Bus520

Week 1 Homework

Please answer the following questions in 3-5 complete sentences (unless the question has several parts already). Please do not quote directly in the book. Make sure you use your own words and add personal insights wherever interesting or appropriate. Cite any page numbers and outside sources that you may use.

To do well on this assignment, I would like to see responses that go beyond mere parroting of the factual material in the text. Be concrete and descriptive in your responses, and remember that one of the main goals of this course is to make the material relevant to you. Compare the events or developments with those you are familiar with in other eras or in your daily life. Be sure to express your opinions freely—but ground them in factual information from the book or elsewhere.

1) What are the 6 categories of civilized societies and or “civilization” mentioned in the textbook? Which of these can be found in lesser-developed societies?

2) Why is it more difficult to generalize about ancient Mesopotamian culture than about ancient Egyptian? Which word is more applicable to Ancient Mesopotamia, unity or diversity?

3) What three universal questions are touched upon in the Epic of Gilgamesh?

4) What war provided the background for Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey?

5) What was the “polis” In what sense was the polis both the glory and the ruin of Greek civilization?

6) For the ancient Greeks, what was the role of art and literature in examining the problems of human morality?

7) Which pre-Socratic philosopher

a. Tried to explain all phenomenon in terms of one or more material elements?

b. Believed that the mathematical relationships represented the underlying principle of the universe?

c. Believed that our world wsa subject to constant change (“It is not possible to step into the same river twice.”)

d. Taught that “Man is the measure of all things”?

8) Why was the Greek belief in...