PROJECT So far, although you’ve done a lot of writing, it’s all been on topics of my choice. This time, you get to choose your topic, research it, and write a paper of approximately four pages. To help narrow it down, I recommend choosing one of the following five choices: • Pick an important or interesting person or event. Try to figure out why that person (or event) is important. • Read a work of fiction written sometime before c. 1500. Explain what that work tells us about one aspect of its culture, • Compare and contrast different examples of art and architecture from either different eras in the same culture or from two different cultures that were around at about the same time. • Look at how two different cultures interacted and what they wrote about each other (or how they drew/sculpted/painted each other). Explain how these cultures fried to understand each other. • Write a historical short story that helps explain some aspect of a particular person or culture. (Careful! This is harder than it sounds!) I want to leave as much freedom as possible in this, so the choice is yours. If you want to try something different, something a little more creative, or have a better idea for a topic feel free to run it by me. Keep in mind we’ve talked about a LOT of history by this point so there are plenty of options. Again, if you need advice narrowing your topics down, feel free to ask. Also — don’t get over ambitious. You’re not going to be able to give a complete Marxist analysis of the relationship between law and ritual in the Ottoman royal court between 1300 and 1700, so, please, don’t even try. It’s better to pick something specific and see where it takes you. That said, the paper must meet the following requirements: • It should be four to six pages (not including your works cited page, andlor illustrations), • It must be typed, double-spaced, and in a font between a 10 and 12 pt. • It must contain both a works cited page and either Chicago-style footnotes or MLA style citations, citing your sources. • You must use at least one primary source, that is, at least one source created in the time period you’re looking at. • Your topic has to be something from before c. 1500 • You may not use Wikipedia or any sites based on Wikipedia, such as About.com. I don’t want to say you can’t use the internet, but be aware that printed books and academic journals are still almost always better than anything online. If you’re going to use the web, try to judge whether or not the source is reliable — and if it’s not, don’t use it. Lastly, as always, I want to hear what you think. Don’t just rewrite what other historians say: come up with a strong thesis statement and try to prove it as best you can. You’ve all done well on the weekly assignments — in some cases better than you realize — and I think you can do the same here. The paper will be due on December 7. ~ /5o a ~ptc: ~ ~aq~s ~~4s~’1 “~ Assignment: The Classical Age This week’s wr.

1. PROJECT
So far, although you’ve done a lot of writing, it’s all been on
topics of my choice. This time, you
get to choose your topic, research it, and write a paper of
approximately four pages. To help
narrow it down, I recommend choosing one of the following
five choices:
• Pick an important or interesting person or event. Try to figure
out why that person (or
event) is important.
• Read a work of fiction written sometime before c. 1500.
Explain what that work tells us
about one aspect of its culture,
• Compare and contrast different examples of art and
architecture from either different eras
in the same culture or from two different cultures that were
around at about the same
time.
• Look at how two different cultures interacted and what they
wrote about each other (or
how they drew/sculpted/painted each other). Explain how these
cultures fried to
understand each other.
• Write a historical short story that helps explain some aspect of
a particular person or
culture. (Careful! This is harder than it sounds!)

2. I want to leave as much freedom as possible in this, so the
choice is yours. If you want to try
something different, something a little more creative, or have a
better idea for a topic feel free to
run it by me. Keep in mind we’ve talked about a LOT of history
by this point so there are plenty
of options. Again, if you need advice narrowing your topics
down, feel free to ask. Also — don’t
get over ambitious. You’re not going to be able to give a
complete Marxist analysis of the
relationship between law and ritual in the Ottoman royal court
between 1300 and 1700, so,
please, don’t even try. It’s better to pick something specific and
see where it takes you.
That said, the paper must meet the following requirements:
• It should be four to six pages (not including your works cited
page, andlor illustrations),
• It must be typed, double-spaced, and in a font between a 10
and 12 pt.
• It must contain both a works cited page and either Chicago-
style footnotes or MLA style
citations, citing your sources.
• You must use at least one primary source, that is, at least one
source created in the time
period you’re looking at.
• Your topic has to be something from before c. 1500
• You may not use Wikipedia or any sites based on Wikipedia,
such as About.com. I don’t
want to say you can’t use the internet, but be aware that printed
books and academic

3. journals are still almost always better than anything online. If
you’re going to use the
web, try to judge whether or not the source is reliable — and if
it’s not, don’t use it.
Lastly, as always, I want to hear what you think. Don’t just
rewrite what other historians say:
come up with a strong thesis statement and try to prove it as
best you can. You’ve all done well
on the weekly assignments — in some cases better than you
realize — and I think you can do the
same here. The paper will be due on December 7.
~ /5o a
~ptc: ~ ~aq~s ~~4s~’1 “~
Assignment: The Classical Age
This week’s written assignment focuses on the changes in
human society that took place
between 1000 BC and AD 500. Both sources should suggest a
very different view of the
world than you saw in older sources like the Hymn to the Nile.
The trick to this
assignment is realizing that how the authors make their
arguments is, in many ways, more
important than what they’re saying.
The first one is from the Histories by the Greek historian,
Herodotus (c. 484 — 425 BC).

