Directions: choose one of the two options given below

Option 1: write two 900-1200 word essays, one from each heading.

Women/Religion:
a. Vibia Perpetua and Julia Domna--the one a Christian convert from North Africa who died a martyr, the other empress of the Roman Empire--both presented challenges to the traditional Roman view on women and their place in society. Discuss. Make sure you support your conclusions with good citations (not just quotations) from the evidence presented in Kebric and Shelton.

b.Vibia Perpetua and Julia Domna--the one a Christian convert who died a martyr, the other a devotee of Elagabal who had a strong belief in astrology and dreams--both mirror 'challenges' the Roman state religion was facing at that point. Discuss. Make sure you support your conclusions with good citations (not just quotations) from the evidence presented in Kebric and Shelton.

Daily Life/Imperial System:
a. The letters of Pliny the Younger and the graffiti found at Pompeii and Herculaneum provide important sources for what life  was like in the Early Empire. In your essay look at how the graffiti complements and/or contrasts the view presented by Pliny. For Pliny's letters, check the index of Kebric's book for examples in chapters 6-9; for the graffiti, see Kebric, Ch. 6, 169 and following  and Shelton, #28, 84-5, 89, 94, 123, 131-133. Make sure you support your conclusions with good citations (not just quotations) from the evidence presented in Kebric and Shelton.

b. Compare and contrast two of the following--the Flavian dynasty, the Adoptive Emperors, the Severan dynasty, the Tetrarchy--with respect to two of the following: the size of the empire, the military system, the political system (e.g. citizenship, role & composition of the Senate, role of the emperor, local political autonomy or lack of), the use of the media. Make sure you consider the nature of the evidence at some point in your argumentation.  Supporting your conclusions with good citations from the primary evidence in Shelton (where possible) and good citations from the secondary evidence in Shelton, Scarre, Kebric, and/or class notes.
 

a)Vibia Perpetua and Julia Domna--the one a Christian convert from North Africa who died a martyr, the other empress of the Roman Empire--both presented challenges to the traditional Roman view on women and their place in society. Discuss. Make sure you support your conclusions with good citations (not just quotations) from the evidence presented in Kebric and Shelton.

b) Vibia Perpetua and Julia Domna--the one a Christian convert who died a martyr, the other a devotee of Elagabal who had a strong belief in astrology and dreams--both mirror 'challenges' the Roman state religion was facing at that point. Discuss. Make sure you support your conclusions with good citations (not just quotations) from the evidence presented in Kebric and Shelton.

c) The letters of Pliny the Younger and the graffiti found at Pompeii and Herculaneum provide important sources for what life  was like in the Early Empire. In your essay look at how the graffiti complements and/or contrasts the view presented by Pliny. For Pliny's letters, check the index of Kebric's book for examples in chapters 6-9; for the graffiti, see Kebric, Ch. 6, 169 and following  and Shelton, #28, 84-5, 89, 94, 123, 131-133. Make sure you support your conclusions with good citations (not just quotations) from the evidence presented in Kebric and Shelton.

d) Compare and contrast two of the following--the Flavian dynasty, the Adoptive Emperors, the Severan dynasty, the Tetrarchy--with respect to two of the following: the size of the empire, the military system, the political system (e.g. citizenship, role & composition of the Senate, role of the emperor, local political autonomy or lack of), the use of the media. Make sure you consider the nature of the evidence at some point in your argumentation.  Supporting your conclusions with good citations from the primary evidence in Shelton (where possible) and good citations from the secondary evidence in Shelton, Scarre, Kebric, and/or class notes.