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Before the Midterm Primary Source Summary Assignment Option II – Persian & Greco-Roman Societies and Governments Documents
Instructions: Please compose a 4-to-5 page essay, with double-spaced text, standard font and 1” margins either by typing in the textbox on Canvas OR by uploading a file saved in either .doc or .docx format. This essay should summarize what you see as the contents of and social and governmental philosophies expressed in the excerpts of Herodotus’ The Histories: The Persians Reject Democracy and The History of the Persian Wars: On The Kings of Sparta, The Funeral Oration of Pericles, as recorded by Thucydides, Xenophon’s The Polity of the Spartans, Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus (collectively linked here and in the syllabus as “Greek Government Documents Download Greek Government Documents” in Unit II), and Polybius’ Rome at the End of the Punic Wars Download Rome at the End of the Punic Wars– while incorporating any analysis of Antigone in your analysis of these philosophies and societies that you feel is appropriate – making certain to provide a comparative analysis of Persian, Athenian, Spartan, and Republican Roman governments and society using these documents as your primary evidence while also identifying the historical context of each as well as how these societies interacted and influenced each other. This assignment must be submitted in essay format – with an introduction, main body, and conclusion – not just simply a list of answers to the study questions below. This assignment will be worth a maximum of 30 points.
Please feel free to relate aspects of these societies and governments and what happened to them historically to our current community, society, and government/politics but please do also focus on providing analysis of each society and their own historical context as well. If you want to contrast these documents and societies to others we have read/studied thus far, please feel free to do so. No additional research is required. Please cite the documents or textbook when you quote or paraphrase them and please note that Wikipedia or other such sites are not appropriate for college-level essays. Use of or submission of papers using AI, ChatGPT, Ai paper writer or other such technology is also prohibited.
The essay is due posted to this assignment on the Canvas site by Sunday March 10th – no late papers accepted.
Note – this is the 2nd of the “Before the Midterm” primary source summary paper assignments – you must complete this paper assignment if you chose not to do the Antigone paper in the previous unit.
To help organize your thoughts – here are some study questions about these documents:
Study Questions – “Greco-Roman Documents”: Herodotus, Pericles, Xenophon, Plutarch, and Polybius
The selections of primary source documents in this packet are intended to give you some insight into the political, social, and philosophical ideals and structures of three ancient classical Greco-Roman societies: the polis of Athens, the polis of Sparta, and the Res Publica of Rome, and, by comparison, the Persian Empire.
The first two documents described the polis (city-state) and society of Athens as noted by Herodotus – who uses his Histories to describe Athenian values as well as to provide a comparative description of Athens’ great foreign enemy, Persia – and by the Archon Pericles, who is speaking near the beginning of the 2nd Peloponnesian War, the great conflict between Athens and their Hellenic enemy Sparta at a public funeral.
The next three excerpts described the polis and society of Sparta again through the eyes of Herodotus, as well as the Athenian historian (and student of Socrates) Xenophon, who writes 30 years after Sparta has defeated Athens in the 2nd Peloponnesian War, and finally, through a later Roman historian Plutarch, who wrote biographies known as Lives of great men from Persian, Spartan, Athenian, and Hellenistic societies and then compared those lives to those of the great men of the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire – holding a mirror up to his Roman society.
This final document is a description of the structure of the Roman Republic (Res Publica) written by a Greek historian named Polybius as a kind-of guide to those newly conquered by Rome – an ancient “Roman Government for Dummies” ☺ – written at the height of the conquests achieved by the Roman Republic, just after the final Punic Wars with Carthage by a scholar with connections to one of the greatest Roman families.
As you read the documents, please consider the following topics and questions, which can not only help you with your paper but also the Unit Discussion on the Classical World:
How do Herodotus and Pericles describe the society and government of Athens? Why do they feel it is “better” than other possible structures?
How does Herodotus contrast Athenian and Persian values?
How do Herodotus, Xenophon, and Plutarch describe Spartan society and government? How would a Spartan argue for the superiority of their society’s structure?
How does Polybius describe Roman society and government? Why does he feel it is “better” than other possible structures?
In each document, the authors discuss and analyze the ideas of “monarchy”, “oligarchy”, and “democracy” – how does each society (Athenian, Persian, Spartan, Roman) define these terms and which does feel is the most effective structure for their society and why?
If Herodotus could read and comment on Polybius’ description of Roman society and government, what do you think he would say and why? How might a Spartan like Lycurgus or Tyrtaeus evaluate Rome as described by Polybius?
How do the ideas presented in the play Antigone relate to the political, social, and philosophical ideals of these documents and the societies that produced them/they represent?
What is Pericles’ philosophy regarding society and government and its role in society? What is Darius’? What is Lycurgus’? What is Polybius’? Which do you agree with most? Why?
What is the historical context and interaction of these documents? What accounts for the similarities between Athenian, Persian, Spartan, and Republican Roman societies and governments and what accounts for the differences? What are the similarities and differences between the situations their societies faced?
Finally, who in our society – real, fantasy, or pop-culture – would you compare to “Otanes”, to “Megabyzus”, to Pericles, to Darius, to Lycurgus, and to a Roman Republican and why?
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