POTENTIAL ID'S:
KEMET, NOMES, PHARAOH [PER-O], HIEROGLYPHICS, UNAS, MAXIMS OF PTAH HOTEP, PLEA OF THE ELOQUENT PEASANT, OSIRIS, HYKSOS, BOOK OF THE DEAD
SUMER, CUNEIFORM, ENLIL, "INTERESTING SUMERIAN LAW," "MEMORABLE SUMMERIAN PROVERB," ZIGGURAT, BABYLONIANS, HAMMURABI, CODE OF HAMMURABI, MARDUK, (ISHTAR), GILGAMESH, ASSYRIANS, "EXAMPLE ASSYRIAN LAW," CHALDAEANS, NEBUCHADNEZZAR, ASTRAL RELIGION
(PATRIARCHS), ABRAHAM, JOSEPH, MOSES, (JOSHUA), JUDGES, DAVID, SOLOMON, (ELIJAH), DIASPORA
(TORAH), (TANAKH), GENESIS, DEUTERONOMY, ISAIAH, PSALMS, DANIEL, (MESHACH), (MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN)
HINDUISM, BRAHMA, SHIVA, VISHNU, RAMA, KRISHNA, (CASTE SYSTEM), (SATI), BUDDHA, FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, EIGHT-FOLD PATH, (NIRVANA), CONFUCIANISM, TAOISM
POTENTIAL ESSAYS QUESTIONS:
A. In order to survive, a society must provide physical security, ethical guidance, and emotional fulfillment for its members. Egyptian society was able to survive for well over two thousand years because, for the most part, it did an excellent job providing these three things. Comment.
B. In order to survive, a society must provide physical security, ethical guidance, and emotional fulfillment for its members. Mesopopotamian society was able to survive for well over two thousand years because, for the most part, it did an excellent job providing these three things. Comment.
C. The history of Ancient Israel (the Hebrews) has many important lessons about the importance of physical security, ethical guidance, and emotional fulfillment to the success of a civilization, lessons often remembered by subsequent peoples. In many ways, the Hebrews taught the world "new ways to dream." Comment.
D. The books of the Hebrew Bible (what Jews call the Tanakh and Christians call the Old Testament) have had a tremendous influence on subsequent civilization. Comment.
E.
In
some ways, India and China mark
"roads not taken" by Western Civilization. This is
particularly
true when it comes to religion. Comment.
For
Part I
of your exam, I will choose twelve
(12) of the above ID's and ask you to identify and explain
the
historical significance of eight
(8) of those terms. For Part II of your exam, I will
choose two
(2) the essay prompts
and ask you to write a good essay response to one (1) of
those prompts.
I will choose ID's that don't overlap with the
essay. If,
for instance, I choose Essay Question 1, I will not give
you Kemet,
Nomes, Pharaoh, etc. as ID's. But if I *don't* give
you Essay
Question 1 as a choice, I will include four ID's from that
first group
among the potential choices.
In
general, a good essay response
includes most of the ID's in the related group. A
good response
to the Egypt question would probable talk about Kemet,
Nomes, Pharaoh,
etc. A good response to the Tanakh question would
talk about
Genesis, Deuteronomy, etc.
I am
impressed when students use
what the remember from the primary sources in their
essay.
Including where appropriate an example or two of Ptah
Hotep's advice, a
Sumerian proverb, or an Assyrian law, for instance, can
make a good
essay even better. I especially like to see students
use the
"book" quiz material when appropriate. I like seeing
students
discuss Gilgamesh in their Mesopotamia essay. I like
also seeing
students include some of the verses they quoted in their
quizzes when
doing the Tanakh essay.
Please note that a good essay on Egypt should talk about Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom Egypt--not just the Old Kingdom. A good essay response to the Mesopotamia prompt should include comment on Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, and the Chaldaeans, not just the Sumerians.
There is
a slight overlap between questions C and D. The
material I ask for in these questions used to be included
in *one* question. Turned out that that was too much
for one essay, so I divided the history of Israel material
from the Tanakh material. If you get question C, be
sure to talk mostly about the ID's in Group 3. If
you get essay question D, be sure to talk about the books
of the Hebrew Bible read for class and listed in Group
4. Many of you know things about the history of
Israel not discussed in class and books of the Hebrew
Bible not talked about in class. Feel free to talk
about the additional material. If you want to get
creative and talk about things like Veggie Tales, Joseph
and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, Prince of Egypt,
etc., that's fine too, but make sure you connect that
material to the prompt.
The China and India question can focus on comparing the
four eastern
religious philosophies we discussed in class (Hinduism,
Buddhism,
Confucianism and Taoism).
When
appropriate on all of these questions, feel free to
include information you have learned in other classes or
on your
own.