INTRODUCTION: WHY STUDY CULTURAL HISTORY

1. Give three reasons why to study cultural history.

--to become educated human beings in charge of their own destinies. If people are not educated into their place in human history, then they are rendered powerless,
subject to passing outlandish beliefs. When people realize that the rich legacy of western culture is their own, their view of themselves and the times they live in can
expand beyond the present moment.
2. Explain the relationship between a historical period and a cultural style.
A historical period is an interval of time that has a certain unity because it is characterized by the prevalence of a unique culture, ideology, or technology, or because is
bounded by defining historical events, such as the death of a military leader like Alexander the Great or a political upheaval like the fall of Rome. A cultural style is a
combination of features of artistic or literary expression, execution, or performance that defines a particular school or era.
3. Give an overview and short explanation of the different historical periods from pre-history till now
The ancient period dates from 3000 B.C.E. to 500 C.E. during these thirty five hundred years the light of western civilization begins to shine in Mesopotamia
and Egypt, shines more brightly still in eight-century- B.C.E Greece and Rome in 146 B.C.E, and finally is snuffed out when de Roman Empire collapses in the fifth
century C.E coinciding with these historical periods are the cultural styles of Mesopotamia; Egypt, Greece, including Archaic, classical (or Hellenic), and hellenistic
styles; and Rome including Republican and Imperial styles.

The medieval period, or the middle ages, covers events between 500 and 1500 C.E, a one thousand year span that is further divided into three subperiods. The
early middles ages (500-1000) is tyfied by frequent barbarian invasions and political chaos so that civilization itself is threatened and barely survives. No single
international style characterizes this turbulent period, though several regional styles flourish. The high middles ages (1000-1300) is a period of stability and the zenith of
medieval culture. Two successive styles appear, the Romanesque and the Gothic, with the latter dominating culture for the rest of the medieval period. The late middles
ages is a transitional period in which the medieval age is dying and the modern age is struggling to be born.

The modern period begins in about 1400 (there is often overlap between historical periods) and continues today. With the advent of the modern period, a new
way of defining historical changes starts to take more sense- the division of history into movements, the activities of large groups of people united to achieve a common
goal. The modern period consists of waves of movements that aim to change the world in some specific way.

A HUMANITIES PRIMER: HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE ARTS.

1. Explain the following words: audience, composition, context, convention, genre, medium, style technique, theme
-audience: id the group for whom a work of art, architecture, drama, film, or music is intended. The audience can also be a special group of people with common
interests or education; for example, films like there is something about Mary and Scream are intended for a youthful audience. Sometimes the audience is limited
by its own understanding of the art; we often feel excluded from what we dont understand. Consequently, some art requires an educated audience.
-Composition: is the arrangement of constituent elements in an individual work. In music, composition also refers to the process of creating the work.
-Content. Is the subject matter of the work; content can be based on mythology, religion, history, current events, personal history, or almost any idea or feeling deemed
appropriate by the artist.
-Context: is the setting in which the art arose, its own time and place. Context includes the political, economic, social, and cultural conditions of the time; it can also
include the personal conditions and circumstances that shape the artists vision.
-Convention: is an agreed-upon practice, device, technique, or form. A sonnet, for example, is a fourteen line poem with certain specified rhythm schemes, but a poem
is not a sonnet unless it follows this form of convention.
-Genre: is the type or class to which a work of art, Literature, drama or music belongs, depending on its style, form, or content. In literature, for example, the novel is a
genre by itself. All genres have an specific convention that makes them particular from the others.
-Medium: is the material from which an art object is made- marble or bronze, for example, in sculpture, or water colours or oils in painting. ( the plural of medium in
this sense is often mediums; when medium is used to refer to a means of mass communication, such as radio or television, the plural is media.)
-Style: is the combination of distinctive elements of creative execution and expression, in terms of both form and content. Artists, artistic schools, movements, and
periods can be characterized by their style. Styles often evolve out of existing styles.
-Technique: is the systematic procedure whereby a particular creative task is performed. If we were discussing a dancers technique, we might be referring to the way
he executes leaps and turns; a painters technique might be the way she applies paint to a canvas with broad, swirling brushstrokes.
-Theme : is the dominant idea of a work, the message or emotion the artist intends to convey. The theme, then, is the embodiment of the artists intent.
2. What is the difference between representational art and abstract art? Explain your answer with an example.
Representational art is true to human perception and presents a likeness for the world much as it appears to the naked eye. An important convention of
representational art is perspective, the appearance of depth and distance on a two- dimensional surface.
Abstract art represents a subjective view of the world, the artists emotions or ideas; some abstract art simply represents colour, line, or shape for its own
sake.
3. What is the difference between sacred music and secular music?
The sacred music includes Gregorian chants, Masses, requiems, and hymns. Secular music such as symphonies, songs, and dances.
4. Explain the following notions: music forms, tone, scale, tempo, texture, melody, harmony
-FORM: is a particular structure or arrangement of elements. Symphonies, songs, concertos, string quartets, sonatas, masses, and operas are some of the many different
forms in which composers may write their music.
-Tone: is a musical sound of definite pitch (pitch is determined by the frequency of the air waves producing the sound).A set pattern of tones ( or notes) arranged from
low to high (or high to low) is known as a scale.
-Scale: the modern western scale is the familiar do, re, mi , fa, sol, la, ti, do, with half steps in between the tones. In other cultures, more or fewer tones may be
distinguished in a scale.
-Tempo: is the rate of speed of a musical passage, usually set or suggested by the composer.
-Texture: describes the number and the nature of the voices or instruments employed and how the parts are combined. In a music theme is a characteristic musical idea
upon which a composition is built or developed.
-Melody: is a succession of musical tones, usually having a distinctive musical shape, or line, and a definite rhythm (the current alteration of accedent an unaccedent
beats).
-Harmony: is the simultaneous combination of two or more tones, producing a chord. More generally, harmony refers to the chordal characteristics of a work and the
way in which chords interact with one another.

I. PREHISTORY AND NEAR EASTERN CIVILIZATIONS.

1) What kind of art existed in the Paleolithic period? Give three places and examples.
By about 200.000 B.C.E., the species Homo sapiens lived together cooperatively, buried their dead with rituals, and began to paint and sculpt. Especially through their
cave paintings and carved figurines, our ancestors made a breakthrough to symbolic thought. Ice Age cave paintings of reindeer, bison, rhinoceroses, lions, and horses
in Altamira, Spain, and in Lascauz and the Ardche region of France date from the Upper Paleolithic and are the earliest examples of human art. The purposes of the

