Any topic (writer’s choice)

Please write a three to four page essay (around 900-1200 words), answering one of the questions below. In order to do well on this assignment you will need to use primary sources in our reader, Sources of the Western Tradition, as evidence for your argument. You will also need to acquaint yourself with the relevant secondary sources (i.e. lectures and the editor’s comments in Sources of the Western Tradition) so that you better understand the context of the documents in our reader.*

1) To what degree do you detect a difference between the Mesopotamian view of the gods in Divine Punishment (pp. 21-22) and the Egyptian view of the same in the Hymns to the Pharaohs (pp. 11-12)?  What explains any similarities or differences?

Readings for Week 1 (Divine Punishment)
Readings for Week 1 (Hymns to the Pharaohs)

2) How did the behaviors censured by the Hebrew god in Exodus (The Ten Commandments (pp. 29-30) and Crime and Punishment (pp. 32-33)) compare to the behaviors condemned by the Mesopotamian king in the Code of Hammurabi (pp. 7-10)? What similarities and/or differences do you detect in these cultures?

Readings for Week 1 (Code of Hammurabi)
Readings for Week 1 (The Ten Commandments, Crime and Punishment)

3) How well did Athenian behavior in the Melian Dialogue (pp. 70-73) match up with Athenian ideals as stated in The Funeral Oration of Pericles (pp. 62-64)?  What conclusions might the historian Thucydides have intended his readers to draw?

Readings for Week 2 (Funeral Oration)
Readings for Week 2 (Melian Dialogue)

4) How did Plato use the analogy of the cave in The Republic (pp. 80-85) to explain the nature and role of a philosopher (i.e. what kind of knowledge does a philosopher seek and what does he or she do once this knowledge has been attained?)?  How did Socrates in the Apology (pp. 76-79) exemplify this philosophic nature and role for Plato?

Readings for Week 2 (The Republic)
Readings for Week 2 (The Apology)

5) What does Ciceros Oration against Verres (pp. 111-112) tell us about the Roman ability to live up to the ideals expressed in the Aeneid (p. 133)?

Readings for Week 3 (Oration against Verres)
Readings for Week 3 (The Aeneid)

6) What characteristics does Islam share with Christianity as exhibited by our selections from the Koran (pp. 199-202) and the Gospels (pp. 165-167)?  What significant differences do you detect between these two readings?

Readings for Week 4 (Gospel of Matthew and Gospel of Mark)
Readings for Week 4 (The Koran)

7) In what ways does the Rule of Saint Benedict (pp. 115-119) represent an attempt to live up to the high standards for The City of God (pp. 111-115) discussed by Augustine of Hippo?

Readings for Week 4 (The City of God)
Readings for Week 4 (Rule of St. Benedict)

8) How did the deeds of the Frankish king described in Charlemagnes Appreciation of Learning (pp. 215-217) compare to those of the first Roman emperor in The Achievements of the Divine Augustus (pp. 130-133)?  Does the comparison reveal any differences between the Middle Ages and the ancient Roman world?

Readings for Week 3 (The Achievements of the Divine Augustus)
Readings for Week 4 (Charlemagne’s Appreciation of Learning)

 

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