Final Epic: Beowolf!

Below are the links to the audiobook for this Seamus Heaney translation of Beowolf.

Part 1 of 2 

(Lines 1-661, 0-28:36, 

lines 661-1250, 28:36-54:04, 

lines 1251-1865,  Part I 54:04-Part II 10:55

lines 2417-end Part II 35:40-end) 

                                                                     Part 2 of 2

(lines 1251-1865,  Part I 54:04-Part II 10:55

lines 2417-end Part II 35:40-end) 

What Is Islam? A Harkness Discussion

 (Mecca 2015)

(Paris, France 2011) 

                                                                                                                                                        

ISLAM HARKNESS DISCUSSION

As a whole class, today, you will draw from Frederick M. Denny's book Islam and the Muslim Community to create a conceptual and spiritual understanding of Islam.  The following questions use particular words and phrases from the text in order to help you construct a more thorough understanding, accessing all parts of the assigned text (7-76). 

• How and why did Islam emerge and spread as a religion outward from Mecca and Medina?

• What makes Islam unique from other Abrahamic traditions? 

• How shall Muslims live in accord with the "Straight Path?"

• How do Muslims define a "successful life?" 

• What are the duties of Muslims in daily life?  

• What do Muslims believe happens to them when they die? 

• How does Denny define the "Muslim community" spiritually and practically speaking? 

• To what extent does the existence of different sub-communities of Islam such as Shi'ites and Sunnis impact the cohesiveness of this "Muslim community?"  What about Sufism? 

Spring Research Paper (Fall of Rome Analytical Research Paper)

• The rubric I will use to grade your paper may be accessed here.

• Your final paper will be no more than five pages, double-spaced, 1 inch margins, 12 point font Times New Roman. A separate cover page is not required, but a clever and relevant title is required.  (I will not take deductions for lengthier papers unless the paper reads more like a description or summary, rather than the required analysis and argumentation.)

• It must feature a specific, debatable, thesis drawn from the evidence you located in FIVE scholarly sources.  You should rely heavily on Rowley Library, striving to locate a minimum of two books, two electronic subscription sources, and at least one source of your choice.  Of course, you may use more than five sources.

• Need reminders of our discussion of effective thesis statements, body paragraphs, supporting evidence, and other feedback?  Our winter writing guide may be helpful to you as you write in remembering the key components: it may be accessed here.

• Weave your sources together.  Try not to rely on just one source in each of your body paragraphs.  Integrate, rather than drop, your quotes. 

• Your paper must have footnotes AND a bibliography.  History papers use Turabian footnote citation and bibliography, not MLA parenthetical citation and work cited pages. Use http://www.citationmachine.net/turabian/cite-a-book to assist you in creating the proper citation. Make sure you include the page number to which you are referring.  Footnotes REPLACE parenthetical citations, and use the shortened citation forms where appropriate.  Here are some examples of what it should look like, along with an entire sample from Rampolla (note it uses endnotes - you should format as footnotes).   Need additional help on typical expectations for introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions?  Review this small section of Rampolla we looked at earlier this year. 

Footnotes:

Bibliography: 

Decline and Fall of Rome Debate on Friday, May 6

On Friday, April 29, you will begin your research for the Decline and Fall of Rome Debate.  There are eight (8) groups.  So far, I've given you two possible sources: (1) Amy Chua's Day of Empire; and (2) the packet of various references articles from ABC-CLIO: Ancient and Medieval World History.  Ms. Volk will have a cart of books available for research and check-out over the weekend during Friday's class.  I will see you on Monday, May 2. 

The Iliad: Greek values

Tuesday's class

Congrats on completing books 1, 6, 23 and 24 of The Iliad! Using those chapters as your primary source, how would you describe (recreate) Greek values? You should answer this question in paragraph form with an argumentative, specific thesis and at least three supporting details developed in the paragraphs.  Think politically, economically, religiously, and socially. 

India through the Gupta Empire: Land and Sea Trade

[From Jensen, Chapter Five] As the Mauryan Empire declined [after 180 B.C.], a succession of foreign kings built a prosperous trading kingdom in Gandhara, which included parts of Afghanistan and northwest India. Soon, the kingdom of Gandhara was expanded into northern India and became an important link between India, central Asia, and the West. The main overland trade route went across the Hindu Kush into Afghanistan. From there, a trade caravan could either travel to Persia and western Asia or take the Silk Road to China. Sea routes . . . also became the avenues of a thriving trade (106, 108).

How cross-cultural interactions through trade routes, with the transfer of technology and ideas, helped to build our modern world is the subject of Southernization, the first half of which we will read this week. Specifically, we will examine its history of interaction between India, Africa, Arabia and China before the rise of Islam.  We will use this Indian Ocean Trade website to view INTERACTIVE MAPS with trade routes and goods.   Later this quarter, we will return to the second half of this article.   

Source: World History: Patterns of Interaction

Ashoka debate

Today we will debate whether Ashoka was a ruthless conqueror or a enlightened ruler.  You may use the document packet that I provided to you, along with any section of the Dhammapada text.  You may conduct outside research, but you must be able to produce that evidence in written form, along with the source, upon request.  A good source on the Pillars of Ashoka may be found here at Khan Academy.

http://www.mrdowling.com/612-ashoka.html

Ashoka (Asoka), the third emperor of the Mauryan Empire, reigned from c. 269-233 BCE, and his exemplary story remains popular in folk plays and legends across southern Asia. The emperor ruled a vast territory that stretched from the Bay of Bengal to Kandahar and from the North-West Frontier of Pakistan to below the Krishna River in southern India. The year 261 BCE marks a turning point in Ashoka's reign when, in part to increase access to the Ganges River, he conquered the east coast kingdom of Kalinga. By Ashoka's account, more than 250,000 people were killed, made captive or later died of starvation. Feeling remorseful about this massive suffering and loss, the emperor converted to Buddhism and made dharma, or dhamma, the central foundation of his personal and political life.

Throughout his kingdom, the emperor inscribed laws and injunctions inspired by dharma on rocks and pillars, some of them crowned with elaborate sculptures. Many of these edicts begin "Thus speaks Devanampiya Piyadassi [Beloved of the Gods]" and counsel good behavior including decency, piety, honoring parents and teachers and protection of the environment and natural world. Guided by this principle, Ashoka abolished practices that caused unnecessary suffering to men and animals and advanced religious toleration. To further the influence of dharma, he sent his son, a Buddhist monk, to Sri Lanka, and emissaries to countries including Greece and Syria. To some historians, the edicts unified an extended empire, one that was organized into five parts governed by Ashoka and four governors. After his reign, Ashoka has become an enduring symbol of enlightened rule, non-violence, and religious tolerance. In 1950, the Lion Capital of Ashoka, a sandstone sculpture erected in 250 BCE, was adopted as India's official emblem by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

(Reproduced for educational, non-commercial use only by students of Early World History, the above summary of Ashoka may also be found at http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/)