary: Andre Gunder Frank, “The Centrality of Central Asia,” Studies in History 8/1 (1992): 43-97. David Christian, “Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History,” Journal of World History 11/1 (2000): 1-26.Friday, 1/16: Readings:Secondary: Golden, Central Asia in World History, "Introduction; A Layering of People," pp. 1-8.Liu, The Silk Roads, “Introduction,” pp. 1-34Millward, The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction, ch. 1, “Environment and Empire,” pp. 1-19.Primary: Aurel Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, ch. lii, “To the ‘Caves of the Thousand Buddhas’,” pp. 20-31. Discussion Questions: Why, according to Gunder Frank, is Central Asia, well, central? Why is it so hard to define exactly where and what this thing is or even what to name it (Central Asia, Inner Asia, Inner Eurasia, Central Eurasia)? Why does Christian dispute the very idea of "silk roads" as the central historical concept of the region? Why, on the other hands, does Liu embrace the idea of “silk roads”?How are migrations and cycles so important to understand Inner Asia? Why, according to Gunder Frank, is territoriality much less important than for “nation-states” or even the settled empires of Eurasia? How are the region's people "layered"? In regards to Millward and Christian, how do trans-ecological exchanges and the environment of Central Asia shape its history?Aurel Stein reaction to finding the “Caves of the Thousand Buddhas” is a mixture of wonder for the artistic and spiritual achievements of ancient Central Asians and contempt for their latter day descendants? Do you think Stein, who was one of the models for Indiana Jones, approached the “ruins of desert Cathay” in the spirit of an archeologist or the cunning of a looter?Week 2: HORSE-TAMERS OF THE STEPPETuesday, 1/20: 438277015875Lecture: The Rise of the Steppe and the Creation of a Eurasian Diffusion Zone Readings:Secondary: Christopher I. Beckwith, Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present, “Prologue: The Hero and His Friends, 1-28. (on reserve)Primary: Lines 6580-6980 of The Kyrgyz Epic Manas (Manas’ First Heroic Deeds). Selections translated, introduced and annotated Elmira K??ümkulk?z?1 (University of Washington).Thursday, 1/22: Readings:Secondary: David W. Anthony and Dorcas R. Brown, “”Horseback Riding and Bronze Age Pastoralism in the Eurasian Steppe,” in Victor H. Mair and Jane Hickman, Reconfiguring the Silk Road: New Research on East-West Exchange in Antiquity (University of Pennsylavania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2014) [ISBN-10: 1934536687], pp. 55-73.Primary: “The Horse Sacrifice,” in The Rig Veda: An Anthology of One Hundred Eight Hymns, Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty, ed., pp. 85-95. Recommended (for those with a further interest):David W. Anthony and Dorcas R. Brown, “Harnessing Horsepower,” , 1/23: Readings:Secondary: Golden, Central Asia in World History, Ch. 1, "The Rise of Nomads and Oasis City States," pp. 9-20.Millward, The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction, ch. 2, “Eras of Silk Road Flourescence,” pp. 20-38.Discussion Questions: What is the “First Story” of the Central Eurasians according to Beckwith? Why is the comitatus, the band of warriors who followed their leader even in death, such a crucial part of what Beckwith calls the "Central Eurasian cultural complex"? The need of trading or raiding to support such a band should be addressed. How does Manas epitomize the Central Eurasian hero?What was the impact of the domestication of the horse in the Eurasian steppe? How did it lead to a rise of a pastoral nomadic culture from Europe to China? What role did the horse play as a sacred animal, a symbol of speed and power and even a beloved companion in Vedic culture? How were the nomads crucial to the creation of a flourishing Silk Road rather than an hindrance to it (Millward discusses this)?Week 3: LOST WORLDS—THE OASIS