west civ final

Question 1: Explain why some scholars have called the Ancient Egyptians a "death obsessed" culture. Do you agree?
Thesis: The ancient Egyptian culture had an extreme emphasis on death, whether it be the countless hours building pyramids and cities of the dead or the countless books referring to death, the Egyptian people were a “death obsessed culture”
Primary Source 1:

“Thou shalt come in and go out, thy heart rejoicing, in the favour of the Lord of the Gods, a good burial [being thine] after a venerable old age, when age has come, thou assuming thy place in the coffin, and joining earth on the high ground of the west.
Thou shalt change into a living Ba(1) and surely he will have power to obtain bread and water and air; and thou shalt take shape as a heron or swallow, as a falcon or a bittern, whichever thou pleasest.
Egyptian concept of death and the survival as Ba 
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/169.html
Primary Source 2:
“Homage to you, Great God, the Lord of the double Ma'at (Truth)!
I have come to you, my Lord,
I have brought myself here to behold your beauties.
I know you, and I know your name,
And I know the names of the two and forty gods,
Who live with you in the Hall of The Two Truths 
Who imprison the sinners, and feed upon their blood,
On the day when the lives of men are judged in the presence of Osiris 
In truth, you are "The Twin Sisters with Two Eyes," 3 and "The Daughters of the Two Truths."
In truth, I now come to you, and I have brought Maat to you,
And I have destroyed wickedness for you.
I have committed no evil upon men.
I have not oppressed the members of my family.”
Egyptian Book of the Dead Chapter 125, Judgment of the Dead 
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/EGYPT/BOD125.HTM
Primary Source 3:
“Let my Ba- soul come forth to walk about hither and thither and whithersoever it pleaseth. Let my name be called out, let it be found inscribed on the tablet which recordeth the names of those who are to receive offerings. Let meals from the sepulchral offerings be given to me in the presence [of Osiris], as to those who are in the following of Horus. Let there be prepared for me a seat in the Boat of the Sun on the day wheron the god saileth. Let me be received in the presence of Osiris in the Land of Truth-speaking- the Ka of Osiris Ani.”
Egyptian Book of the Dead A HYMN OF PRAISE TO RA WHEN HE RISETH IN THE EASTERN PART OF HEAVEN
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Books/Papyrus_Ani.html
Explanation of Argument: The first source suggests that the Egyptian religion had such a focus on their death that they used their life to decide what they would be as a Ba and live a life based mainly to make it to the afterlife. The second and third back this up in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, there are hymns to Osiris that they will one day be able to get to the afterlife. In the Judgment of the Dead, the source states that the ancient Egyptians entire lives were based on their death and how they wanted to be perceived by their god of death, Osiris.
Question 2: Considering all of the conflict of the first century BCE, was Rome better off as an 'empire' than as a republic?
Thesis: With all of the conflict in the first century BCE, Rome was better off as a republic because with the Roman Empire slowly digressing, the Roman Republic brought in revolutionary concepts.
Primary Source 1:
I.1
"If he (plaintiff) summon him (defendant) into court, he shall go. If he does not go, (plaintiff) shall call witnesses. Then only he shall take him by force. If he refuses or flees, he (plaintiff) shall lay hands on him. If disease or age is an impediment, he shall grant him a team (of oxen). He shall not spread with cushions the covered carriage if he does not wish to.
II.3
Whoever is in need of evidence, he shall go on every third day to call out loud before the doorway of the witness."
III. 1
"When a debt has been acknowledged or a judgment has been pronounced in court, 30 days must be the legitimate grace period. Thereafter, arrest of the debtor may be made by the laying on of hands. Bring him into court. If he does not satisfy the judgment (or no one in court offers himself as surety on his behalf) the creditor may take the debtor with him. He may bind him either in stocks or fetters, with a weight of no less than 15 lbs. (or more if he desires)." [After 60 days in custody, the case is returned to the court, and if the debt is not then paid, the debtor can be sold abroad as a slave, or put to death.]