4. Written about 440 BC, this was the first true history ever
written. The good news is that
Herodotus traveled a lot (everywhere between Italy and the
Ukraine) and gathered a lot of
information himself. In doing so, he preserved a lot of
information that would have
otherwise been lost. The bad news is a lot of his sources were,
well, wrong. Either way,
this is a good example of how the Greeks were really the first
people to be curious about
what was going on outside their homeland and how the natural
world worked. The bulk
of the Histories, have to do with wars between the Greek city
states and Persia. The
section you have, however, contains Herodotus’ s research on
Egypt, particularly on the
causes of the Nile’s flooding. Pay attention not just to how
Herodotus is describing the
Nile and its behavior, but on how he’s making his argument.
That is, where is he getting
his ideas from and how is he reaching his conclusions?
Finally, you have excerpts from the Lun Hung (Critical Essays)
by the~ Chinese
philosopher, Wang Chong (AD 27 — 97). Wang Chong, a minor
bureaucrat and scholar,
who is mostly remembered for championing reason over blind
faith and superstition, one
of the first people in history to do so. Although he did not
understand the scientific
method as we know it, he did argue that everything should be
read critically and, if
possible tested repeatedly to find the truth. His maj or work,
Lun Hung, was an attempt to
explain the world around him according to those principles and
dealt with topics

5. including astronomy, the weather, and ghosts. However, unlike
Herodotus, Wang
Chong’s work was never particularly popular in China where
prophecy and belief in the
supernatural were too ingrained in the culture. Moreover, his
writings were contradicted
by more popular scholars who came along later. In the excerpt
you have here, Wang
Chong is writing about his non-belief in ghosts. As you did with
Herodotus, pay
attention to how Wang Chong is making his argument.
Answer the following question in a short essay, 1 V2 to 2 ‘/2
pages long.
In what ways were the arguments of Herodotus and Wang
Chong new?
That is, how do they reflect a different way to understand the
world than
what we saw in the Epic of Gilgamesh and Hymn to the Nile?
Remember to proofread and to include citations to get credit!
C
~t4~- bØ
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Stn~~ 14 E14c~i_ô~?
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6. Short Paper: Heian Japan ~ 5-
Reading: Please read pages 269 — 271 in Sources of World
Societies and the attached source.
Both deal with aristocratic Japanese culture in the Heian Era
(794 — 1185). pa
Essay: I’m doing something a little different than nonnal with
the readings and assigning you two
sources by the same author, the great Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973
— c. 1014). Murasaki was a
member of the powerful Fujiwara family, although from a minor
branch. Her mother died when
she was young so, unusually for her time, was raised by her
father and given a first-rate
education. She eventually became a lady-in-waiting for Empress
Fujiwara no Shoshi, to whom
she seems to have been quite devoted. She was also an
accomplished writer, which was not
unusual for Heian noblewomen, although Murasaki was by far
the most important.’ You have
excerpts from her two main works here.
The first is a short passage from her magnum opus, the Tale of
Genji (c. 1021), one of the earliest
and most important novels ever written. It primarily deals with
the adventures of the title
character, Prince Genji, who was known for his romantic
exploits. The novel is a work of pure
genius: Murasaki tracks roughly 400 characters as they move
through the political and social
networks in the imperial court and, despite its extremely formal
language, gives us a staggering
amount of insights into the inner lives of the main players. The
passage in Sources of World
Societies is actually relatively tame as it focuses on two male

7. characters discussing the role of
women in society. Nevertheless, I want you to focus on that
idea. Think carefully about what
these characters say about women’s roles in the Heian court.
Think about what roles they played
in society and, if you’re feeling ambitious, what political
consequences that may have had.
The other source is an excerpt from Murasaki’s diary. Like most
Heian noblewomen, she kept a
record of what she did in the diary, her observations on life in
the imperial court, her views on the
people around her, poetry, and other random bits of writing on
whatever caught her interest,
knowing full well that at some point the diary was going to be
read by all of the women in the
court. The bit you have here describes what Murasaki saw after
the empress gave birth to a son,
who was then taken for his first bath. Pay attention to what’s
going on here. What do you think
this level of ceremony tells you about court life in Heian Japan
and, as before, you might want to
think about what the political implications of this are. Note that
the overwhelming majority of
people involved in this event are women — and think about
what that reveals about their role in
the Heian court.
Answer the following questions:
What do these sources tell us about the culture of the Heian
imperial court?
What roles did women play in elite Heian society? Why do you
think these roles
could have been important? How might the social interactions
described in both