CULTURES441388541275Tuesday, 1/27: Lecture: The Peopling of the OasesReadings:Secondary: Philip Kohl, The Making of Bronze Age Eurasia, ch. 5, “Entering a Sown World of Irrigation Agriculture—From the Steppes to Central Asia and Beyond,” pp. 182-225. Recommended:China’s Tocharian Mummies; Silent Witnesses of a Forgotten Past (Nova)Readings:Secondary: Barber, The Mummies of Urumchi, preface, chs.1-4, pp. 1-88.Recommended:China’s Tocharian Mummies; Silent Witnesses of a Forgotten Past (Nova)Friday, 1/31: Readings:Secondary: Barber, The Mummies of Urumchi, chs. 8- pp. 149-214.Discussion Questions: How did the discovery of red-haired, tartan-wearing, bearded mummies in Tarim basin revolutionize our understanding of Eurasia? What interdisciplinary tools does Barber use to analyze the mummies and their presence in such an unexpected place? Why are these “oasis hoppers” important to understand the overall rhythm of history on the Silk Road?Why was the emergence of the late Bronze age “Bactrian-Margiana Archeological Complex” so important for joining together the later “silk road”? And how, according to Kohl, were its cycles intimately linked with trade to the Near East?43561012890500Week 4: BUILDING WALLS; THE CIVILIZED AND THE "BARBARIAN" 3844925120015Tuesday, 2/3:Lecture: Iran/Turan, Religious Change and the Eurasian World.Readings:Secondary: Golden, Central Asia in World History, Ch. 2, "The Early Nomads: Warfare is their Business," pp. 21-34.Christopher I. Beckwith, Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present, “Epilogue: The Barbarians,” 320-362. Primary: Herodotus, The Landmark Herodotus, Bk 4,Sections 4.96-4,142, pp. 322-338. Thursday, 2/5: Readings:Secondary: Nicola Di Cosmo, Ancient China and Its Enemies, ch. 4, Walls and Horses,” 127-158.Primary: Selections from the Han Narratives, Pt. VI, “A Chinese Memorial arguing Against Campaigns Deep into Hsiung-nu Territory.” (Seattle Silk Road).Friday, 2/6: Readings:Secondary: Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road; Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century, chs. 1-2, pp. 1-36.Primary: Firdawsi, “The Seven Trials of Rostam,” Shahnameh, The Persian Book of Kings, trans. Dick Davis, 152-162. Yasna 30 of The Gathas. Discussion Questions: -825596520Iron-age Eurasian steppe nomads such as the Scythians and Hsiung-nu emerged as powerful foes of the great agrarian empires to the south of them such as the Persian Empire and the Qin Dynasty in China. Why, according to Herodotus and the anonymous Han memorandum writer, are the nomads almost unbeatable on their own turf? Why, according to Di Cosmo, did the Qin really build their wall? Were the nomads "barbarians."Iran, the land of Ahura Mazda, was forever opposed to Turan, the land of nomads, in the teachings of Zoroaster. How did the ancient Gathas (orally transmitted prayers) articulate the dualist religion of Iran as a contest between the spirit of truth and the spirit of the lie? How did Firdowsi's Rostam (in many ways the antithesis of the steppe warrior and the first incarnation of medieval chivalry) represent the political and religious values of the Iranian aristocracy that would dominate much of the Silk Roads for a millennium?Week 5: IMPERIALISMS—ROME AND CHINA 4131310103505Tuesday, 2/10: Lecture: Empires and the Silk RoadReadings:Secondary: Millward, The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction, ch. 4, “The Technological Silk Road,” pp. 64-86.Thursday, 2/12: Readings:Secondary: Thomas Barfield, “Steppe Empires, China, and the Silk Route: Nomads as a Force in International Trade and Politics,” in Anatoly M, Khazanov and Andre Wink, eds., Nomads in the Sedentary World, ch. 10 (London: Routledge, 2001) [ISBN-10: 0700713700], pp. 234-249 (25 of 295 or 5%)Primary: Records of the Grand Historian of China: Translated from the Shih Chi of Ssu-ma Ch’ien. Book 123, “Ta-yuan,” Burton Watson, trans., pp. 264-289.Liu, “Documents,” ch. 1, “China’s Trade on the Western Frontier,” in The Silk