Discussion 1 (Chapters 2 and 3): Geometric and Archaic Art

QUESTION 1. Our first assignment has you consider the evolution of Greek art from the Iron Age through the Archaic Age

Following the instructions below for searching the Perseus Project (a website that includes Greek art and literature), choose ONE sculpture and ONE vase from any of the periods discussed (Geometric and various phases of the Archaic). EMBED the image in your discussion post and using the textbook and/or the notes given in Perseus WITH PROPER CITATION (“Pomeroy et. al., [page]”, or “Perseus”) AND QUOTATION MARKS FOR DIRECT QUOTATON describe why this sculpture or vase is categorized as belonging to the period you have chosen.

DO NOT USE ADDITIONAL SOURCES FOR THIS OR ANY OTHER DISCUSSION ASSIGNMENT.

You can make these 2 mini-paragraphs. The total for both paragraphs should be 200-400 words.

• Go to http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifactBrowser(Links to an external site.)
• Choose “sculpture”.
• Choose “period”.
• Click on the links for each of the following periods, and choose one sculpture that you’d like to discuss:
• Archaic
• Early Archaic
• High Archaic
• Late Archaic
• Late Archaic/Early Classical
• Geometric
• Go back to the ”artifact browser” (URL above)
• Choose “vase”.
• Choose “period”.
• Click on the links for each of the following periods, and choose one vase that you’d like to discuss:
• Archaic
• Early Archaic
• High Archaic
• Late Archaic
• Late Archaic/Early Classical
• Geometric

QUESTION 2: Discussion 2 (Chapter 5): Herodotus’s View of the Egyptians and Scythians

Herodotus Discussion: Introduction to Herodotus’s Histories

Herodotus’sHistories was published around 425 BCE, and is the earliest known piece of systematic history. This very long piece of writing is divided into 8 “Books” (what we would call “Chapters”), and deals with the famous conflict between a small collection of Greek poleis and the vast Persian empire, known as the Persian Wars.

While the Histories is famous for telling the story of how the Greeks managed to defeat the Persian fighting force despite being massively outnumbered on the battlefield, it also contains very long passages devoted to the customs of the people who lived under the Persian Empire, including the Babylonians, the Lydians, the Egyptians, and the Scythians. By describing these far away peoples in great detail, he could emphasize even more the vastness of the empire that the Greeks had defeated. This map shows what Herodotus thought the world looked like (the Greeks are in the area right below the label “Thracians”; note the “boot” of Italy to its left): (MAP ATTACHED BELOW)

Because of Herodotus’s interest in writing about non-Greeks, the Histories is considered not only the first “history”, but also the first work of cultural anthropology—that is, the study of peoples whose way of life differs from one’s own. Herodotus certainly visited some of the places he wrote about or otherwise had access to eyewitness sources for the history and customs of faraway places, but scholars also generally agree that he made a lot of things up—almost as if to emphasize how extremely different these non-Greek barbarians were from Greeks.

THE ASSIGNMENT

For this discussion, please read these short excerpts from Herodotus

Actions (ATTACHED BELOW) that concern the roles of women vs. the roles of men in Egypt; religion in Scythia; and the treatment of the dead in Scythia.

Then answer the following three questions in 3 separate mini-paragraphs. Each answer should be 100-200 words, so your total for all three questions combined should be 300-600. Each post should include at least TWO direct quotations from each section of the Herodotus reading.

DO NOT USE ADDITIONAL SOURCES FOR THIS OR ANY OTHER DISCUSSION ASSIGNMENT.

1) “On the behavior of Egyptian males and females”.

Herodotus claims that the customs of the Egyptians are “(more or less) the exact opposite to those of all other men”—by which he actually means that Egyptian customs are the opposite of Greek(and specifically Athenian) customs. What does Herodotus’s description of Egyptian female and male gender roles and behavior tell you, by implied contrast, about Athenian gender expectations for men and women? Your thesis should be a general statement backed up as many examples as you can find in the text.

2) “On Scythian religion”:

Herodotus suggests that the Scythians worshipped a lot of the same gods and goddesses as Greeks did, but with different names. But while Scythians sacrificed animals to the gods just as the Greeks did, Herodotus presents this method as radically unlike that of the Greeks. Please read this document on the basics for Greek animal sacrifice(Links to an external site.) and describe (as always, beginning with a thesis) what you think the difference(s) is/are between Greek and Scythian sacrifice.

Make sure to cite the webiste (“Sacrifice website”) when you use it in your submission. If you use any of the LANGUAGE on the website directly, it must be put into quotations (“”) (DO NOT USE ANY OTHER SOURCES.)

3) “On Scythian warfare”:

We learned from the passage “On Scythian Religion” that the Scythians’ favorite god was also Ares—the god of war—which tells you what their favorite activity was. Given that one of Achilles’s worst moments in the Iliad was his abuse of his enemy Hector’s corpse, what do you think an archaic Greek audience who was raised on Homer would have thought reading about the Scythians’ treatment of their enemies (which could even include family members)? Point to as many details as possible that you think would have scandalized Herodotus’s audience.