Final Exam

Ashley Beyer

Mr. Wojewodzki

West Civ Final Exam

June 10, 2010

Question: Describe the importance of water in the ancient world.

Thesis: Water was extremely important in the ancient world. They used water for bathing, drinking, and cleaning, much like we do today. The water also helped in other ways because when it was dug out of the ground, the people could use the soil for something else. The ancient people also praised water. Most of the time slaves were sent to retrieve the water. Water was also very important in making other drinks and food.

Primary Source #1:
I.178: Assyria possesses a vast number of great cities, whereof the most renowned and strongest at this time was Babylon, where, after the fall of Nineveh, the seat of government had been removed.
The following is a description of the place: The city stands on a broad plain, and is an exact square, a hundred and twenty furlongs in length each way, so that the entire circuit is four hundred and eighty furlongs. While such is its size, in magnificence there is no other city that approaches to it. It is surrounded, in the first place, by a broad and deep moat, full of water, behind which rises a wall fifty royal cubits in width, and two hundred in height. (The royal cubit is longer by three fingers' breadth than the common cubit.)
As fast as they dug the moat the soil which they got from the cutting was made into bricks, and when a sufficient number were completed they baked the bricks in kilns.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/greek-babylon.html

Primary Source #2:
Hail to thee, O Nile! Who manifests thyself over this land, and comes to give life to Egypt! Mysterious is thy issuing forth from the darkness, on this day whereon it is celebrated! Watering the orchards created by Re, to cause all the cattle to live, you give the earth to drink, inexhaustible one! Path that descends from the sky, loving the bread of Seb and the first-fruits of Nepera, You cause the workshops of Ptah to prosper!
Lord of the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the crops. You create the grain, you bring forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to the temples. If you cease your toil and your work, then all that exists is in anguish. If the gods suffer in heaven, then the faces of men waste away.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/hymn-nile.html

Primary Source #3:
You, fellow! that's got the pitcher, fetch the water. Take care the kettle's full instanter. You who's got the ax, look after chopping the wood.
Winter wine for the slaves. Put in a wooden cask ten parts of must (non-fermented wine) and two parts of very pungent vinegar, and add two parts of boiled wine and fifty of sweet water. With a paddle mix all these thrice per day for five days in succession. Add one forty-eighth of seawater drawn some time earlier. Place the lid on the cask and let it ferment for ten days. This wine will last until the solstice. If any remains after that time, it will make very sharp excellent vinegar.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/slavery-romrep1.html

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

Thesis: Herodotus is a better model for modern historians because he is known as the “Father of History.” He went to the places he was writing about. He interviewed people from the specific place he was writing about. He also explains things in great detail. This allows a person to better understand what happened.

Primary Source #1:
Now the Persian nation is made up of many tribes. Those which Cyrus assembled and persuaded to revolt from the Medes were the principal ones on which all the others are dependent. These are the Pasargadae, the Maraphians, and the Maspians, of whom the Pasargadae are the noblest. The Achaemenidae, from which spring all the Perseid kings, is one of their clans. The rest of the Persian tribes are the following: the Panthialaeans, the Derusiaeans, the Germanians, who are engaged in husbandry; the Daans, the Mardians, the Dropicans, and the Sagartians, who are nomads.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/herodotus-persians.html

Primary Source #2:
III.80: And now when five days were gone, and the hubbub had settled down, the conspirators met together to consult about the situation of affairs. At this meeting speeches were made, to which many of the Hellenes give no credence, but they were made nevertheless. Otanes recommended that the management of public affairs should be entrusted to the whole nation.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/herodotus-persdemo.html

Primary Source #3:
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. This discovery was first made by Necos, the Egyptian king, who on desisting from the canal which he had begun between the Nile and the Arabian gulf [i.e., the Red Sea], sent to sea a number of ships manned by Phoenicians, with orders to make for the Pillars of Hercules, and return to Egypt through them, and by the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians took their departure from Egypt by way of the Erythraean sea, and so sailed into the southern ocean. When autumn came, they went ashore, wherever they might happen to be, and having sown a tract of land with corn, waited until the grain was fit to cut. Having reaped it, they again set sail; and thus it came to pass that two whole years went by, and it was not till the third year that they doubled the Pillars of Hercules, and made good their voyage home. On their return, they declared - I for my part do not believe them, but perhaps others may - that in sailing round Libya they had the sun upon their right hand. In this way was the extent of Libya first discovered.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/herod-libya1.html

Question: Do you think Alexander honestly felt like he was avenging Persian wrongs? Or was that just propaganda to mask his goal of conquest?

