Humanities 110

1. Several of the fragments of the Presocratics (e.g., Heraclitus 7, Xenophanes 6, Parmenides 13) acknowledge the importance of Hesiod if only to take opposing positions. Can there be a productive strife (as posited by Prof. Meg Scharle in her lecture) between the ideas about cosmic origins, the gods, or knowledge presented in Hesiod and those in the fragmentary writings of the Presocratics? Explain how ONE of the Presocratic philosophers explores ONE of these Hesiodic themes.

2. How do Greek kouroi or korai express negotiations between individuality and social belonging? Through a close visual analysis of ONE sculpture (kouros or korē) construct an argument about how it represents, supports, or challenges the balance between individual identity and communal ideals. In your analysis, draw on concepts such as kleos (glory), timē (honor), aretē (excellence) and oikos (household).

3. Analyze a single simile from the Iliad and the context in which it appears. What concepts are being brought together in the comparison and to what effect? How does the simile construe the relationship between humans and nature? What ideal concerning the way things ought to be is communicated in the simile, and what are the implied obstacles to achieving this ideal? 

4. Exodus contains multiple exchanges between the deity and humans. Choose one exchange that occurs before the Israelites have left Egypt, and one exchange that occurs after this event. Note key features of the exchange, considering both the content of the exchange and the literary features of its relation (quoted speech, repetition, narration, imagery, etc.). How has the relationship between God and the Israelites changed across these two events?

5. Herodotus’s Histories Book 1 and the Cyrus Cylinder each convey a narrative about Cyrus the Great. The history and the building inscription differ in their generic form and purpose, but to what extent can we discern continuities between these two textual artifacts concerning Cyrus and his reign? How might these two witnesses to Cyrus’s reign convey a consistent idea about Cyrus as a ruler or Persia as an empire? 

6. Although Sappho’s poetry seems to articulate the intense emotions of (and for) individuals, it also has its eye on a broader audience or community. In an examination of no more than THREE of the fragments of Sappho’s verse, discuss how these poems negotiate collective identity and individual desire.

7. Hesiod in the Works and Days, Hipponax among the lyric poets, and Thersites in the Iliad may all be said to present assertions of self and values contrary to those of the dominant elite. Choose TWO of these perspectives to compare and contrast. What are their primary concerns, and how do these concerns offer an alternative to dominant viewpoints?

Using generative artificial intelligence or large language models such as ChatGPT to compose all or part of your paper will be considered academic misconduct.