Roads, pp. 35-50.Friday, 2/13: Readings:Secondary: Matthew P. Fitzpatrick, "Provincializing Rome: the Indian Ocean Trade Network and Roman Imperialism." Journal of World History 22/1 (2011): 27-54.Primary:Liu, “Documents,” ch. 2, “Rome’s Trade to the East,” in The Silk Roads, pp. 50-83."Priscus at the Court of Atilla,” in Internet Medieval Sourcebook. (Fordham University)Discussion Questions: According to Barfield, did the Han expand into Central Eurasia as a defensive measure and to trade their goods, such as silk, with the West? Or were they, as Ssu-ma Ch’ien seems to indicate, expanding in an imperialist manner to exact resources from and dominate over Central Eurasian people? Do Liu’s documents support one or another interpretation?Rome actually knew far less about the lands to the East than the Greeks (a strong Hellenistic presence was established by Alexander the Great and endured until the rise of the Kushan empire in the first century BCE), yet Rome’s attraction to the East and its goods is obvious from Liu’s documents. Nonetheless, Fitzpatrick makes it clear that Rome had little knowledge of China and could only trade for Eastern goods through the intermediary of Indian traders—it was very much a junior player in the great transcontinental trade. Give what Priscus records of the Huns, was Rome likely to match the Han’s feat in breaking the Hsiung-nu and establishing its own imperial control on Eurasian trade routes? (You should note that Roman citizens seemed to prefer Attila’s alleged “barbarism” over Rome’s ‘civilization’).Week 6: MERCHANTS AND MONKS 481139514859000Tuesday, 2/17: Lecture: Buddhism along the Silk RoadsReadings:Secondary: Starr, Lost Enlightenment, ch. 2, “Worldly Urbanists, Ancient Land,” pp. 28-61.Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road, “The Merchant’s Tale,” 27-54.Primary: Nicholas Sims-Williams, The Sogdian Ancient Letters, 1, 2, 3 and 5. (Silk Road Seattle).Thursday, 2/19: Readings:Secondary: Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road; Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century, chs. 3-4, pp. 37-87.Primary: Xuanzang, Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World, "K'iu-Chi," pp. 19-24. Liu, “Documents,” ch. 3, “The Kushan Empire and the Influence of Buddhism,” pp. 84-100.Friday, 2/20: Readings:Secondary: Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road, “The Monk’s Tale,” 113-137.Francis Wood, The Silk Road; Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia, ch. 7, “The Cave of the Thousand Buddhas; Buddhism on the Silk Road,” (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004) [ISBN-10: 0520243404], pp. 88-110. (23 of 270 or 8.5%)Primary: The Caves of Dunhuang Slideshow (NY Times).-29845027622500Liu, “Documents,” ch. 4, “The Oasis Towns of Central Asia and the Spread of Buddhism,” pp. 100-120.Discussion Questions: How did Sogdian merchants dominate the Silk Road? How was their life perilous and difficult? How, even in the political chaos following the collapse of the Han Dynasty, did their commercial and trans-continental ties support them? How important were family ties (here you might want to decipher the line from letter 3 "I would rather be a dog’s or a pig’s wife than yours!").Describe how Buddhism, prior to the rise of Islam, was the religion par excellence of the Silk Road. How did its patronage by the powerful Kushan Empire aid its spread? How did its pilgrims seeking knowledge, such as Xuanzang, also create a lasting myth of the Silk Road cultures being a land of wonders and myth? How do the Caves of Dunhuang show the vitality of Inner Asian Buddhism? Week 7: Life Along the Silk RoadSTuesday, 2/24: Lecture: The Cosmopolitan Empire of Tang China and the Silk RoadsReadings:Secondary: Starr, Lost Enlightenment, ch. 3, “A Cauldron of Skills, Ideas and Faiths,” pp. 62-100.Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road, “The Princess’ Tale,” “The Courtesan’s Tale,” 95-112, 138-154, Primary: Liu, “Documents,” ch. 6, “The Tang Empire and Foreign Traders and Priests,” pp. 133-144.Mid-term Take-Home Essay Questions Distributed (due on Monday 3/1 via Safe-Assign by 8:00 pm)Thursday, 2/26: Readings:Secondary: Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road, “The Nun’s Tale,” “The Widow’s Tale,” pp. 155-188.Friday, 2/28: Readings:Secondary: Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road, “The Official’s Tale,” “The Artist’s Tale,” 189-223.Discussion Questions: Chose one of the biographie Whitfield sketches out from the materials at Dunhuang. Discuss the subject's life in relation to your expectations of medieval Eurasians. Were they “simple people” or do you find their personalities and struggles as complex as modern peoples. Remember, chose one and give a detailed response.Week 8: the coming of islamMid-term Take-Home Essay Questions due on Monday 3/1 via Safe-Assign by 8:00 pm395033559055Tuesday, 3/3: Lecture: 751 and All that.Readings:Secondary: Golden, Central Asia in World History, Ch. 3, "Heavenly Qaghans: The Turks and Their Successors," pp. 35-49.Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road, “The Soldier’s Tale,” “The Horseman’s Tale,” 55-94.Primary: Orkhon Inscriptions, The Kultegin Inscription. Thursday, 3/5: Readings:Secondary: Golden, Central Asia in World History, Ch. 4, "The Cities of the Silk Road and the Coming of Islam," pp. 50-62.Primary: “Tabari: Another Look at the Arab Conquests,” in Levi and Sela, eds., Islamic Central Asia: An Anthology of Historical Sources, pp. 16-21.Robert Hoyland, Seeing Islam as Others Saw It, “the Chinese Sources,” pp. 243-257.Friday, 3/6: Readings:Secondary: Starr, Lost Enlightenment, ch. 4, “How Arabs Conquered Central Asia and Central Asia Then Set the Stage to Conquer Bagdad,” pp. 101-125.Discussion Questions: The great Kok-Turk Khaganate claimed rule over all under Tengri (Blue Heaven). How did the Kultegin inscription justify this rule and warn the nomads of succumbing to the luxuries of Chinese civilization. Do you think steppe rulers feared their people would "go soft?" Comparing the reconstruction of the lives of a Tibetan infantryman and a Uighur cavalryman, do you think these men would have thought of their lives as soft? Or worth the sacrifices of empire?How did Islam conquer Central Asia and set itself up to be conquered by Central Asians?-22352023622000How did the Arabs see their conquest of Central Eurasia in the name of Islam (Tabari’s account)? How did others perceive their intervention in the area (Hoyland's account)? At the Battle of the Talas in 751 Chinese expansionism suffered a defeat and the later Tang civil wars made it impossible for the Chinese to return for nearly a millennium. With the collapse of Turk, Tang and Tibetan power, all within a generation of Talas, was it inevitable that Islam would come to predominate the Silk Road? SPRING BREAK, 3/9-3/13Week 9: The Islamic ENLIGHTENMENT47942509588500Tuesday, 3/17: Lecture: Islamic Cultural Flowering on the Silk Road Readings:Secondary: Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, ch. 5, 89-110.Primary: James E. Montgomery, “Ibn Fadlan and the Rusiyyah,” 5-22.Thursday, 3/19: Readings:Secondary: Starr, Lost Enlightenment, chs.1, 5 and 8, “The Center of the World,” and “East Wind over Bagdad,” “A Flowering of Central Asia: the Samanid Dynasty,” pp. 1-28, 126-156, 225-267.Primary: “al-Biruni: On the Importance of the Sciences,” in Levi and Sela, eds., Islamic Central Asia: An Anthology of Historical Sources, pp. 39-46.Jelaluddin Rumi, Love's Ripening; Rumi on the Heart's Journey, "Get Ready, the Drunkards are Coming," "The Face of That Beauty," Ancient Wine, pp. 105-107.Friday, 3/20: Readings:Secondary: Golden, Central Asia in World History, Ch. 4, "The Crescent over the Steppe: Islam and the Turkic People," pp. 35-49.Starr, Lost Enlightenment, ch. 11, “Culture Under a Turkic Marauder: Mahmud’s Ghazni,” pp., 332-81.Discussion Questions: The Arab ambassado, Ibn Fadlan, provides