Thesis: In the beginning, Alexander really did think he was avenging Persian wrongs, but as time went on and he became more powerful, his goal of conquest became the main goal in his life.

Primary Source #1:
Philip and all his court were in great distress for him at first, and a profound silence took place. But when the prince had turned him and brought him straight back, they all received him with loud acclamations, except his father, who wept for joy, and kissing him, said, "Seek another kingdom, my son, that may be worthy of thy abilities; for Macedonia is too small for thee..."
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/plutarch-alexander1.html

Primary Source #2:
I observe, gentlemen, that when I would lead you on a new venture you no longer follow me with your old spirit. I have asked you to meet me that we may come to a decision together: are we, upon my advice, to go forward, or, upon yours, to turn back?
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/arrian-alexander1.htm

Primary Source #3:
It is a very, very long time since I wrote to you; but as you know I have been over-occupied with military matters, and while we were marching through Hyrcania, Drangiana, and Gedrosia, conquering Bactria, and advancing beyond the Indus,
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/alexfake.html

Question: Were the Vikings "barbarians"?

Thesis: The Vikings were barbarians to outsiders because they did not dress like other people from that time and acted much differently than other people from that time. They also were somewhat alike the people who called them barbarians.

Primary Source #1:
In a passage that has become famous, the Ynglingasaga sets the comrades of Odin before us: '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.' This mythological picture has been rightly identified as a description of real men's societies-the famous Mannerbunde of the ancient Germanic civilization. The berserkers were, literally, the 'warriors in shirts (serkr) of bear.' This is as much as to say that they were magically identified with the bear. In addition they could sometimes change themselves into wolves and bears. A man became a berserker as the result of an initiation that included specifically martial ordeals.
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/145.html

Primary Source #2:
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.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1000Vinland.html

Primary Source #3:
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is one of the few literary sources we have for England during the time period following the Roman presence and preceding the Norman invasion. Written by different monastic houses, the various versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle offer us a unique picture of the Anglo-Saxons and their world. Although written by monks, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is relatively unbiased in its portrayal of events. This particular variant chronicles the events Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, experienced during the Viking invasions of the ninth century.
879. In this year the army went to Cirencester from Chippenham, and sat thereone year. And in that year a body of vikings assembled, and sat down at Fulhamon the Thames. And that same year the sun was eclipsed one hour of the day.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/angsax-chron1.html

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: The Black Death holds a great significance because it wiped out nearly one third of all Europeans. The 100 years war was also very significant because the English and the French had and still have a rivalry.

Primary Source #1:
I say, then, that the years of the beatific incarnation of the Son of God had reached the tale of one thousand three hundred and forty eight, when in the illustrious city of Florence, the fairest of all the cities of Italy, there made its appearance that deadly pestilence, which, whether disseminated by the influence of the celestial bodies, or sent upon us mortals by God in His just wrath by way of retribution for our iniquities, had had its origin some years before in the East, whence, after destroying an innumerable multitude of living beings, it had propagated itself without respite from place to place, and so calamitously, had spread into the West.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/boccacio2.html

Primary Source #2:
DURING these times there was a pestilence, by which the whole human race came near to being annihilated. Now in the case of all other scourges sent from heaven some explanation of a cause might be given by daring men, such as the many theories propounded by those who are clever in these matters; for they love to conjure up causes which are absolutely incomprehensible to man, and to fabricate outlandish theories of natural philosophy knowing well that they are saying nothing sound but considering it sufficient for them, if they completely deceive by their argument some of those whom they meet and persuade them to their view. But for this calamity it is quite impossible either to express in words or to conceive in thought any explanation, except indeed to refer it to God. For it did not come in a part of the world nor upon certain men, nor did it confine itself to any season of the year, so that from such circumstances it might be possible to find subtle explanations of a cause, but it embraced the entire world, and blighted the lives of all men, though differing from one another in the most marked degree, respecting neither sex nor age.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/542procopius-plague.html

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.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/froissart1.html

Question: How does Henry VIII maintain power while breaking away from the Catholic Church?

