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Review for Midterm #1—Classical & Medieval Cultures

The in-class portion of the exam will consist of 30 objective questions (multiple-choice and matching) and 2 short answer questions (no more than three sentences per answer). The in-class portion of the exam will be worth 100 points. The out-of-class essay will be worth an additional 100 points. See below for the out-of-class essay questions.

Ancient Near Eastern & Greek Culture
Terms: Trojan War, anthropomorphism, polytheism, monotheism, Archaic Age, Classical Age, Hellenistic Age

Art & Artworks: Sculpture: relief sculpture, free-standing sculpture, idealism, naturalism; characteristics of Archaic sculpture, kouros, kore; characteristics of Classical sculpture, Myron, Discus Thrower, Polycleitus, Spear-Bearer, Canon, unknown sculptors, Zeus, Three Goddesses,, Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos; characteristics of Hellenistic sculpture, Laocoon and his Sons, Old Shepherdess ; Architecture, frieze, pediment, entablature, capital, metope, triglyph,; Characteristics of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian styles, Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike, Erectheion (with Porch of the Maidens), Propylaia

Literature & Drama: epic poetry, Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer, Iliad, Odyssey; Hesiod, Theogony; Theater of Dionysus, tragedy, comedy, Oresteia of Aeschylus, Antigone & Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Medea by Euripides, Lysistrata by Aristophanes, characteristics of tragedy, hubris, hamartia, catharsis

Thought: Pre-Socratic Philosophers, Thales, water, Xenophanes, Democritus, atoms; Socrates, Plato & theory of forms, Allegory of the Cave, Republic, Aristotle, criticisms of Plato, soma, psuche, excerpt from Aristotle

Roman Culture

Terms: Octavian=Augustus, Roman Republic, Roman Empire

Art & Artworks: Sculpture: Augustus of Primaporta, Victory Column of Trajan, Aristocrat with Portrait Busts, Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius,; Architecture: basilica, Colosseum, Pantheon, Maisson Carree Painting: fresco, mosaic, Portrait of Woman from Pompeii, Still Life with Eggs and Thrushes from Pompeii

Literature & Drama: Catullus, Poems to Lesbia, Horace, Odes, “Carpe Diem”, excerpt from Horace, Juvenal Satires, excerpt from Juvenal, Virgil Aeneid

Thought: Cicero On the Nature of the Gods, Lucretius On the Nature of Things, Seneca and excerpt on “Stoic detachment”, Emperor Marcus Aurelius Meditations

Christian Middle Ages

Terms: anthropocentric, theocentric, monotheism, papyrus, codex, manuscript illumination, majuscule, minuscule

Art & Artworks: Sculpture: reliquary, gargoyles and grotesques, Gislebertus’ Last Judgment tympanum
Architecture: tympanum, trumeau, jambs, lintel, characteristics of Romanesque churches, characteristics of Gothic churches; Painting: Our Lady of the Beautiful Glass from Chartres Cathedral,
Literature & Drama: Beowulf, Song of Roland, Dante Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise), excerpt of Francesca and Paolo from Inferno, Dante’s definition of sin in excerpt from Inferno, structure of Hell in Inferno

Thought: Thomas Aquinas, scholasticism, excerpt from Aquinas, Aquinas’s explanation of sin
Select one of the following essay questions and write an essay of not less than 3 complete pages in response to the question. Your response must be typed and double spaced. All information may be gleaned from the textbook, assigned readings and from the lecture notes. There is no need to utilize outside sources or the internet for research. However, if you do so, you must append a works cited page at the end of the essay providing bibliographic information. Also, if you quote from the text or assigned readings, you must cite them in the following manner: “Greek theaters celebrated life here on earth rather than the life in the hereafter.” (Landmarks, p 52) Or another example: “Yes. Zeus did not announce those laws to me.” (Antigone, p 14) Your essay must be turned in when you take the in-class portion of the exam. The plagiarizing of ideas or words from a source without proper citations will result in a 0 for the assignment

1. Greek Culture is often described as a humanistic culture. First, offer a definition of humanism. Then, select 2 artworks, 2 thinkers, and 2 poets or playwrights and explain how they illustrate Greek humanism. Then, in a concluding paragraph explain one way in which Greek Humanism is still a part of modern Western culture.

2. Roman culture is often said to be derived from Greek culture, and therefore scholars often refer to the culture of the ancient Mediterranean world as Greco-Roman culture or Classical culture. In what ways was Roman culture derived from Greek Culture? Select examples from Roman art and architecture, from literature, and from Roman thought to illustrate the borrowing from Greek culture. Select one aspect of Roman culture that surpassed the Greeks

3. In what ways was Christian Medieval culture different from the Classical culture of Greece and Rome? Select 1 work of medieval art/ architecture, 1 of literature, and 1 of thought to illustrate differences from specific Classical examples of art and architecture, literature and thought. (Compare a specific work of medieval culture with one of Classical culture.) Why did such differences in art, literature and thought arise? These landmarks of Medieval Christian culture are good sources of comparison:
a. Dante’s Inferno
b. Song of Roland
c. Thomas Aquinas
d. Drama
e. Cathedral
f. Sculpture

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