Otacilia Severa, wife of Emperor Philip I, Image courtesy of Edgar L. Owen,
games for Rome's 1000th birthday. Image courtesy of Edgar L. Owen,
F18-CLA228
Paper 5
Directions:
- electronic copy: e-mail me at victor.leuci@westminster-mo.edu); the name of your
attached file should be:
- F18-228-P5-Last Name, First Name (e.g. F18-228-P5-Leuci, Victor)
- paper copy: bring to class
- length: 600-1000ish
- Citing primary sources (from Greco-Roman World):
- basic rule: ancient author (if there is one), ancient work (in italics), number of work (if given or appropriate), modern author, page number(s)
- parts of these may be given in your sentence versus the in-text citation
- Example 1a: The noise in ancient Rome would be a reason not to visit as it would be hard to get a good night’s sleep (Martial, Epigrams 12.57, Shelton, 70).
- Example 1b: Martial mention in Epigram 12.57 that it was so noisy he wasn’t able to sleep at all while staying in Rome, so, when he wanted a good night’s sleep, he went to his mansion in the countryside (Shelton, 70)!
- Citing the web sources:
- in the parentheses give the modern author (if there is one, or the first author if there is more than one) and part of the title of the article, e.g. (Blenford, US trafficking) or (Trevelyan, Trafficked: Sex slaves).
- if there is no modern author, then just give part of the title, or all if the title is short, in the parentheses, e.g. (My life as a child prostitute)
- Citing movies:
- Once you have mentioned the movie's title, you don't need in-text citations
- You do need to include the movie in the works cited "page"
- Works Cited “Page” reminders:
- to save paper, don’t put on a separate page
- in the same font as your main text
- use hanging indents
- use MLA 8th edition (see syllabus for how the entry for Shelton’s book should look)
- For the movie: Gladiator. Dir. Ridley Scott Perf. Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen. Universal Pictures. 2000. DVD
- writing intensive:
- Don’t forget to turn in the draft copy with my or the Writing labs’ comments on it for it to count towards your revised paper total (and don’t forget to make the revisions!)
- print this out and bring this to your writing lab conference and have the tutor sign here: ______________________________________
Choose from one of the following topics:
- Purpose of Games: Shelton notes "Romans defended their bloody spectacles on the grounds that the agonizing slaughter of the participants inspired in the audience an ennobling contempt for death" (350). Argue whether this is true aim of the "spectacles" in North Africa within the movie or whether they had a different aim (and detail what that aim was, if different). In your conclusion detail why the aim is the same or different.
- Historical Accuracy: As a movie critic, critique, for historical accuracy, the two gladiatorial games fought in the arena in Africa in the movie. Use solely the evidence in Shelton and McManus' web pages for what the games were actually like in ancient Rome (see assignments for links to McManus web page).
- Football=Gladiatorial Games? Football often gets likened to gladiatorial games, e.g. a NYTimes discussion was entitled "Our Gladiatorial Pastime"(Roger I. Abrams, NYTimes, Oct 3, 2010) and previously an MU's defensive coordinator referred to football as "the last gladiatorial sport" (Dave Matter, Columbia Tribune, Nov 2, 2010). Discuss how valid this comparison is, using Shelton and McManus as your sole source of information about the gladiatorial games and your own knowledge about football (or whatever sources you wish, just make sure your works cited entry is correct and that you provide in-text citations).