paintings in the Chauvet caves in the Ardche region remain a mystery, but those at Altamira and Lascaux were probably used as part of ceremonies and rituals before
hunting. By painting numerous wild animals pierced with arrows, the artists were attempting to ensure a successful hunt. Another type of Upper Palaeolithic art is seen
in the carved female figurine found at Willendorf, Austria. Made of limestone, the statue is faceless and rotund. The distended stomach and full breasts suggest that the
figure may have been used as a fertility symbol and an image of a mother goddess, representing the creative power of nature.
2) Which two civilizations in the Near East emerged out of the agricultural revolution? Give their characteristics.
The agricultural revolution expanded across the Near East and probably into Europe and Africa. Between 6000 and 3000 B.C.E., human beings also learned to mine
and use copper, signifying the end of the Neolithic period and ushering in the Age of Metals. The two major civilizations in the Near East, are the earlier developed in
Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers ( in present day Iraq) and the other, probably emerging just slightly later,, originated along the Nile
River in Egypt. Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations shared certain characteristics: both were ruled by kings who were in turn supported by a priestly caste; the
rules, power was shared by a few educated elites; their economies were slave-based; theirs societies were stratified, with class privileges at the upper end; and palaces
and religious edifices were built for ceremonial and governmental purposes. These early civilization made deep and lasting impression on they neighbors and successors
that helped shape life in the Western word.
3) Which epos do we know from Mesopotamian civilization? Explain the origin, the story, the themes and the transmission of the epos.
The most famous is The Epic of Gilgamesh , king Gilgamesh, became a larger than life hero in Sumerrian folk tales. In all probability, the Gilgamesh epic
began as an oral poem and was not written on clay tablets for hundreds of years. Through its royal hero, the epic of Gilgamesh focuses on fundamental themes that
concern warriors in an aristocratic society: the need to be brave in the face of danger, the choice of death before dishonour, the conflict between companionship and
sexual pleasure, the power of the gods over weak mortals, and the finality of death.
4) Law, science and writing have their origins in Mesopotamian culture: give one example with explanation for each domain.
-Law: the most important set of laws from Mesopotamian civilization is that of the Babylonian king Hammurabi. Dating from about 1700 B.C.E. The laws concerning
punishment for crimes are based on the judicial principle of lex talionis, or retaliation, which demands an eye for an eye, although Hammurabis code often
substitutes payments in kind for damages done.
-Science: Around 3500 B.C.E., the priests in Sumer invented a calendar based on the movements of the moon. In this calendar, a month equalled twenty-eight
days, but the year was divided into thirteen, not twelve, months. They then used this lunar calendar to make more accurate plans for the future. Once they were able to
calculate the seasonal pattern of nature, they instituted a festival celebrating the New Year, which recognized the end of the growing season and the arrival of the next
season.
-Literature: of the surviving epic, tales, and legends that offer glimpses into the Mesopotamian mind, the most famous is The Epic of Gilgamesh , king Gilgamesh,
became a larger than life hero in Sumerrian folk tales. In all probability, the Gilgamesh epic began as an oral poem and was not written on clay tablets for hundreds
of years. Through its royal hero, the epic of Gilgamesh focuses on fundamental themes that concern warriors in an aristocratic society: the need to be brave in the fae
of danger, the choice of death before dishonour, the conflict between companionship and sexual pleasure, the power of the gods over weak mortals, and the finality of
death.
5) Explain the basic constituants of Egyptian religion
Egypt was a theocracy, or a state ruled by a god. Believing that the deities had planned their countrys future from the beginning, the Egyptians thought of their society
as sacred. Egypt came close to having a national deity during the New Kingdom when Akhenaten reshaped the royal religion at his capital, Amarna. Elevating Aten,
the god of the suns disk, to supremacy above the other gods, Akhenaten systematically disavowed the older divinities-a heretical view in tolerant, polytheistic Egypt.
The Amarna revolution like the religious choices of the pharaohs generally, had little effect on the ordinary Egyptian, who continued to believe that the pharaoh could
intervene with the other gods for the benefit of all.
The foremost distinguishing mark of Egyptian religion was its promise of immortality-a belief that generated a more optimistic attitude toward human existence than
that found in Mesopotamia. At first, in the old kingdom, only the kings were accorded this reward. Eventually, nobles and royal officials were buried in the vicinity of
the rulers tombs, thereby ensuring their immortality as assistants to the risen god in the afterlife. By the first intermediate period, the nobles had claimed their own right
to immortality by erecting tombs on which the royal funerary texts were copied. Later, immortality was apparently opened to all Egyptians, although only the wealthy
minority could afford the cost of a proper burial.
6) Give one example with explanation for each of the following developmentes in Egypt: architecture, sculpture.
The classic Egyptian building was the pyramid, whose shape seemed to embody a constant and eternal order. During the old kingdom, the pyramid became the only
building deemed suitable for a ruler-gods resting place preparatory to the after life. The pyramids eventually gave way to funerary temples when the new kingdom
pharaohs began to construct splendid monuments for themselves that reflected Egypts new imperial status.
An sculpture embodies is for example the life-size statue of King Menkure and his Chief Queen, found beneath the rulers pyramid at Giza. The characteristics of
Egyptian style: their left legs forward, the kings clenched fits, their headdresses, their rigid poses, their serene countenances, and the figures angularity. Designed to be
attached to a wall the sculpture was intended to be viewed from the front, so the couple has a two-dimensional quality.
7) Explain the following notions, homo faber, pictogram, ideogram, phonogram, cuneform, canon, polythesm, monothesm, anthropomorfism, theocracy,
hieroglyphs, pantheism
Homo faber: latin human fabricator; an anthropological term used to describe humans as creators of tools and machines.
Pictogram: a carefully drawn, often stylized, picture that represents a particular object.
Ideogram: a picture drawn to represent an idea or a concept.
Phonogram: a symbol used to represent a syllable, a word, or a sound.
Cuneiform: wegde-shaped characters used in writing on tablets found in Mesopotamia and other ancient civilizations
Canon: a set of principles or rules that are accepted as true and authoritative for the various arts or fields of study; in architecture, it refers to the standards of
proportion; in painting, the prescribed ways of painting certain objects; in sculpture, the ideal proportions of the human body; in literature, the authentic list of an
authors works; in religion, the approved and authoritative writings that are accepted as divinely inspired, such as the scriptures for Jews and Christians; and in religious
and other contexts, certain prescribed rituals or official rules and laws. In music, a canon is a composition in which a melody sung by one voice is repeated exactly by
successive voice as they enter.
Polytheism: the doctrine of or belief in more than one deity.
Monotheism: from the greek monos, single, alone, and the greek theos, god: the belief that there is only one God.
Anthropomorphism. The atributiring of humanlike characteristics and traits to nonhuman things or powers, such as a diety.
Theocracy: from the greek theos, god; a state governed by a god regarded as the ruling power or by priests or officials claiming divine sanction
Hieroglyphs: pictorial characters used in Egyptian writing, which is known as hieroglyphics
Pantheism: the doctrine of or belief in multitudes of deities found in nature; a recurrent belief since prehistoric times, prominent in nineteenth century Romanticism.

II. AEGEAN CIVILIZATIONS

1.
What do we mean by the Minoan civilisation, what are its main elements?
Minoan civilisation was a culture established on the island of Crete., by about 2000 B.C.E., a prosperous and stable mercantile civilization had emerged and
between 1700 and 1100 B.C.E., reached its high point in wealth, power, and sophistication. This society, labelled Minoan after King Minos, a legendary Cretan ruler,
was apparently organized into a complex class system that included nobles, merchants, artisans, bureaucrats and labourers.

The early Minoans developed a pictoral form of writing on clay tablets that was replaced in about 1800 B.C.E., by a still undeciphered script know as Linear A
and Linear B.
Linear A, flourished from about 1400 to the decline of Minoan civilization, in around 1300, though it remained in use in a few scattered places on the Greek
mainland for about two hundred years, when Linear B writings revealed nothing of Minoan political, social or philosophical systems but were used to record
commercial transactions.
Near the end of their era, the Minoan began to bury their dead in underground tombs and chambers, but neither the reason for the new burial practice nor its
ritualistic meaning has been discovered.
Minoan trade dominated eastern Mediteranean until about 1380 B.C. when the island was devastated by a natural catastrophe. Weakened by Mycenean
incursions over the preceding centuries, Minoan civilization quickly fell to these raiders from the Greek mainland or to other invading seafares. Late Minoan Crete
(about 1400-1100 B.C.) was a blend of Cretan and Mycenean elements, The Minoans disappeared suddenly and mysteriously, leaving few remnants of their peaceful
civilization.
The Greeks had no direct knowledge of Minoan civilization, but the Greek attitude toward the Minoans was shaped by Mythology, Myths are usually
considered fiction, but buried within them are often actual folk memories or deep psychological truths.
2.
Explain the epic an lyric poetry of Archaic Greece and give an example of both.
During the Archaic Age, the Greeks recorded some of the greatest literature of our western heritage, with stories as adventurous, amusing, and heartfelt as they are
sophisticated, structured and rich.
Epic Poetry is traditionally believed to be Homer a Bard, or poet who sang his verses while accompanying himself on a stringed instrument. In the Iliad and the
Odyssey, Homer sang of the events before, during and after the Troyan War, stories that had circulated among the Greeks since the fall of Myceane. The basic appeal
of the Homeric epics lies in their well-crafted plots, filled with dramatic episodes and finely draw characters. Set against the backdrop of the Troyan War, The Iliad
describes the battle of llium another name of Troy and the Odyssey recounts events after the Greeks defeat the Troyans. In both Poems, the deities merrily intrude into
the lives of mortals, changing and postponing the fate of friend and enemy alike. So great was Homers authority that his works made him the theologian of Greek
religion. Homer served as a guide to behaviour for the Archaic Greeks, because they become part of the Greek educational curriculum.
Lyric Poetry verses sung to the music of the lyre this become the dominant literary expression in the late Archaic Age, and lyric verses have dominated western
poetry ever since. Lyric poetry which originated later than the epic, expressed an authors personal, private thoughts, tought the muse Euterpe was credited with the
inspiration. The shift from epic to lyric poetry in the sixth century B.C.E. coincided with changes in the polis, where the rising democratic spirit encouraged a variety
of voices to be heard. Poets of monody archive relative simplicity by using a single line of verse or by repeating a short stanzza pattern. Unlike the Homeric Epics
which survived relatively whole, the solo lyrics are extremely fragmented, for example the bulk what remains of Sapphos (SAF-oh) verses consist of random lines and
references gleaned from later commentators and only one or two entire lyrics. Her work is addressed to a small circle of aristocratic women friends on her native island
of Lesbos in the Aegean , In her elegant but restrained verses, Sappho sang mostly about moods of romantic passion: of longing, unrequited love, absence, regret dead
feelings, jealousy, and fulfillment, Sapphoss willing vulnerability and her love of truth made the solo lyric the perfect vehicle for confessional writing.
3.
What is natural philosophy? Give three Greek philosophers of this current with some explanation.
Natural Philosophy is, the ever-changing natural world was an unchanging matter
3 Philosophers were, Thales, Pythagoras and Heraclitus.
Thales, the founder of the milesian school, reasoned that the fundamental substance of the universe was water-an outlook that made him a materialist, because he
thought that everything was made of matter. But more important than their conclusions regarding matter were their convictions that there is regularity in the universe
and the human reason can ultimately understand the natural order. Proposing that the universe was governed by natural laws, these first philosophers questioned divine
explanations for natural events, and development deplore by those who found the key to life in a divine spirit.
Pythagoras, The leader of the Sicilian school, rejected the concept of an underlying substance, Instead he proclaimed, Everything is made of numbers by
which he meant that mathematical relationships explained the basic order in nature-an outlook that made him an idealist, because he thought that an immaterial
principle was the root cause of things, His musical studies probably led Pythagoras to this conclusion. Pythagoras the concluded that numbers explained everything
in the cosmos his term for the orderly system embracing the earth and the heavens.
A third philosopher, Heraclitus, appeals more to the modern age than does any other thinker in Archaic Greece. Rejecting the materialism of Thales and the
idealism of Pythagoras, Heraclitus pioneered a philosophic tradition that found truth in constant change, as in his well-known idea that a person cannot step twice into
the same flowing river. In addition, Heraclitus devised the earliest dialectical form of reasoning when he speculated that growth arises out of opposites, a fundamental
tenet of dialectic thought.

