Two of the following questions will appear on the first test; you will write on one.
1. We have encountered in our reading two pairs of close friends: Gilgamesh and Enkidu in The Epic of Gilgamesh, and Achilles and Patroclus in The Iliad. In both of these cases one of the friends dies. What other similarities do you see between these two pairs of friends? What would you identify as the key differences? What role do women play in the lives of these men, or do these friendships exclude women? To what degree is the surviving friend responsible for the death of the other?
2. Discuss Achilles' character. How would you describe his behavior after Agamemnon has taken away Briseis? In particular, what are the implications of his request that Zeus glorify him by turning the war against the Achaeans? What would the Achaeans think of this request (and Achilles) if they knew of it? Be sure to draw upon all his actions in order to characterize him, from the opening argument with Agamemenon, to his private deal with Priam in the last book.
3. Would Aristotle have regarded the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis as either a tragedy or as a story that provided material which could be shaped into a tragedy? Discuss the tragic potential of this story, and explore the ways in which it matches and/or departs from Aristotle's definition of tragedy.
4. Creation stories are found in both Genesis and Hesiod's Theogony. Compare these two stories. How are they similar? How are they different? If we view the story in the Theogony as a representative account from a polytheistic, pagan culture, which of the differences in Genesis are the most significant? Explain.
In addition to the essay, . . .
. . . there will be two other sections on the exam: Short answers, where you will need to explain very briefly who or what a person, place or event is; and a Significance section, where, in a short paragraph, you will need to explain first, who or what a person, place or event is, and then, why this person, place or event is signficant. This significance can lie in the context of a text, a culture or the course as a whole.
You will have choices in all the sections.