the most detailed description of a Viking funeral known in the sources. Were these “Varangians”—who ultimately went on to form the Rus’ state—an alien presence in Central Eurasia or were their customs and power dynamics amenable to the assimilation of Central Eurasian political and economic practices? What does Ibn Fadlan’s description tell you about not only Viking culture but Islam’s engagement with Inner Eurasian peoples?The common view of Islam is of a very rule-driven, puritanic religion that hewed closely to orthodoxy. However, especially in Central Asia, a mystical, emotive brand of esoteric Islam, Sufi’ism was greatly responsible for mass conversions of, especially, Turkic nomads. How do Rumi’s poems reflect a complex, joyous embrace of life? (remember, Rumi was not a heretic or libertine—his poetry and theology was instrumental in creating the Mawlawiyah Sufi Order, better known in the West as the order of the Twirling Dervishes). How does al-Biruni defend the study of non-revealed sciences? Starr considers the Samanid state to have patronized a startlingly fresh “enlightenment” that influenced world history. Do you agree with him?How did Islam’s conversion of Turkic nomads lead to the Islamization of Central Eurasia? How did trade, especially in human flesh, help create a synthesis of Turko-Persian Islam? The case of Mahmud of Ghazni might be helpful to frame why Turks rather than, say Ibn Fadlan’s Vikings, were more amenable to Islam’s influence. Week 10: The Mongol World Empire Tuesday, 3/24:389445526670Lecture: The Mongol Conquest of EurasiaReadings:Secondary: Golden, Central Asia in World History, Ch. 5, "The Mongol Whirlwind," pp. 76-91.Primary: The Secret History of the Mongols, Kahn, ed., Cleaves, transl., “The Heritage and Youth of Genghis Khan,” pp. 14-43. Recommended:Mongol [DVD 11452]Thursday, 3/26: Readings:Secondary: Starr, Lost Enlightenment, ch. 13, “The Mongol Century,” pp. 436-477.Primary: “The Travels of Ibn Batuta,” Medieval Sourcebook, "Ibn Batuta Arrives at Kaffa" to "The Khatun is Met at the Border of Her Father's Territory," i.e., the Golden Horde (Fordham University).Friday, 3/27: Readings:Secondary: Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road; Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century, ch. 6, 111-134.Primary: William of Rubruck, Account of Travels, parts XV.Chang Chun, A Daoist Monk in Central Asia,” in Levi and Sela, eds., Islamic Central Asia: An Anthology of Historical Sources, pp. 130-134.Discussion Questions: How did Genghis Khan’s brutal treatment as a child harden him into one of the world’s great conquerors? What does the fact that many of his early exploits and rise as a warlord involved redeeming his pledge of marriage to his betrothed Borte tell you? How did he and his sons go on to conquer the better part of Eurasia? How did the Mongol’s ecumenicism encourage toleration along the Silk Road? Given Foltz’s account of the religious competition between faiths in the Mongol courts but also William of Rubrick’s tawdry tale of scheming priests, who was the great enemy to various faiths—the dread savage Mongol Khan or other clergy? What was Chang Chun’s view of Mongol religious practices? What was Ibn-Batuta's view of the nomadic empire of Khan Uzbek of the Golden Horde? Golden considers the Mongol Empire to have been brilliantly integrated Eurasia after a period of initial devestation. Starr, on the other hand, has a much more provisional view, though he seems to have more of a complaint with Islamic fundamentalism than Mongol barbarism. What is your view—did the Silk Roads prosper or decline under Mongol imperialism?Week 11: TRAVELERS—Marco Polo and The Black DeathTuesday, 3/31: Lecture: Marco Polo and the Discovery of the EastReadings:Secondary: Thomas T. Allsen, “The Cultural Worlds of Marco Polo,” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 31/3 (Winter 2001): 375-383.Primary: Medieval Sourcebook, “Marco Polo: The Glories of Kinsay [Hangchow] (c. 