III. CLASSICAL GREEK CIVILIZATION

1) Give four characteristics of Hellenic (Classical Greek) civilisation and explain shortly.
The Greeks of the Hellenist Age shared certain characteristics.
Competitiveness and rivalry were certainly dominant features, as was an increasingly urban lifestyle. Most Greeks still lived in the countryside, but the city
now dominated politics, society, and the economy.
Popular attitudes toward the Olympian deities were also changing, and public worship began to be assimilated into civic festivals. With gods and goddesses
playing increasingly ceremonial roles, religion became demystified and lost some of its personal value in peoples lives.
Another characteristic of Hellenic civilization was a high regard for the balanced life and for moderation in achieving it. The Greeks also sought a balance
between two opposite aspects of human nature, symbolized by Apollo, god of moderation and Dionysus, god of excess.
Greek citizens of Hellenic times, then, were proud of their own polis, however, despite the many communalities among the Greek poleis (language, ancestry,
history, etc.) they never shared a politically united world.
2) What is 'classical culture' or Classicism? And what is its triple contribution to the west?
Classic refers to the body of specific aesthetic principals expressed through the art and literature of Greece and Rome, a system known as Classicism. The
first stage of Classicism, which originated in the Hellenic Age, emphasized simplicity over complexity; balance or symmetry over asymmetry, and restraint over excess.
At the heart of classicism was the search for perfection, for the ideal form.
Hellenic Classicism found expressions in many areas: theatre, music, history, natural philosophy, medicine, architecture, and sculpture.
3) Explain the two main forms of theatre in Classical Greek civilisation and describe briefly the four most famous authors (3+1).
- Tragedy: Greek theatre originally arose in connection with the worship of Dionysus. The word tragedy in Greek means Goat song and this word may refer to a
prehistoric religious ceremony in which competing male choruses sang and danced, while intoxicated, in homage to the god of wine; the victory prize may have been
a sacrificial goat. During the Archaic Age theatre in Athens had taken the form of a series of competitive performances presented annually during the Great Dionysia,
celebrated in March.
The tragedy was normally presented in festivals that lasted days with the porpoise of bringing the people of the country together.
The essence of greek tragedy is the deeply felt belief that mortals cannot escape pain and sorrow.
-Comedy: Comedies were performed in the Great Dionysia just as the tragedies were. The comedies refused to take anyone or anything seriously.
Comic wrights invented their own plots and focused on contemporary matters: politics, philosophies, the new social classes and well known personalities.
The freedom of the comic playwrights could exist only in a democracy. At the same time, the authors demonstrated their faith in the basic good sense of the
average citizen.
Most famous authors:
- Aeschylus, the earliest of the three dramatists. His master piece is the Oresteia, that told the story of Troy.
- Sophocles, the most prolific of the great tragedians, his most famous play was Antigone, which expresses beautifully the principles of classical tragedy. The story is
about the conflicts between king Creon and his niece Antigone.

- Euripides, by presenting unorthodox versions of myths and legends, he exposed the foolishness of some popular beliefs and, sometimes the emptiness of
contemporary values.
The Bacchae is his masterpiece, a gruesome tale about the introduction of the worship of Dionysus into Thebes.
- The comedies of Aristophanes are the primary source for what is known as Old Comedy, comic Greek place with a strong element of political criticism. His
masterwork is called Lysistrata, a sexually explicit and hilarious comedy, it points out the absurdity of the prolonged Peloponnesian war and, by implication, all war.
4) Describe briefly the evolution of the different school of thought (2) or philosophers (3) during the Hellenic age.
The Pre-Socratics. They were concerned with determining the nature of the physical world.
*
Parmenides, his view was that the world was a single and unchanging, unmoving object whose order could be known through human reason.
*
Empedocles, modified the attempt of his teacher Parmenides, of reconcile materialism and idealism. Empedocles claimed that everything, animate or
inanimate, originated in the four elements of earth, water, fire and air.
*
The atomists believed that everything was composed of atoms and the void, the empty space between the atoms. Atomic theory was developed most fully by
Democritus.
The Sophists. Their argument was that human beings, as the center of the universe, have the power to make judgments about themselves and their world. The Sophists
helped free the human spirit to be critical and creative. Protagoras was the most renowned of the sophists, proclaimed in a dictum, that man is the measure of all
things.
Plato and Aristotle
*
Platos philosophy is the fountainhead of western idealism, a thought system that emphasizes spiritual values and makes ideas, rather than matter, the basis
of everything that exists.
*
Aristotle emphasized the role of the human sense, for him the natural world was the only world. Nature could be studied and understood by observation,
classification and comparison of data of the physical world.
Plato and Aristotle followed the lead of Socrates in studying the human experience.

IV. Hellenistic Age

1) Explain the following Hellenistic philosophical schools: cynism, skepticism, Epicureanism and stoicism.
(pag. 102)
-cynism believed that society diverted the individual from more important goals of personal freedom;
-true freedom is attained by not desiring anything and therefore never lacking anything;
-autarky (self-sufficiency) is the goal of cynism
-prominent personality Diogenes
-skepticism nothing can be known for certain;
-questions all ideas;
-autarky is the goal;
-Pyrrho of Elis is the founder of Skepticism
-epicureanism only atoms and void exist;
-pleasure (or lack of pain) is the highest good;
-death is final in its extinction of consciousness and should be considered the end of all pain;
-the gods play no active role in human affairs;
-the goal ataraxia desireless state;
-Epicur the founder of this school
-stoicism the world is governed by the divine logos (reason) or nature;
-wisdon and freedom consist of living in harmony with the logos;
-all humans share the divine logos;
-autarky is the goal
2) Describe in about 10 sentences the different historical political steps of the Roman Millenium, from the founding of Rome till the Civil Wars after the
Empire.
Starting with its founding in 753 B.C.E., Romes history can be divided in 3 periods: monarchy (753 509 B.C.E.), republic (509 31 B.C.E.) and empire (31 BCE
284 CE). During the monarchy period, a council of landowners would choose the ruler and the entire people ratified the choice. After 600 BCE, Etruscans imposed
their rulers. In this time plebeians engaged in trade and acquired wealth, thus challenging the social power of aristocrats. The latter abolished then the monarchy and
established the republic, which was based on a system of representatives and a separation of powers. The Senate became the successor of the old council of landowners.
During the Late Republic period, Julius Caesar became Romes sole ruler (48 BCE) dictator for life, consul, head of armies. After Julius Caesars assassination in 44
BCE, years of unrest followed, which concluded in 31 BCE with Pax Romana, established by Octavianus, who became emperor. In this time the borders of the Roman
Empire were pushed until the Rhine and Danube rivers. The army became an important element and army camps were set to maintain order. The assassination of
emperor Commodus started the Civil Wars period, which lasted from 193 CE to 284 CE.

