Thursday, June 10, 2010

Western Civ Final Exam

Question:Explain why some scholars have called the Ancient Egyptians a "death obsessed" culture. Do you agree?

Thesis: The Ancient Egyptians based their whole life on death by preparing for judgement and preparing dead peolpe for he after life.

Primary Source #1:
Stairs to the sky are laid for him that he may ascend thereon to the sky (Pyr. 365).

How beautiful to see, how satisfying to behold,' say the gods, when this god (meaning the king) ascends to the sky. His fearfulness is on his head, his terror is at his side, his magical charms are before him.' Geb has done for him as was done for himself (Geb). The gods and souls of Buto, the gods and souls of Hierakonpolis, the gods in the sky and the gods on earth come to him. They make supports for king Unis on their arms. Thou ascendest, 0 King Unis, to the sky, Ascend upon it in this its name 'Ladder' (Pyr. 476-9).

Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": THE DEAD PHARAOH ASCENDS TO HEAVEN


Primary Source #2
In truth, I now come to you, and I have brought Maat to you,
And I have destroyed wickedness for you.
I have committed no evil upon men.
I have not oppressed the members of my family.
I have not wrought evil in the place of right and truth.
I have had no knowledge of useless men.
I have brought about no evil.
I did not rise in the morning and expect more than was due to me.
I have not brought my name forward to be praised.
I have not oppressed servants.
I have not scorned any god.
I have not defrauded the poor of their property.
I have not done what the gods abominate.
I have not cause harm to be done to a servant by his master.

Judgement of the Dead Book of the Dead, Chapter 25 [At WSU]


Primary Source #3
They take first a crooked piece of iron, and with it draw out the brain through the nostrils, thus getting rid of a portion, while the skull is cleared of the rest by rinsing with drugs; next they make a cut along the flank with a sharp Ethiopian stone, and take out the whole contents of the abdomen, which they then cleanse, washing it thoroughly with palm wine, and again frequently with an infusion of pounded aromatics.

Ancient History Sourcebook: Herodotus: Mummification, from The Histories


Explanation of Argument:
In the first source it talks about a dead pharaoh is going up to the afterlife and how it happens. In the second source it tells you what the dead people will confess to the gods so they can go to the afterlife. In the third source it shows you how people prepare dead bodies for the after life. All this preparation takes a lot of time showing that the Ancient Egyptian culture was death obsessed.

Question:Who is a better model for modern historians: Herodotus or Thucydides? Why?

Thesis: Thucydides is a better model because he would write down things he knew were absolutely true from written accounts and eyewitness, unlike Herodotus who would write gossip and rumors he heard.

Primary Source #1:
The customs which I know the Persians to observe are the following: they have no images of the gods, no temples nor altars, and consider the use of them a sign of folly. This comes, I think, from their not believing the gods to have the same nature with men, as the Greeks imagine. Their wont, however, is to ascend the summits of the loftiest mountains, and there to offer sacrifice to Zeus, which is the name they give to the whole circuit of the firmament. They likewise offer to the sun and moon, to the earth, to fire, to water, and to the winds.

Ancient History Sourcebook: Herodotus: On The Customs of the Persians, c. 430 BCE

Primary Source #2:
For my part I am astonished that men should ever have divided Libya, Asia, and Europe as they have, for they are exceedingly unequal. Europe extends the entire length of the other two, and for breadth will not even (as I think) bear to be compared to them. As for Libya, we know it to be washed on all sides by the sea, except where it is attached to Asia.

Ancient History Sourcebook: Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): On Libya, from The Histories, c. 430 BCE


Primary Source #3:
The country which is now called Hellas was not regularly settled in ancient times. The people were migratory, and readily left their homes whenever they were overpowered by numbers. There was no commerce, and they could not safely hold intercourse with one another either by land or sea.

Thucydides On The Early History of the Hellenes (written c. 395 BCE)

http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/BookLibrary/books/bibliographie/T/Thucydides/thuc-hellenes.html

Explanation of Argument:
In the first and second source it is written by Herodotus. He uses I think a lot and he has many opinions and rumors in his. Thucydides has written down facts that he knows is true, therefore he is a better model.

Question: Considering all of the conflict of the first century BCE, was Rome better off as an "empire" than as a republic?

Thesis: Rome was better of as an empire because that put the power in one person's had which led to less conflict, and the power was not in everyones hands.

Primary Source #1
Country slaves ought to receive in the winter, when they are at work, four modii [Davis: One modius equals about a quarter bushel] of grain; and four modii and a half during the summer. The superintendent, the housekeeper, the watchman, and the shepherd get three modii; slaves in chains four pounds of bread in winter and five pounds from the time when the work of training the vines ought to begin until the figs have ripened.

Ancient History Sourcebook: Slavery in the Roman Republic


Primary Source #2:
We are told that Galba, taking hold of Piso's hand, spoke to this effect: "If I were a private man, and were now adopting you by the Act of the Curiae before the pontiffs, as our custom is, it would be a high honour to me to introduce into my family a descendant of Gnaeus Pompey and Marcus Crassus; it would be a distinction to you to add to the nobility of your race the honours of the Sulpician and Lutatian houses.

Ancient History Sourcebook: Tacitus: The Principle of Adoption


Primary Source #3
When the report of the murder of the Emperor Pertinax spread among the people, consternation and grief seized all minds, and men ran about beside themselves. An undirected effort possessed the people---they strove to hunt out the doers of the deed, yet could neither find nor punish them. But the Senators were the worst disturbed, for it seemed a public calamity that they had lost a kindly father and a righteous ruler. Also a reign of violence was dreaded, for one could guess that the soldiery would find that much to their liking.

