Study Questions for Humanities 110 Final Exam Spring, 1997

The following questions should help you to review the semester's work and prepare for the final examination. The exam will consist of three parts. In the first part, you will be asked to identify approximately ten citations taken from texts you have read this semester, and then write a short paragraph about the place and importance of the citation in the work. The second and third parts of the exam will ask you to write two essays, each chosen from a pair of topics.

1. Compare the treatment of life after death in the following works: Virgil's Aeneid, Lucretius' De Rerum Natura, Genesis, The Tractate Avot, Gospel of John, Romans, Golden Ass, Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas, and Augustine's Confessions.

2. Discuss the concept of city and its origins in the Aeneid, Livy's The Early History of Rome, Genesis, Revelation, and the Life of St. Antony.

3. What role does curiosity play in the Metamorphoses, the Golden Ass, Genesis and the Confessions?

4. Describe and account for metamorphosis and conversion in the Metamorphoses, the Golden Ass, and the Confessions.

5. Discuss the nature and role of the family in the Aeneid, the Annals, the Germania, Exodus, the Life of St. Antony, the Gospel of Matthew, and the Confessions.

6. Discuss and explain the tension between self-interest and public good as it is played out in the works of Virgil, Livy, Tacitus, Seneca, Lucretius, and Athanasius.

7. What are some of the reasons for the appeal of Christianity to Roman and provincial citizens of Late Antiquity?

8. In what ways does Augustine represent a synthesis of Classical and Christian thought?

9. Compare the Ara Pacis and the Arch of Constantine as representations of the Roman Empire and its relation to the past, present, and future.

10. Describe and account for the various roles ascribed to or taken by women in Roman, Jewish, and Christian texts.

11. Discuss the way in which the following works define what the characteristics of good leaders and/or good government are: the Aeneid, The Early History of Rome, the Res Gestae, the Annals, Exodus, the Gospel of Matthew, The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas.

12. Compare the conceptions of human happiness in four of the following: Lucretius, Seneca, Genesis, Exodus, the Gospel of Matthew, Letter to the Romans, the Golden Ass, the Life of St. Anthony, Augustine's Confessions.

13. Discuss the ways new religious traditions interpret older religious traditions with reference to the following pairs: Paul/Genesis, Gospel of Matthew/Old Testament, the Rabbis/Torah, Mani/Revelation, Augustine/Mani.

14. Discuss the development of the concept of the "holy man" with reference to the following figures: Epicurus, the Stoic sage, the Roman emperor, Hillel, Mani, Perpetua, Anthony, Augustine.

Hum 110 | Reed Classics | Reed Library | Reed | Perseus