V. Roman Civilisation
1) What and how was Roman religion? (pag. 128)
-native Roman religion -> deeply affected by the cults of neighbouring and conquered peoples;
-syncretic blending of religion began in earliest times;
-influenced strongly by Greek divinities
-other cults that influenced came from: Egypt (Isis), Asia Minor (Cybele), Persia (Mythra)
-during Imperial Rome the emperor cult emerges -> worship of the ruler as god.
2) Describe the Golden Age of literature of the Roman Empire by way of its three greatest writers. (pag. 129)
-the Golden Age (31 BCE 14 CE) has 3 representative writers: Vergil, Horace and Ovid.
-Vergil his works are inspired by the Greek literary forms, but have Roman inspired themes;
-pastoral poems Eclogues and Georgics;
-Aeneid epic poem in 12 books.
-Horace wrote poems using Alexandrian forms odes and letters in verse; written to be read aloud;
-helped creating the satire
-Ovid famous for his love poems;
-most important - Art of love and Metamorphoses (which is a source of knowledge of many Classical myths for the Renaissance poets).
3) Explain the following notions or names: Lucretius, Seneca, Tacitus, stoicism, neo-platonism.
-Lucretius - Roman poet belonging to the First Literary Period (250-31 BCE);
-wrote long, philosophic poems;
-Greek influence in his works;
-De rerum natura one of his works; (pag. 130)

-Seneca Roman writer and philosopher belonging to the Third Literary Period- The Silver Age;
-was also a Senator;
-as dramatist he wrote 10 plays containing perennial Roman traits such as- emotionalism, rhetorical excess and stage violence; (pag. 133)
-Tacitus Roman historian, orator and politician;
-Third Literary Period The Silver Age
-also governor of the province of Asia;
-2 major historic works The Annals and Histories;(pag. 133)
-Stoicism philosophic trend introduced in the Late Republic Period;
-representatives Seneca (Letters on Morality), Epictetus (Discourses), and Marcus Aurelius (emperor; Meditations);
-stoic values seemed to confirm the farmer-soldier ideal; (pag. 133-134)
-Neo-Platonism philosophic school founded by Plotinus;
-seeked to correct the split between the absolute world of ideas and the perishable material world, which was in Platos system;
-praised ecstatic vision;
-influenced Christian thinkers during the Middle Ages and Italian humanists during the Renaissance. (pag. 134)
4) Give and explain 4 important elements that constitute the legacy of Pre-Christian Rome. (pag. 153)
-language Roman language (Latin) is the basis of many contemporary languages in Western Europe;
-law Roman law forms the basis of legal codes of Western countries;
-education until the beginning of the 20th Century, the European educational ideal was based on the Roman curriculum trivium (grammar, logic and rhetoric) and
quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy);
-architecture Greco-Roman style domes, rounded arches, vaulting techniques, domed temples, temples on podiums, triumphal arches, amphitheaters and victory
columns, etc. dominated the western architecture from Renaissance to the 20 th Century;
-sculpture Greco-Roman style realistic portrait sculptures, propagandistic portraits of rulers and equestrian statues;
-literature and drama the comic plays influenced the rebirth of comedy in Renaissance, and Senecas tragedies inspired Shakespeares tragedies;
-civilization Rome inspired the image of healthy civilization a just and well regulated society of multiethnic, multiracial citizens.

VI. Judaism and rise of Christianity(pag. 180)

1) Describe the origin and the vision of the Jewish tradition.
The entire jewish tradition has evolved from the early history of the Hebrews- their wandering without a homeland, their role as outsiders in other cultures, their brief
period in control of the promised land of Canaan, and, above all their deep sense of being the chosen people of the almighty God, Yahweh. Under the Romans, the
Jews, were punished for their religious views, a portret of the anti -Semitism and violent attacks that dogged their existence down to the twenty-first century.Despite
adversity, the Jews have survived and today have the longest continuous history of any group of people in Western civilization.Unlike the Greco-Romans deities, who
were seen as encouraging and supporting human achievement and excellence in many areas of life, the God of the Hebrews was primarily concerned with the ethical
conduct of human beings and their obedience to his laws.Yahweh's jealousy extended to all forms of human expression in so far they detracted from his worship.
2) Describe the developement of the Christian tradition.
Like Judaism, Christianity rose from obscurity and gained much of its power from the tremendous moral force of its central beliefs and values. But Christianity went
on to become the dominant religion of Western culture.From it's origins among the Jews of Judea, Christianity slowly spread until , by the end of the official fourth
century, it had become the official faith of Rome.
Inheriting a conception of God and culture, the Christians reinterpreted it and gave it their distinctive stamp.After the fall of Rome, when Christianity emerged as the
religion of the West, the judeo-christian tradition merged with the greco-roman heritage to form the basis of western civilization. Accordingly, Jesus' rule, to treat
others as one would like to be treated, became the goal of devout Christians.
The Christians also laid a great emphasis on taking care of the sick, the impoverished, and the homeless, a tradition that has given rise in Western civilization to a wide
variety of private and public social relief programs.
The Christians, rejecting the relatively closed nature of judaism, turned their religion into a missionary faith; in the first generation of missionaries, Paul and other
church leaders took Jesus' messaje to all people, adressing them as individuals regardless of their racial and ethnic backgrounds. Today, after two thousand years ,
nearly one-third of the world's population subscribes-at least nominally -to Christian beliefs.

VII. The civilisation of Late Rome and the Early Medieval West
1)Who was Augustine and what was his role in history and religious ideas.
By about 300, Chritsian writers began to find a large audience as their religion continued to win converts among the educated.
These Christian writers lived either as interpreters of God's words or as bishops.Revered by later ages as fathers of the church , they set examples in their personal lives
and public deeds.
One of these fathers, is Augustine(354-430)
Out of all fathers he exercised the greatest influence on Christianity.In his youth in North Africa, he studied classical literature and included Neo-Platonism.
Augustine , convinced of Christianity's intellectual integrity and spiritual vitality, retired to North Africa and dedicated himself to the spread of his new faith.However,
his winning personality and administrative skills propelled him into church politics.
He opposed the Donatists, who claimed that priest's sin would make the sacraments useless. But his great fury was against Pelagianism, which asserted that good works
could earn salvation for a sinner. During his life, his writings came to represent the voice of orthodox beliefs. Augustine was not yet a comanding figure of the church.
Rather, he was more a person of humility, somewhat reconciled to being ignored, sometimes forgotten, by others, most of whom lived in the church's heartland, the
Eastern Mediteranean.
When Augustine's view of history seemed to be validated by the fall of Rome, his fame became to mount.For many centuries, he was venerated by Christians as the
supreme authority on nearly every major theological issue.

2) Describe the Early Middle Ages, it's two dynasties and their greatest kings, and it's society.
After the fall of Rome, life in the West was precarious for most people. There was a return to an essentialy agrarian existence, accompanied by a decline in comerce and
in the standard of living. Village life was simple and barter the primary medium of exchange.The little security people had was provided by the Christian church, with
it's bishops and priests, it's increasingly powerful pope in Rome, and it's spreading network of monasteries and convents.
By about 500, Western life had stabilized to some degree.
Three Germanic tribes occupied and ruled vast parts of the old Western Roman Empire: the Visigots in Spain, the Ostroghots in Italy and southern Germany, and the
Franks in France and western Germany.
The Angles and Saxons were dominant in England, the Vandals in North Africa and the Burgundians in Southern France.
The two dynasties of the Middle Ages were the Merovingian dynasty under the rule of Clovis, and the Carolingian dynasty under Charles Martel ( Charles the
Hammer).
After 700 the Merovingians gradually lost control of the Frankish kingdom to the Carolingian dynasty.Carolingian troops halted the advance of the muslims at the
Battle of Tours in southern France in 732, thereby ensuring the future of Europe as a Christian land.
In 751 Pepin the Short , the son of Charles Martel, was declared king of the Franks, with the aproval of the pope and the votes of the Frankish nobles.
Charlemagne ( Charles the Great) the son of Pepin the Short, established the first real empire in medieval Europe and challenged the Byzantine rulers' claims to the
western Roman lands.

