HIS385Ancient Near-East: Egypt
2 credits
This course introduces students to the history of Egypt in ancient times, focusing on the chronology of the Pharaohs and their power in the Near East. Students will learn how to read and even to translate hieroglyphs. Students should be able to use primary sources and contextualize the topic in drawing a comparative chronology between Egypt and the rest of the eastern world.
HIS390Ancient Near-East: Mesopotamia
2 credits
This course focuses on the history of Mesopotamia in ancient times. This is a fundamental course which enables students to understand the context of the establishment of the first state-cities in the world. Students will use classical methods of learning, such as chronology and scale analysis. They should be able to establish the link between the history of Mesopotamia and the history of Egypt and other countries during the same period.
HIS395Ancient Near-East: Syria
2 credits
This course intends to focus on the idea that ancient Syria has never been a centralized and strong state. Students will use methods of contextualization to understand that throughout history its cities have been influenced by empires and neighboring kingdoms: the Hittite Empire in the North, Assyria in the East, and Egypt in the South. This course will also consider the geography of Syria and its geopolitical situation. Finally, it will refer to archeological fields in order to enhance the importance of Syria at a certain time of History.
AAR415Art of Modern Times
3 credits
The course covers the period from the 14th century up to the first half of the 18th century. It studies the transformations in art throughout the centuries within the sociocultural context, from early antiquity in the West, until when paintings and sculptures began to illustrate real characters in real places. Students will learn how to analyze a work of art (painting, sculpture, drawings, etc.) and how to compare the techniques used by the artists in different periods of time.
AAR460Contemporary Art
3 credits
Contemporary art begins in the last half of the 20th century, and this course explains the causes of transformations in art, and the trends, forms and tools which resulted in the contemporary arts. Students learn how to give value to a contemporary work of art in a time when there are not fixed standards anymore and where everything seems allowed. We consider the role of a work of art in society and its impact on the observer, as well as explore real and virtual museums.
HIS460Contemporary Middle East
3 credits
The expression “Middle East” concerns the area including the states of the Fertile Crescent and those of the Arab Peninsula, and Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt, and sometimes India. The course limits the study to states of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and Iraq. Students will examine themes dealing with the political and economic evolution, social mutations, demographic dynamics and some geopolitical questions focusing on contemporary issues, such as conflicts related to water management and the Arab Spring.
HIS400Greek and Byzantine History
2 credits
Greek history lives on thanks to its rich heritage, especially in the Mediterranean area. The course will present the constitutive elements of this long history since the emergence of the Minoan and Mycenaean “palatial” civilizations up to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. Students will study the cultural aspect of the Greek civilization, which reached its apogee with Hellenism. The course will help the students to analyze the process of diffusion of Christianity all around the Mediterranean coast, realized by the foundation of the Byzantine Empire and the uniqueness of the Basileus. A political approach will be adopted, analyzing the different regimes in the Greek and Byzantine world, from democracy to the powerful Empire, through tyranny. Attention will be given to the evolution of the city of Constantinople.
HIS480History of Christianity: birth and doctrines
3 credits
This course focuses on the inauguration of the New Alliance by Jesus, and the New testament which records the words and actions of this period. When Apostles proclaimed the good news by the kerygma it validated the evangelic mission of the Church, and from it, the first Christian communities were developed and organized. Their emergence caused different reactions and they were attacked by the upholders of Judaism and adherents of paganism. The course focuses on the dialectic of the integration of the Christians. The account of the genesis of Christianity is examined in this course along with the elaboration of the corpus of the first texts, and by minutely questioning the essence of the message that it brings to its understanding, its transmission, its evolution and its interpretation.
HIS425Islam, from Mahomet to 1516
3 credits
Gathered under the leadership of the prophet Mahomet, in the 7th century, the Arabs dominated the NearEast within a few years and continue the conquest in Africa and in Europe. The Caliph Rachidoun (632661) yielded power to dynasties, which governed DarelIslam of various capitals. Students will closely follow the stages of the expansion, the moments of the transfer of power, the organization of the administration and the governmental institutions of the Arab community from social, economic, cultural and scientific perspectives.
HIS450Modern Europe
3 credits
This course deals with the history of Europe from the Renaissance until the end of the Monarchy. Students will examine financial and economic questions, the political regimes, religious reforms, the Industrial Revolution, as well as the psychological and social structures of the period.
HIS405Roman History
2 credits
The course examines, through the history of the roman entities, the different factors which enhance the role of Rome as a Mediterranean power. The development and enlargement of the roman influence will be explained during both periods: period of the Roman Republic and then the period of roman imperialism. Students will use a comparative approach to examine the roman influence during these two periods and in different areas. Students will furthermore be able to define the process of Romanization and to develop a critical approach concerning the heritage of the Romans.
HIS455The Contemporary World
2 credits
This course will focus first on the interwar period of the 20th century. It will then deal with the main reasons that disturbed the world order during the second half of the 20th century: bipolarization, positive neutrality, decolonization, the European construction, the end of communism, the role of the USA as a superpower, globalization, international organizations, etc.
HIS435The Ottoman Empire
3 credits
The interest in writing about the Ottoman period in history was renewed when local archives were made accessible in the second half of the 20th century. The image of a tyrannical and fanatical power, which made Europe tremble, was sweetened and the emphasis was put on the internal organization of the Empire.
Defeated in Lepante in 1570, stopped in Vienna in 1683, and overruled in the Treaty of Kaynardji in 1774, the Empire weakened and became “the sick man of Europe” throughout the 19th century and had disappeared by the end of World War I.
HIS430Western Middle Ages
2 credits
The course describes the western Middle Ages period with a social, political, military and cultural approach. Students will be introduced to the first theories of modern states, which contributed to transform Europe from the 5th to the 14th centuries. Primary sources and works of art will help the students to understand the different representations of the societies, their leaders and the new-born states. A comparative approach is necessary to understand the different evolutions in the European areas.