Thesis: Henry VII maintained power while breaking away from the Catholic Church by becoming the head of the Church. This made breaking away from the Church fairly simple.

Primary Source #1:
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, to Mr. Hawkyns the Ambassador at the Emperor's Court; upon the Divorce of Queen Catherine, and the Coronation of Queen Anne Boleyn. 1533.
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.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cramner-hen8.html

Primary Source #2:
Glastonbury Abbey was one of the largest and most famous English Benedictine Monasteries. It was reputed as home of the Holy Grail. Under Henry VIII, in the most successful land grab in English history, Henry VIII and his chief minister Thomas Cromwell suppressed the monasteries. This act gave the Tudor monarchs immense wealth - perhaps one third of the Land in England. It also, effectively, required the Protestant Reformation to come to England. Although Henry maintained a Catholic faith, he allowed his son to be raised as a Protestant. To maintain political support, Henry, Edward, and later Elizabeth awarded monastic lands to members of the English aristocracy (hence the number of English Stately homes called "Abbey"). This disbursal of Church lands meant that the entire English upper class was committed to maintaining separation from Rome, and "Protestantism" became a defining feature of English national identity.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/h8-glastonbury.html

Primary Source #3:
In the sixteenth century, England experienced a cultural efflorescence and acquired a clear modern national identity. Part of that identity - insular and Protestant - was formed in conflict with Spain, the leading Catholic power of the day. A defining moment occurred with the attack of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603) was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and proved to be a canny ruler.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1588elizabeth.html

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

Thesis: I agree that Egypt was somewhat death obsessed. They cared very much about the dead; burying them with their things and mummifying them in tombs are just two examples.

Primary Source #1:
The mode of embalming, according to the most perfect process, is the following:- 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. After this they fill the cavity with the purest bruised myrrh, with cassia, and every other sort of spicery except frankincense, and sew up the opening. Then the body is placed in natrum for seventy days, and covered entirely over. After the expiration of that space of time, which must not be exceeded, the body is washed, and wrapped round, from head to foot, with bandages of fine linen cloth, smeared over with gum, which is used generally by the Egyptians in the place of glue, and in this state it is given back to the relations, who enclose it in a wooden case which they have had made for the purpose, shaped into the figure of a man. Then fastening the case, they place it in a sepulchral chamber, upright against the wall. Such is the most costly way of embalming the dead.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/herodotus-mummies.html

Primary Source #2:
A great number of Pyramid Texts present the different phases of the ritual assimilation of the dead pharaoh with Osiris.
As he (Osiris) lives, this king Unis lives; as he dies not, this king Unis dies not; as he perishes not, this king Unis perishes not (Pyr. Ut. 219).
[The dead pharaoh receives the throne of Osiris, and becomes, like him, king of the dead.]
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/167.html

Primary Source #3:
Thy two wings are spread out like a falcon with thick plumage, like the hawk seen in the evening traversing the sky (Pyr. 1048).
He flies who flies; this king Pepi flies away from you, ye mortals. He is not of the earth, he is of the sky. . . . This king Pepi flies as a cloud to the sky, like a masthead bird; this king Pepi kisses the sky like a falcon, this king Pepi reaches the sky like Horizon-god (Harakhte) (Pyr. 890-1).
Thou ascendest to the sky as a falcon, thy feathers are (those of) geese (Pyr. 913).
King Unis goes to the sky, king Unis goes to the sky! On the wind! On the wind ! (Pyr. 309)-
Stairs to the sky are laid for him that he may ascend thereon to the sky (Pyr. 365).
King Unis ascends upon the ladder which his father Re (the Sun-god) made for him (Pyr. 390)
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/166.html