The end of the Carolingian era began in 843 when Charlemange's grandsons divided the empire into three parts, hastening the splintering of western Europe into smaller
kingdoms.
France developed from the ambitions of Hugh Capet, a noble landowner who was crowned king of the western Franks.The other emerging kingdom was of Otto the
Great, who was elected king of the Germans and Saxons.
3) Explain briefly the following notions and names:
-Boethius - Christian philosopher of the early 6th century.He was bon in Rome to an important ancient family.He entered public life at an early age and was already a
senator by the age of 25.He was an consul in 510 in the kingdom of the Ostrogoths.
-Gregorian chant - is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration
of Mass and other ritual services. It is named after Pope Gregory I, Bishop of Rome from 590 to 604, who is traditionally credited for having ordered the simplification
and cataloging of music assigned to specific celebrations in the church calendar.
-Monophny - Monophony is the simplest of textures, consisting of melody without accompanying harmony.In the Middle ages monophony was sung by male voices in
unison.
-Polyphony - Polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one
dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony).
-Benedictines - Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century
for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict around 529.
-Illuminated manuscript - An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials,
borders (marginalia) and miniature illustrations. In the strictest definition of the term, an illuminated manuscript only refers to manuscripts decorated with gold or silver,
but in both common usage and modern scholarship, the term is now used to refer to any decorated or illustrated manuscript from the Western traditions.
4) What is meant by the Carolingian Renaissance?
In the history of ideas the Carolingian Renaissance stands out as a period of intellectual and cultural revival in Europe occurring from the late eighth century, in the
generation of Alcuin, to the 9th century, and the generation of Heiric of Auxerre, with the peak of the activities coordinated during the reigns of the Carolingian
rulers Charlemagne and Louis the Pious.[1] The sense of renewal in a newly stabilized society was galvanized by an elite group of scholars gathered to the court of
Charlemagne. With the moral betterment of the Carolingian renaissance reached back for models drawn from the example of the Christian Roman Empire of the 4th
century. During this period there was an increase of literature, writing, the arts, architecture, jurisprudence, liturgical reforms and scriptural studies. Charlemagne's
Admonitio generalis (789) and his Epistola de litteris colendis served as manifestos.

VIII. The world of Islam

1) Describe three important elements of Medieval Islamic Legacy, concerning art, concerning religion, concerning science and philosophy. (pag. 243)
The Legacy of medieval Islam remains potent in the modern muslim world.Though not as strong as it's impact on modern Islam, the influence of medieval Islam on
the civilisation of the modern West has been significant, ranging from arhitecture to literature to philosophy to mathemathics to technology. Islam's direct legacy to
Western civilisation includes:
the pointed arch , which made the gothic style possible;
musical instruments from the string, the wind, and the percution groups ;
poetic forms and themes that may have been imitated by the Provencal poets.;
the tradition of reconciling religion of Aristotle's philosophy, which became the goal of Europe's scholastic thinkers;
algebra and other mathematical concepts, which became part of Western educational curriculum.

CHAPTER 9 THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES

1) Explain with one example of each the political, social, economic and cultural changes of the high Middle Ages. (an example is a short explanation of:
feudalism, chivalry, rise of towns, spiritual versus secular thought)
During the High Middle Ages (1000-1300) society began to be more settled after the invasions of ninth and tenth century, and a brighter era began to unfold
in the West. At this time, Christian church became the dominant institution of the medieval world, and feudalism was established as the principal military, economic,
and political system, based on personal loyalty and kinship.
In the beginning, feudalism restored law and order, but during the High Middle Ages, the feudal nobility slowly lost power to the feudal kings, who laid the
foundations of the early modern national monarchies.
Feudal wealth was reckoned in land. The feudal lords attracted warriors, called vassals, to their private armies by offering them estates, and thus feudalism
depended on the manorial economy.
The hierarchical feudal social order was defined and elaborated in the unwritten rules of conduct known as the chivalric code (largely a warrior code,
although one rooted in Christian values.). More an ideal than reality, it inspired the vassal to honour his lord and to respect his peers.
By the twelfth century, the Peace of God (a call for an end to fighting at specified times) and the notion of protected classes (notably women) had been
incorporated into a more refined and courtly version of the chivalric code. Influential in altering the status of women was the rise of courtly love, a movement that began
in the aristocratic courts of southern France, which encouraged the love of lords for usually unattainable ladies.
A new trend began to counter the dominance of the feudal system the rise of urban areas where free individuals pursued their own economic goals. As
towns grew larger and urban life became more competitive, the residents formed associations, called guilds, to protect their special interests. Because urban economic
life conflicted with the interests of the feudal system, urban dwellers, led by guilds, founded self-governing towns, called communes, often with written charters that
specified their rights in relation to the feudal lords.
Between 1000 and 1300, Christian life permitted European cultural life. The Christian faith was a unifying agent that reconciled the opposing realms of the
spiritual and the secular, the immaterial and the material as symbolized in many cities and towns by the local cathedrals. Along with the tradition and influences of
the time (Classical, Byzantine and Islamic), the quest for forms that could transcend the contradictions of the age formed a common concern for many writers, thinkers
and artists.
(Before 1150, the militant warrior and the ascetic monk were the social ideals, while women were treated as property. After 1150, the urban values of the
new towns became paramount, along with a more courtly attitude toward women. The church indirectly encouraged this trend with the rise of the cult of Virgin Mary).
2)Which shift in moral values occurred between 1000 en 1300?
The incorporation of Christian beliefs into the chivalric code brought into light ideals such as- protecting the weak from danger, practicing bravery, strength and
honesty, the Peace of God (a call for an end of fighting), and the notion of protected classes (notably women) influenced by the rise of the cult of Virgin Mary. The
courtly love (also influenced indirectly by the veneration of the Virgin) praised the love for a lady (usually an unattainable lady, such as another mans wife) as an
ennobling emotion, encouraging the man to ever greater deeds.
3) Describe the feudal system and its development into a feudal monarchy.
In the beginning, feudalism restored law and order, but during the High Middle Ages, the feudal nobility slowly lost power to the feudal kings, who laid the
foundations of the early modern national monarchies.
Feudal wealth was reckoned in land; the feudal estate included lands, manor houses, and the serfs who worked the land. The feudal lords attracted warriors,
called vassals, to their private armies by offering them estates, and thus feudalism depended on the manorial economy. The feudal estate, called a fief, provided the
warrior with the means to outfit himself with the proper military equipment and attendants, and to live in an aristocratic style. Over the generations, feudalism became a
complex web of agreements, obligations and rituals. Typically, the lord gave military protection to his vassal and settled quarrels among his supporters through his

