HHS123 Final Exam: Newsome
Presiding
Parts 2 and 3
Part 2: Everybody must answer 2 of these.
Write a few sentences to answer 2 of the following. Please indicate which question you are
answering.
A. Describe how some Gnostic-Jews might have become
impatient with God and started to believe that He was either evil or absent
from the world. Give some
interesting details. [Ehrman's
lecture from Week 7 will probably be the most useful for this.]
B. Describe the historic difference between Sunni and
Shi'ia.
C. Refer to Keickhefer Reading, p89 from Week 8: A person
named Peter is sick. A
messenger named Robert is sent to fetch a doctor. This messenger first came to Peter on Saturday. What is the prognosis for Robert? Walk me through your method.
D. Briefly explain Pope Urban II's reasons for launching a
"holy pilgrimage" in 1095.
E. Explain why many participants in the People's Crusade
viciously attacked Jews in Europe?
F. In the Maalouf reading found on Week 9: What is Usamah's
opinion of Franj justice? What was
the theory behind the "trial by ordeal?"
G. Look at Durer's Melancholia_I ,
and tell me what is the first number in the 2nd row in that box of numbers in
the upper right. Then tell me what
is so special about this box in general.
H. Why did Columbus
think that Asia was so close to Europe?
I. Briefly explain
the differences between engraving, etching, and woodcut.
Part 3: Those who wrote on the
"Old Europe" exhibit do not need to do this part.
Choose 3 from the following
and write 3 half-page-minimum (single-spaced) essays. Indicate which questions you are answering. If you have trouble getting a 1/2 page,
expand the question or give examples, make diagrams... do something
interesting.
1. Discuss 3, 6, 10, or 11 (or a combination of 2 or more
of these) from the "12 Lollard Conclusions" from 1394 (Assignment
11). Describe the conclusion[s],
look up any strange words, and discuss it/them in modern terms. Does the reasoning still make sense? If
not, how might the same conclusion[s] be defended using modern ideas?
2. Torture features prominently in both witchcraft trials
and in blaming Jews for the plague.
Today we find these accusations to be absurd since most of us don't
believe in witchcraft or have irrational anti-Jewish sentiments. Discuss the
use of torture in witch hunts and in scapegoating for the plague. What does
torture tell you about the accused and the accusers? Feel free to discuss
modern implications or lessons learned.
3. Discuss the
origins of syphilis as presented in the Mann reading form Week 13. [Feel free to give some color
background on the disease itself.]
Discuss the arguments for the American origins and all three
arguments against.
4. Describe the highlights of the siege of Antioch.
5. Write up an overview of the infinite line argument that
Ibn Tufayl describes on pp125-126 in the reading we did in Week 10. Feel free to use modern notation and
diagrams. From our modern point of
view, what is the major flaw in this argument? How has the concept of infinity changed? Feel free to look into the arguments of
Zeno for comparison.
6. Describe the geographic trajectory of the Black Death of
the 14th century in Europe and explain the economic consequences in terms of
peasant wages and population. Then
discuss how a plague of similar proportions might affect our modern world. Think of a variety of ramifications.
7. Describe why fire arms did not make much sense for armed
engagements on the steppe and why they did make more sense in western
Europe. How were they first used?
How effective were they as compared with the longbow or the crossbow or the
catapult? What sorts of tactical
changes were made to incorporate firearms in the first couple of centuries of
their use in Europe? How did fortifications and armor change in response to
firearms?
Back to Final Exam Instructions
Back to Syllabus [EuroHist-HHS123-F09] My email – HHS123F09@mifami.org
