H2P Final: Study Guide

The Final will be given Saturday, December 13, 3:00-5:00 PM, in our usual lecture room, 25 OZARK. For the Final, you will be given 10 IDs worth 5 pts each (50 pts), 2 short essay questions over India and China, worth 75 pts each (150 pts), and a comprehensive essay question worth 100 pts. You will have your choice of two of three short essay questions, but no choice on the comprehensive essay question.

Please bring TWO Bluebooks, left completely blank--no name on the outside, no writing on the inside.

I. Possible ID's

II. Short Essay Questions

1. You are an Asian ruler in approximately 300 B.C.E. You invite followers of Lao Tsu, Mahavira, Confucius, Buddha and the Legalists to your palace. You decide to implement the precepts of one. Which do you choose and why?

2. From your reading of the Analects and the Tao Te Ching, select one verse in each that reveals a key difference between these philosophies; select another pair that might be used to argue their compatibility; in conclusion, take a position on whether or not these philosophies are compatible.

3. What if the crisis at the onset of the great war on Kuruksetra Plain had come not to Arjuna but to Duryodhana? Called upon for counsel, would Krishna deliver the same Bhagavad-Gita message he offers Arjuna? If not, is the universality of his message thereby undermined? If so, could Duryodhana be solaced and readied for battle as Arjuna is, given his rather different niche in the cosmic scheme?

4. Choose one of the icons below. Referring to at least ten aspects of the figure, discuss the meaning of the image in its religious context. (click on the thumbnails to enlarge each image)

	Buddha * Elongated ear lobes * Downcast eyes * Urna—Tuft of hair, central eye * Lotus blossom/throne * Victory Mudra-Defeat of Mara * Meditation Mudra * Thread * Ushnisa—wisdom bump of hair/shape of stupa * Position of feet * Signs of an ascetic—bare feet, no elaborate clothing, hair * Wheel of Dharma on soles of feet * Elevation
	Ganesh * Flying Apsara * Trident * Sacred Tree * Broken Tusk * Cobra/Sacred Thread * Mace * Elephant Head * Consort (Siddhi/Success) * Water Bowl * Mudra of Fearlessness * Rat Vehicle * Royal Posture/Royal Headdress * Dwarf/Ignorance
	Shiva’s Dance of Death * Matted hair * Headress of Snakes * Third Eye * Seven Holy Rivers * Drum Beat of Creation * Boon Mudra * Mudra of Renunciation * Liberation Mudra (pointing to foot) * Raised foot of liberation * Circle of Fire * Flame of Destruction and Rebirth (in hand) * Goddess of the Ganges * Standing on Demon * Thread/Snake * Lotus Flower

5. Explain the significance of the bronze vessel below in political terms (where was the vessel found? what does it indicate about the political and economic significance of its owner?), in social terms (how did these vases anticipate the late Zhou classic, "The Book of LI"?), and religious terms (how did these vessels participate in spiritual communication? make sure to include the exterior decoration and the concept of shamanism in your answer). (click on the thumbnails to enlarge each image)

Fu Hao’s tomb, fang ding recording her ancestral name, “ Si Mu Xin”

III. Comprehensive Essay Questions
1. Heroes can reveal essential shared cultural values of a community. Analyze the heroes Moses, Odysseus, Gilgamesh, Yudhisthira and/or Buddha (choose at least three). Briefly compare their strengths, but more thoroughly focus on their differences and how these divergences reflect specific cultural identities.

2. This term's studies have repeatedly encoutnered the issue of relationships between groups (tribes/states). We've witnessed, more or less in passing, the birth of DIPLOMACY. Lysistrata, Tiresias, Krishna, the Emperor Wu-Ti, the Athenian and Melian ambassadors in Thucydides--all these (and others) operate at times as DIPLOMATS. Discuss the FOREIGN POLICIES that emerge, the rules governing relationships between states, using two or more examples chose for their comparative or contrastive interest.

3. Consider the way knowledge, broadly conceived to include aesthetics, religion, architecture, astronomy, weaponry, customs, etc. was transmitted between ancient cultures. Identify at least two mechanisms and describe how each functioned to transmit a certain kind of knowledge.

4. Identify, compare, and contrast the three structures/complexes below, paying special attention to the following issues: 1) the use of space to express and enforce social hierarchy, 2) the connection of each structure with violence as a way of marking social relations on the body, and 3) the points of contact each structure affords with the divine (gods and/or ancestors). (click on the thumbnails to enlarge each image)