court. The vassal in turn furnished military or financial aid and sat as counsel in the lords court.
By about 1100, some powerful feudal lords had begun to expand their holdings into larger kingdoms. As they subdued weaker ones, they often sealed their
victories through marriages with the conquered family. Their heirs extended and consolidated their lands. The greatest problem a feudal monarch faced was building a
centralized rule to keep the kingdom from disintegrating. During the High Middle Ages, 4 feudal monarchies dominated the West : France, England, the Holy Roman
Empire and the papacy.
4) Describe three aspects of religious orders which reflect the power of the church and of christian belief in the High Middle Ages. (Examples: christian moral
code, convent life, friars, monastic reform, heretics, crusades)
-Christian moral code influenced the chivalric code, as vassals were expected to protect the weak from danger and to practice ideals like bravery, strength and
honesty; also inspired the introduction of Peace of God in the chivalric code.
-covent life monks and nuns were living in isolated monasteries, organized in orders Cluniac, Cistercian, Benedictine, etc. Some of the worked along with the
peasants, and dedicated their lives to praying, contemplation, and service. Covent life nurtured several gifted women who influenced this age, most notably Hildegard
of Bingen, founder and abbess of the Benedictine house of Rupertsberg near Bingen. Hildegard wrote in the medical arts, theology and the history of science, but it was
mainly through visionary tracts that she had the most impact on her contemporaries.
-friars religious order appeared in the 13th century, divided in 2 major mendicant (or begging orders) Franciscans and Dominicans. Friars were originally dedicated
to working among the urban poor, but by 1250 most of them were also priests and dominated higher education.
-monastic reform originated in the Benedictine monastery of Cluny. Before this movement, church was riddled with scandal and corruption, and church offices were
often bought. However, the monks at Cluny were free of feudal obligations and loyal only to the Pope, and little by little they impressed Europe with their spirituality
and established new monasteries and reformed others.
- heretics as monastic reform slowed in the late 12th century, a move of lay piety swelled up from the lower ranks of society, triggered by a mixture of religious
protest and social and economic causes. While some of these free-thinking groups won approval from religious authorities, others were condemned as heretics. The
most powerful of these heretical sects was the Albigensian, centred in Albi in southern France. The Albigensians were also known as Cathari (from the Greek word for
pure). Their unorthodox beliefs were derived partly from Zoroastrianism and partly from Manichaeism. In 1214, Pope Innocent III called for the destruction of the
hatred beliefs, and the Albigensians were repressed ferociously some were slaughtered, other were tried by Inquisition and burned at the stake.
-crusades Christian church preached 9 crusades to free the Holy Land from the Muslim unbelievers. Motives Christian zeal; the papal promise that all sins would
be pardoned; the anticipation of wealth from plunder. Kings, bishops, nobles, peasants, priests, workers and prostitutes sewed the cross on their garments and set up
for this journey. Crusader victories proved temporary (like the brief capture of Jerusalem), and only heightened the hatred between the 2 sides, resulting in mutual
atrocities. Still, the crusades led to economic, social, intellectual and cultural interchanges.

5) Describe the three main themes/elements of Middle Ages intellectual discussions. (this means an explanation of (1)realism and nominalism; (2)scholasticism;
(3) Averrosts versus theologians or Thomists)?
-realism vs. nominalism argued on the question whether or not universals, or general concepts, such as human being and church really existed. The problem of
universals became the supreme intellectual issue between 1050-1150. At stake in this dispute between the 2 schools of thought, Realism led by William Champeaux,
and Nominalism led by Peter Abelard, were basic Christian ideas, such as whether Jesus sacrifice had removed the stain of the original sin from each individual.
The Realists, following Plato, reasoned the universals exist independently of physical objects and the human mind. In opposition, Nominalists denied the existence of
universals and claimed that particular events and objects are real. Hence, church and human being exist only in particular instances. In this debate, Abelard showed
the Champeauxs extreme Realism denied human individuality and was thus inconsistent with church teachings. For this part, Abelard taught a moderate Realism that
held that the universals existed, but only as mental words that can be used as an intellectual convenience.
-scholasticism The introduction of new versions of the Classical text, notably those of Aristotle, caused a revolution in education and elevated the Greek thinker
to the status of an authority whose word could not be questioned. The revival of Aristotle contributed to the development of scholasticism. In general, the aim of a
scholastic thinker was to bring Aristotles thought into harmony with the Christian faith. Scholasticism was also a system of reasoning that had been perfected in oral
debates in schools by dividing a problem in 3 parts first a question set forth for intellectual analysis, next a discussion thoroughly summarized the arguments for
and against the question, usually citing the Bible, church Fathers, Aristotle, etc., and finally, a solution was offered, reinforced with support from religious and secular
sources. This method was not meant to discover new knowledge.
-Averroists vs. theologians or Thomists the introduction of improved and more complete versions of Aristotles writings as well as Greek and Arabic philosophical
scientific works at the University of Paris, divided the intellectual community. On one side was the theological faculty, who welcomed the Arabic writings but wanted
to reconcile them to Christian thinking. On the other side, the members of the arts faculty advocated that reason be fully divorced from faith or, in other words, that
philosophy be separated from theology. The leaders of the arts faculty were called Latin Averroists (from the Arabic philosopher known in the West as Averroes).
Faced with the sceptical Latin Averroists, the Parisian theologians devised 2 ways to relate the new learning to orthodox beliefs a more traditional view set forth by
Bonaventure, and a new brilliant theological view set forth by Thomas Aquinas. Avoiding the pure rationalism of the Latin Averroists and the timidity of Bonaventure,
Aquinas steered a middle path, or via media, which gave Aristotle a central role in his theology while honouring traditional Christian beliefs.
6) Give two examples of monastic and feudal writing and two examples of vernacular and courtly writing. Explain shortly
-monastic and feudal writing coincides with Romanesque art.
-popular between 1000-1150 most authors were monks, writing in Latin and imitating Late Roman literary models (hymns, sermons, lives of saints and
historical chronicles).
-a) Latin lyric poetry rich in metric subtleties, extremely learned in content, and filled with Classical and Christian allusions.
-b) love poems appealed to more secular interests; even though they sang about carnal pleasure, the verses were not personal, nor the poets
erotic yearnings directed towards real women.
-vernacular and courtly writing -> vernacular = written in popular spoken language
-a) chanson de geste chiefly honoured the heroic adventures of warriors; medieval epics; based on Christian values, but supernatural and
magical elements were commonly part of the plot; Song of Roland the most famous.
-b) canzone love poem, sang at courts by ministrels, and written by troubadours (often local nobles).
-c) romances replaced the chanson de geste after 1150 in popularity; long narratives of chivalric and sentimental adventures of knight and
ladies; Chretien de Troyes wrote the story of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table.
-d) lay (from French lai)- genre that flourished parallel with the romance; short lyric or narrative poem meant to be sung to the
accompaniment of an instrument such as harp; Marie de France poet from Brittany who lived in England wrote the oldest 12 lays surviving today.

7) Which two styles developed in the High Middle ages and what are their characteristics and differences? ( is meant here: Romanesque versus Gothique no
need for the details between first and second romanesque style!)
-Romanesque style emerged in about 1000 and lasted aprox. until 1200; based on the architectural language of Ancient Rome, but embraced elements inspired by
Christianity; from Roman architecture basilica plan, rounded arches, vaulted ceilings, columns both for support and decoration; Christian inspired orientation
of basilicas toward Jerusalem, curved of the buildings eastern end into an apse to house the altar; transept added to the eastern end, to convert the floor plan into a
cruciform shape; 3 doorways on the western faade (symbolized the Trinity); baptistery apart from the church; innovations narthex (porch or vestibule leading into the
nave), vaulting techniques, wealth of ornamental detail.
-Gothic style was developed in Paris, around 1150; means barbarian creation of the Goths (name given by the later Renaissance scholars -> in reality Gothic style
grew out of the Romanesque style and was not a German art); taller churches with more windows than in Romanesque style; Suger architect, creator of the Gothic
style; replaced the groin vault with a ribbed vault (step that allowed lighter materials); abandoned the rounded arch in favour of the Muslim pointed arch (resulted in
taller churches); huge piers at the interior; flying buttresses at the exterior.

8) Explain briefly the following notions and names: chivalric code, chanson de geste, Scholasticism, Peter Abelard, Tomas Aquinas, cathedral schools,
plainsong, tropes, organum, Dante.
-chivalric code the rules of conduct, probably idealized, that governed the social roles and duties of aristocrats in the Middle Ages.
-chanson de geste a poem of brave deeds in the epic form developed in France during the 11th century, usually to be sung.
-Scholasticism in medieval times, the body or collection of knowledge that tried to harmonize Aristotles writings with Christian doctrine; also a way of thinking and
establishing sets of arguments.
-Peter Abelard medieval thinker, the most brilliant and controversial independent scholar, disputed Champeauxs Realism, and founded the school of Nominalism.
-Tomas Aquinas Dominican friar who taught in Paris. Was made a saint, and 600 years later the papacy declared his thought the official basis of Roman Catholic
beliefs.
-cathedral schools from about 1000 onward, schooling was done in monasteries and cathedrals. During the 12th century, cathedral schools reached the height of their
power. Most famous Chartres and Paris.
-plainsong also called plainchant. In music, the monophonic chant sung in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic church.
-trope in Gregorian chant, a new phrase or melody inserted into an existing chant to make it more musically appealing; also called a turn; in literature, a figure of
speech.
-organum in the 9th-13th centuries, a simple and early form of polyphonic music consisting of a main melody sung along with a Gregorian chant; by the 13 th century it
had developed into a complex multivoiced song.
-Dante Dante Aligheri poet native from Florence, author of the Divine Comedy; made the Tuscan dialect the standard literary speech of Italy.

