Great courses

Compact discs

Digital recording

Forty-eight lectures (30 minutes each)

"Topic: History : Subtopic: Ancient History"--Container

Unabridged

Gregory S. Aldrete, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Part 1. Disc 1. Lecture 1

Cities, civilizations, and sources ;

Lecture 2

From out of the Mesopotamian mud --

Disc 2.

Lecture 3

Cultures of the ancient near East ;

Lecture 4

Ancient Egypt : the gift of the Nile --

Disc 5. Lecture 5

Pharaohs, tombs, and gods ;

Lecture 6

The

lost civilization of the Indus Valley --

Disc 4. Lecture 7

The

Vedic age of ancient India ;

Lecture 8

Mystery cultures of early Greece --

Disc 5. Lecture 9

Homer and Indian poetry ;

Lecture 10

Athens and experiments in democracy --

Disc 6. Lecture 11

Hoplite warfare and Sparta ;

Lecture 12

Civilization dawns in China : Shang and Zhou

Part 2. Disc 7. Lecture 13

Confucius and the Greek philosophers ;

Lecture 14

Mystics, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians --

Disc 8. Lecture 15

Persians and Greeks ;

Lecture 16

Greek art and architecture --

Disc 9. Lecture 17

Greek tragedy and the Sophists ;

Lecture 18

The

Peloponnesian War and the trial of Socrates --

Disc 10. Lecture 19

Philip of Macedon: architect of empire ;

Lecture 20

Alexander the Great goes East --

Disc 11. Lecture 21

Unifiers of India: Chandragupta and Asoka ;

Lecture 22

Shi Huangdi: first emperor of China --

Disc 12. Lecture 23

Earliest historians of Greece and China ;

Lecture 24

The

Hellenistic world

Part 3. Disc 13. Lecture 25

The

Great empire of the Han Dynasty ;

Lecture 26

People of the Toga: Etruscans, early Rome --

Disc 14. Lecture 27

The

crucible: Punic Wars, Roman imperialism ;

Lecture 28

The

death of the Roman republic --

Disc 15. Lecture 29

Augustus: creator of the Roman empire ;

Lecture 30

Roman emperors: good, bad, and crazy --

Disc 13. Lecture 31

Han and Roman empires compared: geography ;

Lecture 32

Han and Roman empires compared: government --

Disc 17. Lecture 33

Han and Roman empires compared: problems ;

Lecture 34

Early Americas: resources and Olmecs --

Disc 18. Lecture 35

Pots and pyramids: Moche and Teotihuacán ;

Lecture 36

Blood and corn: Mayan civilization

Part 4. Disc 19. Lecture 37

Hunter-gatherers and Polynesians ;

Lecture 38

The

art and architecture of power --

Disc 20. Lecture 39

The

comparative armies: Rome, China, Maya ;

Lecture 40

Later Roman empire: crisis and Christianity --

Disc 21. Lecture 41

The

decline and fall of the Roman empire? ;

Lecture 42

The

Byzantine empire and the legacy of Rome --

Disc 22. Lecture 43

China from chaos to order under the Tang ;

Lecture 44

The

golden age of Tang culture --

Disc 23. Lecture 45

The

rise and flourishing of Islam ;

Lecture 46

Holy men and women: monasticism and saints --

Disc 24. Lecture 47

Charlemagne: father of Europe ;

Lecture 48

Endings, beginnings, what does it all mean?