8. sources have shaped Japanese politics in the ~ century?
Remember to proofread closely!
Both men and women in the Fleian imperial court wrote
extensively. Interestingly enough, the
men generally wrote in Chinese and tended to create imitations
of classical Chinese poetry of varying
quality. The women, on the other hand, tended to write in their
native Japanese. Not only did their efforts
largely create Japanese literature, the diaries they kept and the
novels they wrote are incredibly important
historical sources for Heian Japan.
The Diary of Murasaki Shikibu
Publication: Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan. translated by
Annie Shepley
OmoH and Kochi Doi, with an introduction by Amy Lowell.
Boston and New York:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1920.
As the after-birth came, it was fearful to hear the jealously
swearing voices of the evil
spirits. Shinzo-Azari2 took charge of Lady Ben-no-Kurodo;
Soyo took charge of Hyoé
no-Kurodo; a priest Hojuji took charge of Ukon-no-Kurodo;
Chiso Azari took charge of
Lady Miya-no-Naishi. This last priest was overpowered with the
evil spirit, and as he was
in a too pitiable state. Ninkaku Azari went to help him. It was
not because his prayer had

9. little virtue, but the [evil] spirit was too strong. Priest Eiko was
in charge of Lady
Saisho’s supplicator of the spirit [i.e. Queen’s substitute]. This
priest swore all night till
his voice became hoarse. Most ladies who were summoned in
order that the spirits might
enter into them remained safe, and they were much troubled
[thinking that it would be to
the Queen’s advantage were they attacked]. At noon we felt that
the sun came out at last.
The Queen was at ease!
She is now at peace. Incomparable joy! Moreover, it is a prince,
so the joy cannot be
oblique. The court ladies who had passed the previous day in
anxiety, not knowing what
to do, as if they were lost in the mist of the early morning, went
one by one to rest in their
own rooms, so that before the Queen there remained only some
elderly persons proper for
such occasions. The Lord Prime Minister and his Lady went
away to give offerings to the
priest who had read sutras3 and perfonned religious austerities
during the past months,
and to those doctors who were recently summoned. The doctors
and soothsayers, who
had invented special forms of efficacy, were given pensions.
Within the house they were
perhaps preparing for the ceremony of bathing the child.
Large packages [of ceremonial clothes] were carried to the
apartments of the ladies-in
waiting. Karaginu4 and embroidered trains were worn. Some
wore dazzlingly brilliant
trains embroidered and ornamented with mother-of-pearl. Some
lamented that the fans

10. which had been ordered had not come. They all painted and
powdered5. When I looked
from the bridge I saw Her Majesty’s first officials, and the
highest officers of His
~ of the women here are referred to by their real names.
Noblewomen serving in the Heian imperial
court would take a nickname given to them by the empress,
typically consisting of the title of a male
relative and another name chosen by the empress herself. To use
Murasaki as an example, “Murasaki” is
the Japanese word for “purple” while “Shikibu” referred to the
government ministry where her father very
likely worked.
Buddhist scriptures.
‘~ A Chinese-style jacket worn by aristocratic women in Heian
Japan, particularly on formal occasions.
$ Put on makeup. “Powdered” refers to a white makeup that
covered the entire face.
Highness the Crown Prince [the newborn child] and other court
nobles. The Prime
Minister went out to have the brook, which had been choked
with mud, cleaned out.
All the people seem happy. Even those who have some cause for
melancholy are
overtaken by the general joy. The First Official of our Queen
has naturally seemed
happier than anybody, though he does not show special smiles
of self-satisfaction and
pride.

11. The Lieutenant-General of the Light Bodyguard has been joking
with the King’s Adviser
of the Middle Rank, sitting on a mat on the balcony of the side
building. The sword of
His Highness the young Prince has been brought from the
Imperial Court. The
Lieutenant-General, and First Secretary Yorisada, on his way
home from the shrine at Isé
where he had gone as Imperial Messenger to offer nusa6,
stopped at the gate [as he could
not enter the house] to inquire for Her Majesty. He was given
some present, I did not see
it.
The navel cord was cut by the Prime Minister’s Lady. Lady
Tachibana of the Third Rank
gave the breast for the first time [ceremonial]7. For the wet-
nurse Daisaémon-no-Omoto
was chosen, for she has been in the Court a long time and is
very familiar with it; the
daughter of Munetoki, courtier and Governor of Bitchu8, and
the nurse of Kurodo-no-Ben
were also chosen as nurses.
The ceremony of bathing was perfonned at six o’clock in the
evening. The bath was
lighted [by torches]. The Queen’s maid in white over green9
prepared the hot water. The
stand for the bathtub was covered with white cloth.
Chikamitsu, Governor of Owari [Province], and Nakanobu, the
Head Officer attached to
the Queen, presented themselves before the misu10.
There were two stands for kettles.