X. THE LATE MIDDLE AGES (1300-1500)

1. Describe the three calamities which befell Europe in the 14th century and its social and political consequences. (Black Death, Famine, War; effects are
depopulation, social unrest, higher standard of living)
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have
been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% - 60% of Europes population reducing
the worlds population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400. This has been seen as having created a series of religious, social and
economic upheavals, which had profound effects on the course of European history. It took 150 years for Europes population to recover. The plague returned at various
times, killing more people, until it left Europe in the 19th century.
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food that may apply to any faunal species. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional
malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. It was a period marked by extreme levels of criminal activity, disease and mass death, infanticide, and
cannibalism. It had consequences for Church, State, European society and future calamities to follow in the 14 th century. Medieval Britain was afflicted by 95 famines,
and France suffered the effects of 75 or more in the same period. The famine of 1315-6 may have killed at least 10% of Englands population, or at least 500.000
people.
War disrupted the pattern of social and economic life. One consequence of this almost constant warfare was a growing number of renegade soldiers who
wandered the land. The countryside was filled with bands of roving knights who blackmailed both landowners and peasants. Throughout Europe, these dangerous
circumstances compelled town dwellers to retreat behind their city walls.
The chief consequence of the plagues, famines and wars was depopulation, which affected the commercial centres of Europe. Population decline also caused
dramatic social dislocations. Starting in Flanders in 1926, social unrest mounted across Europe. Although the immediate consequence of the demographic crisis was
increased social unrest, the long-term effect was a higher standard of living for the survivors. Peasants in western Europe found their labour more in demand and their
bargaining positions with the landowners improved.
2. What where the characteristics of the new secular monarchies of the late Middle Ages? Describe with two examples.
France and England maintained their leading positions in Europe, but they exhausted their economies with wasteful wars. The Hundred Years War, as the
group of conflicts between the mid-fourteenth and the mid-fifteenth centuries is called, arose over feudal and military rivalries dating from the High Middle Ages. The
war was fought entirely on French soil. A heroic figure who emerged from this war was Joan of Arc, who rallied the French to victory, only to be burned at the stake by
the English; in modern times, she became one of the Frances national heroines and Roman Catholic saint.
While the Hundred Years War raged on the Continent, life in England was disrupted by feudal rebellion, peasant unrest, and urban strife. Like France,
England was emerging from the feudal system, but it was moving in a different direction. The English Parliament, which represented the interests of the nobles, the
towns, and the rural countries, gained power at the expense of the king. Parliament also reflected popular feeling when it passes laws curbing papal power in England.
When Henry VII became king, however, it became apparent that a key reason for the dominance of Parliament had been the weakness of the kings. This
founder of Englands brilliant Tudor dynasty avoided the quarrels his predecessors had had with Parliament by abandoning foreign wars, living off his own estates, and
relying on his own advisers. Henry VIIs policies deflated parliamentary power and made him as potent as his contemporaries in France. The success of the French and
the English kings in centralizing their states attracted many imitators. Their ruling style was adopted in part by other states.
3. Describe one economically and one intellectualy important innovation of the Late Middle Ages. (textile industry; printing press)
Rise of Industries: As farming life changed because of the growth of urban life, so did Europes fledgling industrial life, and new technology, such as the suction
pump, increased productivity in some industries. Older inventions, such as eyeglasses, mechanical clocks, and gunpowder, were improved in this age of rapid change.
However, the most significant technological innovation of the Late Middle Ages was the development of printing with movable metal type in the mid-fifteenth century.
The greatest change in textile manufacturing, however, was ultimately precipitated by Englands shift from the export of raw wool to the export of finished
cloth, a change that disrupted the traditional rural way of life. Wool merchants organized the new textile industry in England. Turning wool into finished cloth required
many stages: shearing, carding, combing, spinning, weaving, fulling, felting, dyeing, and cutting. The merchants, who bought and owned the raw wool, created the
putting-out system, the assigning of tasks to families who worked at home which came to be defined as the cottage industry. The workers tended to specialize in
specific tasks. A new hand-operated machine, the spinning wheel- imported from India via the Middle East, perhaps during the Crusades- streamlined the spinning of
wool into thread, or yarn. It replaced the ancient method, involving two handheld sticks, called a distaff and a spindle. With the spinning wheel the worker stretched
wool from a distaff onto a spindle, turning the wheel constantly so as to create a continuous thread. Women traditionally performed the spinning, hence the medieval
terms spinster and distaff side, meaning womans work.
The Printing Press: The German craftsman Johannes Gutenberg is often credited with the invention of the printing press, in about 1450, though it
nevertheless clear that his achievement rests on the shoulders of generations of craftspeople and tinkerers, working in various fields. Specially, the model for his
printing press came from similar devices used in the binding of books and the making of wine and paper. Gutenberg also had before him the model of printing from
wook blocks invented in China in perhaps the sixth century C.E. and developed in the West after 1350, whereby pictures along with a brief text could be impressed into
a paper surface. Gutenbergs invention gave rise of the printing and publishing industries, with a host of related occupations, such as printers, engravers, booksellers,
editors, proofreaders, and librarians. Because it was cheaper to print a book than to have a text copied as a manuscript, books became agents of democracy, with huge
repercussions for education, literature, and society.
4. Explain the confrontation between adherents of the via antiqua and the via moderna and give on major author of these intellectual currents.
The conflict between the via antiqua and the via moderna was best exemplified in the writings of John Duns Scotus (antiqua) and William of Ockham
(moderna), respectively. The first of these commentators was sympathetic to the theology of Thomas Aquinas, but the second scholar was unmistakable hostile and tried
to discredit Thomism. Duns Scotus the most persuasive voice of the via antiqua was a Scottish thinker who was trained as a Franciscan and lectured at the universities
in Oxford, Paris, and Cologne. Even though he was a supporter of Thomism, Duns Scotus unwittingly undermined Aquinass synthesis by stressing that faith was
superior to reason, a shift in focus that arose from his belief in Gods absolute and limitless power.
Yet Ockham went further than Scotus by asserting that reason, the senses, and empirical evidence could enable human beings to discover and hence understand the
nature world. To Ockham, faith and reason were both valid approaches to truth, but they should be kept apart so that each could achieve its respective end. In the
seemingly endless medieval debate between the Realists and the Nominalists, Ockhams reasoning swept Nominalism to its final victory. Like the Nominalists of
the twelfth century, Ockham denied the existence of universals and claimed that only individual objects existed. He concluded that human beings can have clear and

distinct knowledge only of specific things in the physical world; no useful knowledge can be gained through reason or the senses about the spiritual realm. In his
reasoning, William of Ockham asserted a principale of economy that stripped away all that was irrelevant: Arguments should be drawn from a minimum of data and
founded on closely constructed logic: It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer, he says in one of his works. Ockhams razor of logic eliminated
superfluous information that could not be verified, thus enabling a student to cut to the core of a philosophical problem.

