The course started well in the first 2 or so lectures, particularly the second lecture which provided the maps / geography of the near east, which I thought was enlightening and put everything into context.
Although I learnt a lot from the course, certain parts of the lectures were quite boring, particularly in the first half of the course. For instance, I found the overly detailed discussions of the Hatti empire (4 half-hour lectures (including minute discussions on Hatti governmental routines and processes)) very long-winded and thus boring. I actually stopped the course at around this juncture for a month or two.
The second half of the course I thought was very interesting and comparatively better presented. This included the coverage of the empires of David and Salomon (Israel), Assyria, Persia and Carthage.
I particularly enjoyed the battle descriptions of Carthage's Hannibal Barca's battles (including Battle at Cannae), battles between Persian emperor's Xerxes' army against the Greeks around 480-479 BC (including the Battle at Thermopylae, Salamis and Plataea), and depictions of Alexander the Great's battles with the Persians (Granicus, Issus and Gaugamela).
I also like how Prof Robert Dise discussed the sources (including archeological) and their credibilities prior to discussing the content of each lecture.
In summary, the course covered 13 near East empires, with key details summarized chronologically as follows:
1. c 2334-2278 BC Reign of Sargon the Great, creator of history's first empire (Akkad)
2. c 1800-1450 BC Minoan naval empire in the Aegean (centered on Crete)
3. c 1650 BC The beginning of Hittite empire
4. c 1450 BC Minoan civilization ends; Mainland Greeks colonized Aegean
5. After 1350 BC Assyrian begins its rise to power
6. 1278 BC 'Sea Peoples' attacked Egypt for the first time
7. 1274 BC Battle of Kadesh between Egypt (under Ramses II) and Hittite
8. c1250 - c1230 BC Trojan War
9. c1220 BC The Exodus
10. c1220 - c1180 BC Simultaneous destruction of major near east civilizations (including Mycenaean, Hittite & the Levant)
11. c1025-1000 BC Saul became the first king of Israel
12. c 1000-960 BC David became king of Israel
13. c960-920 BC Solomon reigned as king of Israel
14. c945 BC Solomon begins construction of the Temple
15. 934-612 BC The ruthless Neo-Assyrian empire
16. 608 BC Neo-Babylonian empire destroyed the final remnants of the Neo-Assyrian empire
17. 597 BC Nebuchadrezzar, king of Neo-Babylonian, took Jerusalem and plundered the Temple
18. 586 BC Nebuchadrezzar ordered the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. The beginning of 'Babylonian Captivity'
19. 539 BC Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, destroyed the Neo-Babylonian empire and created an empire spanning almost all of the near-east
20. 480 BC Xerxes, king of Persia, led a massive land and sea assault Greece. Defeating the united Greek army at the pass of Thermopylae, Xerxes' army suffered defeat afterward at the battles of Salamis and battle of Plataea (1 year after Battle of Salamis)
21. 336 BC Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, established a bridgehead in Anatolia
22. 336 - 330 BC Alexander the Great attacked and destroyed the Persian empire
23. 264 BC First Punic war between Carthage and Rome
24. 241 BC End of First Punic War and birth of the Roman Empire
25. 218 - 216 BC Second Punic war leading to Carthage general Hannibal's victories against the Romans at Ticinus, Trebia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae. Hannibal almost destroyed Rome
26. 202 BC Roman general Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at Zama, northern Africa
27. 146 BC Rome destroyed the city of Carthage at the end of the Third Punic War; the beginning of the long reign of the Roman Empire."
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