HIST-120-03
Origins of Western Civilization
ADMN 203
TThF 11:45AM 01:10PM		 Go Back to the Syllabus HIST-120-04
Origins of Western Civilization
ADMN 220
TThF 03:35PM 05:00PM

 

Suggested Subjects for the
Primary Source Analysis & Term Paper

The following list is a selection of the texts represented in your reader, Perspectives from the Past, that I think would be appropriate subjects for the primary source analysis and the term paper. I have suggested these because
  1. appropriate editions of the full texts are not hard to find in libraries, used bookstores, or on-line. And
  2. I think they bear directly on one or more of the primary themes of this course:
You need not confine yourself to the texts in this list, but if you want to analyse some other text, you should get my approval before going ahead. Remember that many of the texts that appear in Perspectives are only excerpts, and for the purposes of the term paper, I will expect you to obtain and read the full text. Some of these I will be able to place on reserve at the library, others you will find are readily available in used bookstores or on-line. As discussed in lecture, you will need to do some library research to provide yourself with the necessary background and historical context to make an effective analysis. Some evidence of this additional reading must appear in your bibliography and in your analysis. You may also wish to analyze some closely related group of primary sources, for example: the texts of Magna Carta, all of its re-issues, and the articles of the barons. Taken together this would be a good subject for textual analysis as well.
 

 
  • The Epic of Gilgamesh
  • Herodotus, The Histories
  • Homer, The Illiad
  • Thucydides, The Peloponnesian Wars
  • Any classical Greek drama, especially Antigone
  • Plato, The Republic
  • Plutarch, Lives, individually or collectively
  • Tacitus, Germania
  • St. Benedict, The Rule for Monks
  • Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks
  • Bede, A History of the English Church and People
  • Einhard, The Life of Charlemagne
  • Anna Comnena, The Alexiad
  • Jean de Joinville, The Life of Saint Louis
  • Magna Carta, preferably with some additonal documents like the Articles of the Barons and the later re-issues of the charter
  • The Charter of Liberties for St. Omer and/or other similar medieval charters
  • Otto of Freising, The Deeds of Frederick Barbarosa
  • The Poem of the Cid, (El Cid)
  • Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
  • Christine de Pisan, The Book of the City of Ladies
  • Ibn Battuta, The Travels
  • Leon Battista Alberti, I Libri della Famiglia
  • Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man
  • Baldesar Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier
  • Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
  • Thomas More, Utopia
  • Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises
  • Martin Luther, to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation
  • Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
  • Michel de Montaigne, Essays

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