STUDY GUIDE FOR MIDTERM EXAM (HISTORY 101, Fall 2003)

STRUCTURE OF EXAM (each part will be worth 1/3)

Part 1. Five short identifications (ca. 15 minutes)

Part 2. One essay question (ca. 25 minutes)

Part 3. Comparison of two short primary texts (ca. 25 minutes)

I. IDENTIFICATIONS (5 of the following will be on the exam)

Who or what was it? When? Where? What is the historical significance?

agricultural revolutions

Sumerians

Assyrians

Indo-Europeans

Nile

pyramids

chariots

Nubia

Jewish diaspora

Phoenicians

alphabet

Mediterranean

Homer

hoplites

Athens

Zoroastrianism

Persian Wars

Herodotus

Alexander the Great

Alexandria

Cleopatra

Confucianism

Han

silk

rice

Punic Wars

Roman engineering

patria potestas

Romanization

Octavian Augustus

Paul of Tarsus (St. Paul)

third-century crisis

Constantine

federates

Hinduism

Byzantine Empire

Justinian and Theodora

Muhammad

Koran

II. FIRST ESSAY: You will have your choice from two of the following questions. Your essay should begin and end with a sentence (or several sentences) summarizing your answer. Please support your argument with specific examples. It will strengthen your essay if you use primary sources to make your case in addition to material from the textbook (Bulliet) and the lectures.

1. Discuss how the natural environment and geography have influenced the historical development of civilizations. Are environmental and geographic factors more or less important than factors such as trade, military conquest, or religion? In your answer, discuss three (or more) civilizations, at least one of which should be outside the Mediterranean region (China, India, Nubia, and the Americas would all count as outside the Mediterranean). Bulliet will be particularly useful for this question.

2. In the twentieth century, we are used to thinking that wealthy, technologically advanced societies have a military advantage over less "developed" ones. Was this true in the ancient world? Be sure to support your argument with specific examples from at least three ancient civilizations.

3. Although in no ancient civilization did women enjoy equal rights with men, some civilizations granted them more freedom than others. Compare the status of women among three of the civilizations we have studied. In which civilization would the modern American female have been most comfortable? (Please note that the Athenians and Spartans count as one civilization, the Greeks, not two).

4. Around 1000 BCE, all of the civilizations we discussed were polytheistic, with the important exception of the Hebrews. By 700 CE, most of the peoples of Europe, western Asia, and North Africa were monotheistic, whether Christian, Moslem, or Jewish. Why did monotheism prevail? Be sure to discuss Islam as well as Christianity.

III. COMPARISON OF PRIMARY TEXTS

There will be several passages from one of the following clusters. They will be chosen because they have some thematic similarity to one another. Write an essay comparing the texts, answering the following questions. Who wrote them? For what audience and purpose? When? What do they tell us about the societies that produced them? Part of your job will be to trace change over time or differences between cultures. Give examples / short quotes from the text to prove your points.

1. Warfare and Imperialism cluster

Tiglath Pileser I, Inscription (Web); Kishlansky 9. Homer, Iliad; Herodotus (web); Arrian (web); Julius Caesar, Gallic War (web); Sun Tzu, Art of War (Web); Sayings of the Prophet (Web)

2. Women

The Code of the Assyrians (hand-out; also web); Xenophon, How to Train a Wife (web); Kishlansky 20. Juvenal's Satires; Passion of Perpetua (Web); Sayings of the Prophet (Web)

3. Religion

Kishlansky, No. 1. The Epic of Gilgamesh; Kishlansky 3. The Book of Genesis; Kishlansky 6. The Book of the Dead; Tiglath Pileser I, King of Assyria: Inscription (Web); Kishlansky 9. Homer, Iliad; Arrian (web); Passion of Perpetua (Web); Sayings of the Prophet (Web)