1300).”Rabban Suama, The Monk of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China; or The History of the Life and Travels of Rabban Sawma, Envoy and Plenipotentiary of the Mongol Khans to the Kings of Europe and Markos who as Yahbh-Allaha III Became Patriarch of the Nestorian Church in Asia, E. A. Wallis Budge, trans., ed., ch. 7, pp. 170-198.Thursday, 4/2: Readings:Secondary: Millward, The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction, ch. 5, “The Arts on the Silk Road,” pp. 87-109.Primary: Liu, “Documents,” ch. 8, “Trade Networks from the Mediterranean to the South China Sea,” in The Silk Roads, pp. 152-170.Friday, 4/3: Readings:Secondary: William McNeill, Plagues and People, ch. 4, “The Impact of the Mongol Empire on Shifting Disease Balances,” pp. 161-207. Millward, The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction, ch. 3, “The Biological Silk Road,” pp. 39-63.Discussion Questions: 370967034036000Given Polo’s description of Kinsay, do you believe he actually travelled to the East? Remember, Marco Polo was not a courtier, a priest or a scholar but a merchant (telling his tale to a writer of romances). Does his account square with the sort of attention a Venetian merchant would likely direct to describing his experiences? What interests Rabban Sauma in the West? What were Suama’s and Polo’s shared “cultural worlds”?Millward considers the Mongol Empire to have accelerated the exchange of art, techniques and culture across the Silk Roads. Do you agree? Do Liu’s documents support this argument? According to McNeill, it was the very success of the Mongol world empire that doomed it. He argues that by linking the Western and Eastern parts of Eurasia in a new way, the Mongol conquests undermined the disease balances of the Old World and unleashed the devestating Black Death on the continent. Would Millward concur wit this assessment? What ramifications did this catastrophe have not only for the decline of Central Eurasia but the rise of the West?Week 12: THE SHARK AND THE TIGER—Two Superpowers (mING AND tIMURIDSTuesday, 4/7: Lecture: Samarkand, Center of the EarthReadings:Secondary: Louis Levethes, When China Ruled the Seas; The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, ch. 11, “The Sultan’s Bride,” pp. 183-194.Primary: Extracts from the Ming shi-lu (Records of the Ming) on Zheng He: 11 Jul 1405, 2 Oct 1407, 8 Oct 1407, 17 Oct 1408, 6 Jul 1411, 18 Dec 1412, 28 Dec 1416, 29 Jun 1430, 20 Mar 1431.Thursday, 4/9: Readings:Secondary: Starr, Lost Enlightenment, ch 14, “Tamerlane and his Successors, 478-514.Golden, Central Asia in World History, Ch. 7, "The Later Chinggisids, Temur and the Timurid Renaissance," pp. 91-104.Primary: Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, Clavijo. Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406, trans., ed. Guy Le Strange, chs. 16-22.Morris Rossabi, “A Translation of Ch’en Ch’eng’s Hsi-you fan kue chih,” Ming Studies 17 (Fall 1983): 49-59.Friday, 4/10: Readings:Secondary: Golden, Central Asia in World History, Ch. 7, "The Later Chinggisids, Temur and the Timurid Renaissance," pp. 91-104.Discussion Questions: The Ming clearly built a maritime superpower worthy of the later European overseas Empires. Was Admiral Zheng He engaged in imperialism for the Chinese emperor? Why did the Ming pull back from maritime hegemony, thus leaving the field open for the Europeans? Describe Clavijo’s description of Timur’s kingdom and court. Does he show a sense of cultural condescension towards the East or, rather, does he have an appreciation for Timur’s power? As a noble ambassador visiting another warrior prince, how does his account of the East differ from Polo’s or Rubrick’s? How does Ch’en Ch’eng’s account differ in tone from Clavijo’s and why? Do these descriptions match Golden's discussion of an Islamic superpower that was also prosperous, cultured and well-ordered? How does Starr interpret the Timurid renaissance?Week 13: The Collapse of the