5. Describe Italian and Flemish painting in the Late Middle Ages with an example of painters of each (Giotto, Jan Van Eyck, Hans Memling)
Italy: GIOTTO. While the illuminated manuscript and the print were popular in northern Europe, a revolution in painting was under way in Italy. The
paintings of Giotto are generally recognized as having established a new direction in Western art, one that led into the Renaissance. In Giottos own day, Dante praised
him and the citizens of Florence honoured him. Later, Vasari, the famous XVI century painter and biographer, declared that Giotto had rescued and restored painting.
Giottos revolution in painting was directed against the prevailing Italo-Byzantine style, which blended Late Gothic with Byzantine influences. He turned this painting
style, with its two-dimensional, lifeless quality, into a three-dimensional art characterized by naturalism and the full expression of human emotions. Partly through the
innovative use of light and shade and the placement of figures so as to create nonmathematical perspective, or depth, Giotto was able to paint realistic-looking figures,
rather than the flat, ornamental depictions found in most illuminated manuscripts or the Italian altar paintings. Giotto was a prolific artist whose paintings adorned
churches in Florence and cities all over Italy (Ex: Piet, or Lamentation)
Flemish painting: JAN VAN EYCK AND HANS MEMBLING. When Philip the Good became duke of Burgundy, he expanded his territories to include
the wealthy countries of Holland, Zeeland, and Luxembourg, known as Flanders. Philip was the greatest secular patron of the arts of his day. Of the artists encourage
by his patronage, the borthers Jan and Hubert van Eyck are the most famous, and their religious works and portraits established the Flemish style of art. Little is known
of Hubert, but Jan van Eyck is considered the founder of the Flemish school. As a general principle, Flemish art sought reality through an accumulation of precise and
often symbolic details, in contrast to Italian art, which tended to be more concerned with psychological truth, as in Giottos frescoes in the Arena Chapel. This national
style, expressed primarily through painting with oils on wood panels, turned each artwork into a brilliant and precise reproduction of the original scene. The finest detail
in a patterned carpet, the reflected light on a cooper vase, and the wrinkled features of an elderly patron were laboriously and meticulously recorded. The Flemish style,
with its close attention to detail, was widely appreciated and quickly spread to Italy and England. (Ex: Adoration of the Lamb)
A second outstanding artist working in Flanders during the Late Middle Ages was Hans Memling, the most popular painter if his day in Bruges. Memling was
particulary celebrated for the piety of his Madonna paintings, such as Madonna and Child with Angels.
6. Explain briefly the following notions and names (Ockhams razor, Petrarch, Boccaccio, woodcut print, engraving, drypoint, illuminated manuscripts, nonmathematical perspective, Giotto, Guillaume de Machaut, ars nova, Great Schism (see Papal Monarchy)
Ockhams razor: two hypotheses are equal, the principle generally recommends selecting the competing hypothesis that makes the fewest new assumptions.
Petrarch: Italian scholar, poet and one of the Renaissance humanists.
Boccaccio: Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of
notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular.
Woodcut print: technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of
printing on textiles and later paper.
Engraving: is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself.
Drypoint: printmaking technique in which an image is incised into a plate with a hard-pointed needle of sharp metal or diamond point.
Illuminated manuscripts: is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders, and miniature
illustrations.
Non-mathematical perspective: I couldnt find it, sorry.
Giotto: Italian painter and architect from Florence in the Late Middle Ages. Considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Italian
Renaissance.
Guillaume de Machaut: Medieval French poet and composer. He is one of the earliest composers on whom significant biographical information is
available.
Ars nova: musical style which flourished in France in the Late Middle Ages, where you can find isorhythm (imperfection in the rythm with sincopas).
Great Schism: title given to the rift that formed in the Church in the eleventh century A.D. This separation led to the Roman Catholic Church, hereby
known as the Western Church, and the Greek Catholic or Greek Orthodox Church hereby known as the Eastern Church.

XI THE EARLY RENAISSANCE (1400-1494)

1. What is meant by 'Renaissance'? Explain by referring to three cultural and artistic achievements. (you can explain for example: humanism, linear
perspective, Alberti and Brunelleschi, central ideas of Renaissance style in painting, architecture, Donatello's sculpture
Since the nineteenth century, the term Renaissance (meaning rebirth)has described the cultural and artistic activities of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
that began in Italy.
As part of this movement, in the 1400s, Italys educated circles spoke of their literary interests and new learning as studia humanitatis (humanistic studies),
a set of intellectual pursuits that included moral philosophy, history, grammar, rhetoric, and poetry. In response to the demand for humanistic learning, new schools
sprang up in most Italian city-states. In these schools was born the Renaissance ideal of an education intended to free or to liberate the mind a liberal education.
The renaissance scholars, with time, they came to call themselves humanists because of their training in the studia humanitatis.
Architecture and sculpture looked back to ancient Greek and Roman traditions. It was in architecture and painting and sculpture that the renaissance made
its most dramatic brake with the medieval past. The early renaissance style was launched in Florence by artists who wanted to make a complete brake with the late
gothic style. This group believed that once the classical ideals were rescued from obscurity, new works could be fashioned that captured the spirit of ancient art and
architecture without slavishly copying it.
2.

Describe the evolution in perspective in painting during the early Renaissance. ( linear perspective and atmospherical or aerial perspective)
The most important influence was the art of the Florentine painter Giotto. In the early 14th century, he had founded a new realistic and expressive style.
Much of Giottos genius lay in his ability to show perspective, or the appearance of spatial depth.
Guided by Brunelleschis findings, architects sculptures, and painters made the classical principals of balance, simplicity and restraint the central ideals
of the early renaissance style. The invention of linear perspective was another of Brunelleschis accomplishments. He conducted experiments that provided the
mathematical basis for achieving the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional surface. Brunelleschi.
A second type of perspective, atmospheric or aerial, was perfected in the first half of the 15th century, although the Italian painter Masaccio was the first to
revive atmospheric perspective based on the Roman tradition. Through the use of colors, this artists created an illusion of depth by subtly diminishing the tones as the
distance between the eye and the object increased.
When atmospheric perspective was joined to linear perspective, a greater illusion of reality was achieved than was possible with either type used
independently.
3.

Give three great painters of the early Renaissance and describe briefly their importance.
The guiding genius of the revolution in painting in the earlier Florentine school was the youthful Masaccio.
In the history of Western painting, Masaccios Holy Trinity fresco is the first successful depiction in painting of the new concept of Renaissance space.
He is the first painter to show light falling from a single source. Other artists were captivated by Masaccios stunning technical effects: the use of perspective and
chiaroscuro, or the modelling with light and shade.
Sandro Botticelli is the best representative of a lyrical aspect of the second generation and one of the most admired painters in the West tradition. One of the
first Florentine artists to master both linear and atmospheric perspective.
Botticellis art was shaped by the Neo-Platonic philosophy of the Florentine Academy, he often allegorized pagan myths, giving them a Christian slant.
Especially prominent, the identification of Venus, the Roman goddess of love, with the Christian belief that God is love.

Giovanni Bellini made Venice a centre of Renaissance art comparable to Florence and Rome. He combined the traditions of the Florentine school (the use
of linear perspective and the direct observation of nature) and the Flemish school (the technique of oil painting, the use of landscape as background, and the practice of
symbolism).
Bellini also experimented with a range of colours, variations in colour density, and changes in light. He perfected landscape format as backdrop for
foreground figures.
4.

What was the main political institutional form in Italy and how did it sustain the development of cultural life.
Amid the artistic and intellectual activity occurring throughout Italy, Florence, the capital of Tuscan region, was the most prominent of the city-states.
After 1300 Florences political system went through three phases, evolving from republic to oligarchy to family rule. During these turbulent political times, however,
Florentine artists and writers made their city-state the centre of the Early Renaissance.
The republic, which began in the fourteenth century with hopes for political equality, fell into the hands of wealthy oligarchy that ruled until the early
fifteenth century, when the Medici family gained control.
5.
Explain briefly the following notions and names: Medicis, Pico della Mirandola, Donatello, Alberti, Brunelleschi, Massacio, Boticelli, Leonardo da Vinci,
Josquin des Prez
The House of Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the
Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside, gradually rising until they were able to found
the Medici Bank.
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was an Italian philosopher, scholar, Neoplatonist, and humanist whose aim was to conciliate religion and philosophy. His
work synthesizes all the strains of Renaissance and late medieval thinking: Neoplatonism, humanism, Aristotelianism, Averroism (a form of Aristotelianism), and
mysticism. His most eloquent work is the Oration on the Dignity of Man, which serves as a forceful manifesto of the Italian Renaissance.
Donatello was an early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence.
Leon Battista Alberti was an Italian author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer, and general Renaissance humanist
polymath.
Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance.
Masaccio, was the first great painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance.
Sandro Botticelli is the best representative of a lyrical aspect of the second generation and one of the most admired painters in the West tradition. One of the
first Florentine artists to master both linear and atmospheric perspective.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist,
geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity"
and "feverishly inventive imagination".
Josquin des Prez was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance.

XII THE HIGH RENAISSANCE AND EARLY MANNERISM

XIII NORTHERN HUMANISM, NORTHERN RENAISSANE, RELIGIOUS REFORMATIONS AND LATE MANNERISM