Study
Guide for Exam # 1
Humanities 120
This exam will cover Chapters 1 and 2 and the reading selections
(Code of Hammurabi, Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer, Sappho, and the selections from
pre-Socratic philosophers). Although you are responsible for all the material in the
chapters, the exam will focus on what has been emphasized in class - including
the supplementary material provided.
Half of the exam will be objective (multiple choice, matches, or short
answer questions), and
half will be essay.
I
recommend that you review the following:
1.
Study the
maps on pages 6 and 32. On page 6,
know the location of the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the
Tigris River, the Euphrates River, the Nile, Mesopotamia, Upper and Lower Egypt,
and the cities of Ur, Babylon, Nineveh, Memphis, and Thebes.
On page 32, know the location of the Aegean Sea, the Peloponnesus, the islands of Crete,
Samos, and Lesbos, and
the cities of Knossos, Mycenae, Troy, Athens, Sparta, and Miletus.
2.
For each
culture that we have discussed, review the major historical events.
(You do not have to worry about exact dates.)
For each culture, be sure that you understand the relationship between
religious and philosophical ideas and art and literature.
3.
Know who
the following people, characters, or gods are: Gilgamesh, Enheduanna, Hammurabi, Osirus, Horus, Menes, Akhenaten, Tutankhamen,
Hatshepsut, Imhotep, Homer, Agamemnon, Achilles, Hector, Andromache, Priam,
Paris, Solon, Cleisthenes, Zeus, Hera,
Athena, Dionysus, Sappho, Thales, Pythagorus, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno.
4.
Review
the vocabulary at the end of the chapters.
5.
Be sure
you can recognize representative works of art and can identify what culture
(Paleolithic, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Minoan, Mycenean, Archaic Greek) produced these works of art. For
example, you should be able to identify a painting such as the one on page 23 as
Egyptian. You should be able to recognize and name the following: the Pyramids at Giza, the Step Pyramid of King Djoser,
Hatshepsut's Temple, the Ziggurat of Ur, and the Lion
Gate at Mycenae. You should also be able to answer basic questions about
the representative works of art.
6. The essay question will be
one of the following:
a. Construct an interesting essay comparing and
contrasting Achilles and Hector. (Here are some questions that you might
address: What do these two portraits tell us about Greek values?
Is the "enemy" portrayed sympathetically? If so, why?)
b. "The views of the gods held by the Mesopotamians and the early
Greeks are similar." Defend of attack this claim. Make specific
references to the presentation of the gods in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the
Iliad.
c. Compare and contrast Heraclitus and
Parmenides. Discuss the differences in their viewpoints as well as the
differences in their methodologies.
Author: Hollace Graff,
Oakton Community College
Last Updated: August 29, 2006