Take-home Option for Exam II

due at the beginning of class
(in both paper and electronic form)

Directions:

Length & Number:
Option 1: write three 600-900 word essays on the topics given below
Option 2: write two 900-1200 word essays on two of the topics given below
Sources:
expected: judicious use of all material covered in class or assigned (class notes [discussion & lecture], readings, images) that is appropriate to the topic, with an emphasis on evidence from ancient Greece wherever possible
FYI: Web Sites, apart from those listed in the readings for the unit:
if it is an informational site that I have provided a link to, then it is an acceptable source of information
if not, then you assume responsibility for any/all mistakes that may appear in the material you use from it.
Citing: you must indicate where all evidence/conclusions/etc. about ancient Greece that you use is coming from either at the end of the sentence or at the end of the paragraph (only if all the information for that paragraph is from a short section from one source)

Topics:
1) Politics: We have seen that Sparta and Athens went in vastly different directions with their politeiai. Compare and contrast them focusing on three of the following:
a)  the role of the aristocrats with regard to the councils (Sparta: gerousia; Athens: Council of the Areopagus & the Boule--created by Cleisthenes)
b)  the transformation of the Dark Age top basileus
c)  the role of the assemblies
d)  the place of women within the state
e)  the educational system for men

2) Religion: We have seen that Herodotus followed the system of koros-hubris-ate. Briefly detail what this system entails and then examine the following--Xerxes in Herodotus' Histories, Antigone in the Antigone, and Lysistrata in the Lysistrata--based on this system.

3) Society: Historians are interested in the ways that literature reflects the social norms of the times. Keeping this in mind, examine what the male characters in the Antigone and the Lysistrata reveal about Greek society of the times. At some point also detail how this is similar to or different from that portrayed in the Iliad and the Odyssey.