Ancient History Sourcebook: Herodian of Syria (3rd Cent. CE): History of the Emperors: - How Didius Julianus Bought the Empire at Auction, 193 C


Explanation of Argument:
In the first source it shows how during the republic there was a lot of slavery which caused conflict. In the second source it shows that there was no conflict for who would be king next because it would just be an heir to the thrown. In the third source it shows how upset they were when their king died which shows Empire worked better for Rome.

Question: What was the significance of the Black Death and the 100 Years' War to the development of Europe as we know it today?

Thesis: After the Black Death and the 100 Years' War it developed Europe in different ways because they learned from these experiences how to keep more people alive and how to stay away from some conflicts.

Primary Source #1
I say, then, that such was the energy of the contagion of the said pestilence, that it was not merely propagated from man to mail, but, what is much more startling, it was frequently observed, that things which had belonged to one sick or dead of the disease, if touched by some other living creature, not of the human species, were the occasion, not merely of sickening, but of an almost instantaneous death. Whereof my own eyes (as I said a little before) had cognisance, one day among others, by the following experience.

Medieval Sourcebook: Boccaccio: The Decameron - Introduction


Primary Source #2
In 1348 there appeared in Europe a devastating plague which is reported to have killed off ultimately twenty-five million people. By the fall of that year the rumor was current that these deaths were due to an international conspiracy of Jewry to poison Christendom. It was reported that the leaders in the Jewish metropolis of Toledo had initiated the plot and that one of the chief conspirators was a Rabbi Peyret who had his headquarters in Chambéry, Savoy, whence he dispatched his poisoners to France, Switzerland, and Italy.

Jewish History Sourcebook: The Black Death and the Jews 1348-1349 CE


Primary Source #3
The Englishmen, who were in three battles lying on the ground to rest them, as soon as they saw the Frenchmen approach, they rose upon their feet fair and easily without any haste and arranged their battles. The first, which was the prince's battle, the archers there stood in manner of a herse and the men of arms in the bottom of the battle. The earl of Northampton and the earl of Arundel with the second battle were on a wing in good order, ready to comfort the prince's battle, if need were.

Medieval Sourcebook: Jean Froissart: On The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)


Explanation of Argument: In the first and second source it talks about the Black Death. During this the people were getting sick because it was highly contagious and they started blaming the plague on other people. In the 100 Years' War there were many battles and they couldn't settle their conflict. These events taught the Europeans a lot and they were able to live well after that.

Question: Were the Vikings "barbarians"?

Thesis: The Vikings are known today as barbarians but back then, in their eyes, it was just their way of living which was normal for them.

Primary Source #1:
Pirates of the Northmen's race came to Nantes, killed the bishop and many of the clergy and laymen, both men and women, and pillaged the city. Thence they set out to plunder the lands of lower Aquitaine. At length they arrived at a certain island [the isle of Rhé, near La Rochelle, north of the mouth of the Garonne], and carried materials thither from the mainland to build themselves houses; and they settled there for the winter, as if that were to be their permanent dwelling-place.

Medieval Sourcebook: Three Sources on the Ravages of the Northmen in Frankland, c. 843 - 912


Primary Source #2
They went without shields, and were mad as dogs or wolves, and bit on their shields, and were as strong as bears or bulls; men they slew, and neither fire nor steel would deal with them; and this is what is called the fury of the berserker.

Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": INITIATION OF A WARRIOR


Primary Source #3
After the sixteen winters had lapsed, from the time when Eric the Red went to colonize Greenland, Leif, Eric's son, sailed out from Greenland to Norway. He arrived in Drontheim in the autumn, when King Olaf Tryggvason was come down from the North, out of Halagoland. Leif put into Nidaros with his ship, and set out at once to visit the king. King Olaf expounded the faith to him, as he did to other heathen men who came to visit him. It proved easy for the king to persuade Leif, and he was accordingly baptized, together with all of his shipmates. Leif remained throughout the winter with the king, by whom he was well entertained.

Modern History Sourcebook: The Discovery of North America by Leif Ericsson, c. 1000
from The Saga of Eric the Red, 1387


Explanation of Argument:
In the first and second source it talks about how vikings were like barbarians but in their time they didn't really seem like barbarians. In the third source it talks about Leif Ericson which shows that vikings still had normal lives and did productive things.

Question: How does Henry VIII maintain power while breaking away from the Catholic Church? (Francesca R., Fort Worth)

Thesis: Henry VIII mantains power because he had a lot of the people in Rome on his side and they would follow what he would do.

Primary Source #1
In my most heartie wise I commend me unto you and even so, would be right glad to hear of your welfare, etc. This is to advertise you that inasmuch as you now and then take some pains in writing unto me, I would be loathe you should think your labor utterly lost and forgotten for lack of writing again; therefore and because I reckon you to be some deal desirous of such news as hath been here with us of late in the King's Graces matters, I intend to inform you a parte thereof, according to the tenure and purport used in that behalf.

Medieval Sourcebook: Letter of Thomas Cranmer, 1533


Primary Source #2
After dinner, we were taken to the King [Henry VIII], who embraced us, without ceremony, and conversed for a very long while very familiarly, on various topics, in good Latin and in French, which he speaks very well indeed, and he then dismissed us, and we were brought back here to London....

1515, a Contemporary Description of King Henry VIII


Primary Source #3
No more to you at this present mine own darling for lack of time but that I would you were in my arms or I in yours for I think it long since I kissed you. Written after the killing of an hart at a xj. of the clock minding with God's grace tomorrow mightily timely to kill another: by the hand of him which I trust shortly shall be yours.

Selection form king Henry VIII's love letter to Anne Boylen


Explanation of Argument:
Henry VIII was a very noble man and these sources prove that he had a lot of people and friends on his side. Because of this he could break away from the Church but still mantain power.
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