HUMANITIES 580 - THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
[Activity 1] [Activity 2]
Assignments
Each assignment is due in the instructor's mailbox during the week indicated below. Count Week I as the first week that classes begin and Week XVI as the week grades are turned in. Trimester dates are listed at the upper left hand corner of your registration form.
All work will be graded and returned to you. Be sure to make three (3) copies
and send us two; you keep one. We keep one on file (please mark one copy as
"For HUX Files"), and the third will be mailed back to you with comments and
a grade. Your papers should be typed, double-spaced, with specific references
to your assigned readings (for example, McWilliams, p.20-25); they should also
be date mailed. Be sure to always include a self-addressed stamped envelope
for the return of your paper. Footnotes or endnotes are desirable,
although your references may be placed in the body of the paper in parenthesis.
Details on requirements for each assignment can be found in the respective sections.
Consult the Table of Contents for page numbers.
NOTE:
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DESCRIPTION OF STUDENT ACTIVITIES AND FULFILL GOALS
Activity 1
Objectives (as numbered above): 1(a), 2(a), and 3
Required: Postgate, J. Early Mesopotamia...
Required: Churchman and Cardey, Readings...
Paper Due: Week 6
Paper length: 2500 words ? 250 (give exact word count)
Possible points: 35
Choose one of the two following problems:
1. Sumer has a very good claim to being the “first civilization.” Given the worldwide similarity of life and technology around 10,000 BCE (see below), why did civilization first emerge in Mesopotamia and not elsewhere or in several places at about the same time?
OR
2. Ancient people approached morality in many ways, developing answers that
shape our thinking today. China evolved toward reverence for ancestors and family,
Greece toward rationalism, India toward secular pacifism and life as an illusion,
Iran toward dualism, and Israel toward monotheism. Interestingly, Ashoka, Buddha,
Confucius, Lao Tzu, Pythagoras, Zoroaster and the Hebrew prophets were near
contemporaries. Many of their ideas had precursors in ancient Mesopotamia and
Egypt. But, how much influence did these precursors actually have on our understanding
of the Bible, the most important single book in western culture? For the case
you choose, assess the evidence (as found in the three course texts and any
additional sources you wish to use). Once you have reached a conclusion, write
a well-structured paper presenting your thesis (Introduction), the evidence
and your analysis of it (body), and your assessment (conclusion). Use subheadings
to help the reader understand your overall organization and to follow your analysis.
Activity 2
Objectives (as numbered above): 1(b), 2(b), and 3
Required: Kemp, B. Ancient Egypt…
Required: Churchman and Cardey, Readings…
Paper Due: Week 15
Paper length: 4000 words ? 250 (give exact word count)
Possible points: 65
Choose one of the two following problems:
1. A school of thought called Afrocentrism has emerged recently that makes two highly controversial claims regarding Egypt. The first claim is that the ancient Egyptians were black (as we now understand that term) and that civilization originated in ancient Egypt. The second major claim is that the ancient Greeks stole Egyptian culture, destroying it in Egypt in the process, and that there has been a conspiracy to hide this fact ever since. Assess the first of these claims
or
2. Rameses II celebrated a great military victory against the Hittites at Kadesh (or Qadesh) in the fifth year of his reign. Reconstruct the (1) situation putting the two empires at odds, (2) the characteristics of the two armies (3) the battle itself and (4) its consequences (which culminated in a treaty a dozen years later).
For the case you choose, assess the evidence (as found in the three course texts and any additional sources you wish to use). Once you have reached a conclusion, write a well-structured paper presenting your thesis (Introduction), the evidence and your analysis of it (body), and your assessment (conclusion). Use subheadings to help the reader understand your overall organization and to follow your analysis.