Silk Road World System380301511239500Tuesday, 4/14: Lecture: The Shift Away from Central Eurasian Trade and the Last of the Timurids Readings:Secondary: Stephen Frederic Dale, The Garden of Eight Paradises: Babur and the Culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan and India (1483-1530), ch. 2, “The Timurid Denouement in Mawarannahr,” pp. 67-134.Primary: Babur, The Baburnama, “Events of the Year 912 [1506-07],” pp. 229-239. Thursday, 4/16: Readings:Secondary: Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road; Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century, ch. 7, 135-144.Primary: Khoja Ahrar, “Letters,” in Islamic Central Asia: An Anthology of Historical Sources, Scott Levi and Ron Sela eds., pp. 198-200.Friday, 4/17: Readings:Secondary: Starr, Lost Enlightenment, ch 14, “Tamerlane and His Successors,” pp. 478-514.Primary: Ivan Khokhlov, “A Russian Envoy to Central Asia,” in Islamic Central Asia: An Anthology of Historical Sources, Scott Levi and Ron Sela eds., pp. 230-233.Discussion Questions: How does Babur describe the sophisticated and cosmopolitan court of his cousins in Herat? Why does he, a hardened general in the wars against the Uzbeks, take time to play tourist in Herat? How does the decadence of this court worry Babur (after all, one of the great generals in world history)?How did the tradition of religious diversity and innovation on the Silk Road stagnate into rigid and intolerant orthodoxies after the decline of region as a trade nexus? Look at Khoja Ahrar’s letters, which include exhortations to the leaders of the region to mobilize against “the flesh eaters” (probably Uzbek tribesmen). Are these letters of an all-important spiritual leader more political in your mind or focused on faith? Also take a look at Khokhlov’s account of his journey—is the vibrant cosmopolitan region that so took in Clavijo as civilized and prosperous in his day?Week 14: The Road is closed Tuesday: 4/21Lecture: The Partition of Central EurasiaReadings:Secondary: Golden, Central Asia in World History, Ch. 8, "The Age of Gunpowder and the Crush of Empires," pp. 105-121.Thursday, 4/23: Readings:Secondary: Peter C. Perdue, "Military Mobilization in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century China, Russia and Mongolia," Modern Asian Studies 30/4 (1996): 757-793.Primary: “A Kalmyk-Muscovite Diplomatic Confrontation, 1650; A Translation,” in Michael Khodarkovsky, Where Two Worlds Met: The Russian State and the Kalmyk Nomads, 1600-1771, pp. 245-250. Discussion Question:As Russian and China divided the steppe between them, native peoples such as the Kalmyks found themselves attempting to negotiate, as they always had, interstate relations with these expanding empires. How did the Russian envoys treat the independent Kalmyks and why did their attempts to be considered equals rather than vassals of the Russians fail? How does Perdue question our usual definitions (such as in Golden’s or Starr’s) of Central Eurasian "decline"? Would the history of Central Eurasia have been different of the Zhungars had prevailed against the Qing?Conclusion [18+26+12=56]Friday, 4/27: Conclusion—The Once and Future Silk Road?Readings:Secondary: Golden, Central Asia in World History, Ch. 9, "The Problem of Modernity," pp. 122-139.Starr, Lost Enlightenment, ch 15, “Retrospective: The Sand and the Oyster,” pp. 515-540.Millward, The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction, ch. 6, “Whither the Silk Road?” pp. 110-121.Final Take-Home Essay Questions Distributed (due on Wednesday, 5/6 via Safe-Assign by 10:30 am)Discussion Question:Why, according to Golden, Starr and Milward did the vibrant societies of the Silk Roads decline? Is that, as Starr raises, even a valid question to ask of Central Eurasia? And what, if any, is the likelihood of a modern return to the Silk Roads?WEDS., MAY 6TH,: FINAL TAKE-HOME EXAM VIA SAFE-ASSIGN BY 10:30 AM! ................
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