IV. 1 "A dreadfully deformed child shall be killed."
IV. 2 "If a father surrender his son for sale three times, the son shall be free."
V. 1 "Our ancestors saw fit that "females, by reason of levity of disposition, shall remain in guardianship, even when they have attained their majority."
V. 7 A spendthrift is forbidden to exercise administration over his own goods.
V. 8 The inheritance of a Roman citizen-freedman is made over to his patron, if the freedman has died intestate and has no natural successor.
VI. 1 When a party shall make bond or conveyance, what he has named by word-of-mouth that shall hold good.
VI. 2 Marriage by `usage' (usus): If a man and woman live together continuously for a year, they are considered to be married; the woman legally is treated as the man's daughter.
VIII. 1 "If any person has sung or composed against another person a SONG (carmen) such as was causing slander or insult.... he shall be clubbed to death."
VIII. 2 "If a person has maimed another's limb, let there be retaliation in kind, unless he agrees to make compensation with him." (Lex talionis)
VIII. 21 "If a patron shall defraud his client, he must be solemnly forfeited (`killed')."
VIII. 23 "Whoever is convicted of speaking false witness shall be flung from the Tarpeian Rock."
VIII. 26 "No person shall hold meetings in the City at night."
IX. 3 "The penalty shall be capital punishment for a judge or arbiter legally appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision."
IX. 6 "Putting to death... of any man who has not been convicted, whosoever he might be, is forbidden."
X. 4 "Women must not tear cheeks or hold chorus of `Alas!' on account of a funeral."
X. 6a "Anointing by slaves is abolished, and every kind of drinking bout....there shall be no costly sprinking, no long garlands, no incense boxes."
XI. 1 "Marriage shall not take place between a patrician and a plebeian."
XII. 5 "Whatever the People has last ordained shall be held as binding by law."
The Roman Twelve Tables

http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/12tables.html

Primary Source 2:

“To the senate belongs, in the first place, the sole care and management of the public money. For all returns that are brought into the treasury, as well as all the payments that are issued from it, are directed by their orders. Nor is it allowed to the quaestors to apply any part of the revenue to particular occasions as they arise, without a decree of the senate; those sums alone excepted. which are expended in the service of the consuls. And even those more general, as well as greatest disbursements, which are employed at the return every five years, in building and repairing the public edifices, are assigned to the censors for that purpose, by the express permission of the senate. To the senate also is referred the cognizance of all the crimes, committed in any part of Italy, that demand a public examination and inquiry: such as treasons, conspiracies, poisonings, and assassinations.”

Polybius: Rome after the Punic Wars Book 6
http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/ANCIENT/polybius6.html

Primary Source 3:

