Syllabus · Lecture Notes
MIT OpenCourseWare
Foundations of World Culture I: World Civilizations and Texts
- Instructor
- Dr. Ghenwa Hayek
- Term
- Fall 2011
- Level
- Undergraduate
- What's inside
- 1 reading · 3 web pages
- Materials open
- MIT OCW
About this course
Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 21L.001X Foundations of World Culture I: World Civilizations and Texts, Fall 2011, Dr. Ghenwa Hayek — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 23, 2026. How RedLectern is built.
Materials are grouped the way MIT organized them. A verified, course-wide order has not been established here.
Before you start
Prerequisites are not listed here. Check MIT's own syllabus for this course.
How this course was organized
What's here, and what isn't
- A lecture sequence of 37 items is confirmed. It stays as organized materials rather than a full course order.
Not included here
7 items from the source could not be safely included:
- MIT's page format for this item wasn't recognized clearly enough to place it safely. (7 items)
Course outline
Syllabus · Lecture Notes
Lecture 2: The Epic of Gilgamesh , Tablets 1–6
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Lecture 3: The Epic of Gilgamesh , Tablets 7–11
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Lecture 4: The Odyssey , Books 1, 5, 9
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Lecture 5: The Odyssey , Books 12–14
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Lecture 6: The Odyssey , Books 18, 19, 24
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Lecture 7: The Republic , Chapter 4 [Preview with Google Books ]
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Lecture 8: The Republic , Chapter 13 1st essay topics distributed
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Lecture 9: Aristotle, “Poetics.” In The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism
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Lecture 10: Aeschylus, “Agamemnon.” In The Oresteia
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Lecture 11: Aeschylus, “Agamemnon” (cont.)
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Lecture 12: Oedipus Rex
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Lecture 13: The New Oxford Annotated Bible , Genesis, Chapters 1–11
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Lecture 14: The New Oxford Annotated Bible , Chapters 22, 32, 37 1st essay returned
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Lecture 15: The New Oxford Annotated Bible , The Gospel of Matthew
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Lecture 16: The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation , Books 1–4
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Lecture 17: The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation , Books 5–12
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Lecture 18: The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation , Books 13–20
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Lecture 19: What the Buddha Taught , Chapters 1–5
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Lecture 20: What the Buddha Taught , Chapters 6–8
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Lecture 21: What the Buddha Taught , pp. 91–136
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Lecture 22: The Bhagavad-Gita , Introduction, Teachings 1–8 2nd essay topics distributed
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Lecture 23: The Bhagavad-Gita , Teachings 9–18
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Lecture 24: Selections from The Jataka Tales : “The Monkey and the Crocodile” “How the Turtle Saved his own Life” “The Foolish, Timid Rabbit” “The Wise and the Foolish Merchant” “The Ox Who Envied the Pig” “The Princes and the Water-Sprite” “Why the Owl is not the King of the Birds”
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Lecture 25: Selections from the Qur’an : Sura 1, “The Opening” Sura 13, “Thunder” Sura 96, “The Blood Clot”
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Lecture 26: Selections from the Qur’an : Sura 2, “The Cow” Sura 3, “The House of ‘Imran” Sura 16, “The Bees”
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Lecture 27: The Divine Comedy , Selections from Book 3 Hell (Inferno) , Cantos 1–3, 5, 25–28, 32–34 2nd essay returned
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Lecture 28: The Divine Comedy , Selections from Book 2 Purgatory(Purgatorio) , Cantos 1, 5, 10, 11, 30, 33
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Lecture 29: The Divine Comedy , Selections from Book 1 Paradise (Parasdiso) , Cantos 1, 2, 9, 18–20, 31–33
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Lecture 30: The Ramayana , Chapters 1–4
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Lecture 31: The Ramayana , Chapters 5–10
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Lecture 32: The Ramayana , Chapters 11–14 Final essay topics distributed
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Lecture 33: The Arabian Nights , Prologue, Nights 1–14
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Lecture 34: The Arabian Nights , Nights 102–110
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Lecture 35: Don Quixote , selections from Part 1: Chapters 1–5, 7–10, 16–19
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Lecture 36: Don Quixote , selections from Part 2: Chapters 1–7, 10–14, 42–45, 72–74
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Lecture 37: Wrap up day
MIT OpenCourseWare, Dr. Ghenwa Hayek, 21L.001X Foundations of World Culture I: World Civilizations and Texts, Fall 2011.
License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Fall 2011 · Open the original course on OCW ↗
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