“Our Roman constitution, on the contrary, did not spring from the genius of an individual, but of many; and it was established, not in the lifetime of a man, but in the course of ages and centuries”
The Political Works of Marcus Tullius Cicero: Comprising his Treatise on the Commonwealth; and his Treatise on the Laws.
http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=546&chapter=83299&layout=html&Itemid=27
Argument Explaination:
These three sources all show the organization of Rome as a republic. With the tweleve tables and a constitution, the people of Rome had a strong sense of organization and planning. The Roman Republic was an organized system much like America’s democracy and under it the Rome thrived and expanded its territory. When Rome was a republic it treated its territories better than as an Empire which caused much of the violence in the first century BCE.
Question 3: Who is a better model for modern historians: Herodotus or Thucydides? Why?
Thesis: Thucydides is a better model for historians because of his great writings of the Peloponnesian Wars and in depth research on topics rather than hearing stoires through word of mouth.
Primary Source 1:
“Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment that it broke out, and believing that it would be a great war and more worthy of relation than any that had preceded it. This belief was not without its grounds. The preparations of both the combatants were in every department in the last state of perfection; and he could see the rest of the Hellenic race taking sides in the quarrel; those who delayed doing so at once having it in contemplation”
 Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian Wars, Chapter 1
http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.1.first.html
Primary Source 2:
“Thucydides stands alone among the men of his own days, and has no superior of any age, in the width of mental grasp which could seize the general significance of particular events.”
11th Britannica: Thucydides
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/eb11-thucydides.html
Primary Source 3:
“Such is the account which the Persians give of these matters. They trace to the attack upon Troy their ancient enmity towards the Greeks. The Phoenicians, however, as regards Io, vary from the Persian statements. They deny that they used any violence to remove her into Egypt; she herself, they say, having formed an intimacy with the captain, while his vessel lay at Argos, and perceiving herself to be with child, of her own free will accompanied the Phoenicians on their leaving the shore, to escape the shame of detection and the reproaches of her parents.”
Herodotus: The Histories, Book I
http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.1.i.html
Argument Explanation: Thucydides is a better model for modern historians because of his in depth writing of the Peloponnesian Wars. He was focused completely on this topic and traced it back to it origins through research, unlike Herodotus who based his writings on word of mouth references.
Question 4: Were the Vikings "barbarians"?
Thesis: The Vikings were perceived by much of the world as barbarians, but the Vikings were just like the rest of the world with a foundation of religion, great ship building skills, and looked towards the future through exploration.
Primary Source 1:
“Then sought the gods | their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, | and council held;
Names then gave they | to noon and twilight,
Morning they named, | and the waning moon,
Night and evening, | the years to number.”
 The Poetic Edda
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm
Primary Source 2:
Now when Harald came to Sicily he plundered there also, and sat
down with his army before a strong and populous castle.  He
surrounded the castle; but the walls were so thick there was no
possibility of breaking into it, and the people of the castle had
enough of provisions, and all that was necessary for defence.
Then Harald hit upon an expedient.  He made his bird-catchers
catch the small birds which had their nests within the castle,
but flew into the woods by day to get food for their young.  He
had small splinters of tarred wood bound upon the backs of the
birds, smeared these over with wax and sulphur, and set fire to
them. As soon as the birds were let loose they all flew at once
to the castle to their young, and to their nests, which they had
under the house roofs that were covered with reeds or straw.  The
fire from the birds seized upon the house roofs; and although
each bird could only carry a small burden of fire
Heimskringla: The Saga of Harald Hardrade 
http://omacl.org/Heimskringla/hardrade1.html
Primary Source 3:
Thence come the maidens | mighty in wisdom,
Three from the dwelling | down 'neath the tree;
Urth is one named, | Verthandi the next,--
On the wood they scored,-- | and Skuld the third.
Laws they made there, and life allotted
To the sons of men, and set their fates.
The Viking Poetic Edda
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm

Argument Explaination:
These three sources from Viking literature have nothing involved with how they were not Vikings, but through what they say in their wrintings, it reveals a great culture. In the Poetic Edda, sources 1 and 3, The Viking people describe their belief in a sound religion that they belived in and united them. In the second source from the Heimskringla, The Vikings have written accounts of their heroes. The Viking people may have seemed savage but they just did what was necessary to survive in their harsh world.

Question 5: Describe the significance of the Battle of Tours.
Thesis: When the Franks defeated the Muslim forces in the Battle of Tours, it was a turning point in history because it sent the Muslims out of the Frankish territory and stopped the spread of the Moors throughout Europe.

Primary Source 1:
“The Muslims planned to go to Tours to destroy the Church of St. Martin, the city, and the whole country. Then came against them the glorious Prince Charles, at the head of his whole force. He drew up his host, and he fought as fiercely as the hungry wolf falls upon the stag. By the grace of Our Lord, he wrought a great slaughter upon the enemies of Christian faith, so that---as history bears witness---he slew in that battle 300,000 men, likewise their king by name Abderrahman.”
Battle of Tours: Three Accounts
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/732tours.html