12. Lady Kyoiko and Lady Harima poured the cold water. Two
ladies, Omoku and Uma,
selected sixteen jars from among those into which the hot water
was poured [choosing the
purest]. These ladies wore gauze outer garments, fme silk
trains, karaginu, and saishi11.
Theft hair was tied by white cords which gave the head a very
fair look. In the bath Lady
6 Strips of white paper used in Shinto purification rituals.
In other words, there was a ceremony for the first time the baby
was nursed. Someone other than the
empress would be chosen to be the child’s wet nurse until the
baby was weaned.
A province in southwestern Japan on the island of Honshu.
Heian fashion was generally based on matching several layers
of clothing in contrasting colors, in this
case, white on top of green.
‘° Bamboo blinds, probably with green cloth trim. They were
could be open or closed depending on the
weather.
Something women wore in their hair.
Saisho became the partner of bathing [i.e. entered the bath with
the royal infant]. Lady
Dainagon in her bathing-dress—she was especially beautiful in
this rare costume. The
Lord Prime Minister took the August Prince in his antis; Lady
Koshosho held the sword,

13. and Lady Miya-no-Naishi held up a tiger’s head before the
Prince. Lady Miya-no-Naishi
wore karaginu with a pattern of pine cones. Her train was woven
in a marine design of
sea-weeds, waves, etc.; on the belt a vine-pattern was
embroidered. Lady Koshosho wore
an embroidered belt with a pattern of autumn leaves, butterflies,
and birds, which was
bright with silver thread. Brocade was forbidden except for
persons of high rank and they
used it only for the belt. Two sons of the Prime Minister and
Major-General Minamoto
Masamichi were scattering rice in great excitement. “I will
malce the most noise,” each
shouted to the other. The priest of Henchi Temple presented
himself to protect the August
Child. The rice hit him on his eyes and ears so he held out his
fan and the young people
laughed at him. The Doctor of Literature, Kurodo Ben-no-
Hironari, stood at the foot of
the high corridor and read the first book of Sikici [historical
records). Twenty bow-string
men twanged the bow-string to scare away evil spirits, they
were ten men of the fifth, and
ten men of the sixth degree [of ranic] arranged in two rows. The
same ceremonies of
bathing were repeated in the evening. Only the Doctor of
Literature was changed. Doctor
Munetoki, Governor of Isé, read the Kokyo [book on filial
piety], and Takachika read a
chapter of Buntei [in the Historical Records of Chinese Kings].
For seven nights every ceremony was performed cloudlessly.
Before the Queen in white
the styles and colours of other people’s dresses appeared in
sharp contrast. I felt much

14. dazzled and abashed, and did not present myself in the daytime,
so I passed my days in
tranquillity and watched persons going up from the eastern side
building across the
bridge. Those who were permitted to wear the honourable
colours put on brocaded
karaginu, and also brocaded uchigi’2. This was the
conventionally beautifUl dress, not
showing individual taste. The elderly ladies who could not wear
the honourable colours
avoided anything dazzling, but took only exquisite uchigi
trimmed with three or five
folds, and for karaginu brocade either of one colour or of a
simple design. For their inner
kimonos they used figured stuffs or gauzes. Their fans, though
not at first glance brilliant
or attractive, had some written phrases or sentiments in good
taste, but almost exactly
alike, as if they had compared notes beforehand. In point of fact
the resemblance came
from their similarity of age, and they were individual efforts.
Even in those fans were
revealed their minds which are in jealous rivalry. The younger
ladies wore much-
embroidered clothes; even their sleeve openings were
embroidered. The pleats of their
trains were ornamented with thick silVer thread and they put
gold foil on the brocaded
figures of the silk. Their fans were like a snow-covered
mountain in bright moonlight;
they sparkled and could not be looked at steadily. They were
like hanging mirrors [in
those days made of polished metal].
On the third night Her Majesty’s major-domo gave an
entertainment. He served the

15. Queen himself. The dining-table of aloe wood, the silver dishes,
and other things I saw
hurriedly. Minamoto Chunagon and Saisho presented the Queen
with some baby clothes
2 A series of up to twelve brightly colored silk robes worn by
Heian women on formal occasions.
and diapers, a stand for a clothes chest, and cloth for wrapping
up clothes and furniture.
They were white in colour, and all of the same shape; yet they
were carefully chosen,
showing the artist mind. The Governor of Omi Province was
busy with the general
management of the banquet. On the western balcony of the East
building there sat dourt
nobles in two rows, the north being the more honourable place.
On the southern balcony
were court officials, the west being the most honourable seat.
Outside the doors of the
principal building [where the Queen was] white figured-silk
screens were put.
On the fifth night the Lord Prime Minister celebrated the birth.
The flail moon on the
fifteenth day was clear and beautiful. Torches were lighted
under the trees and tables
were put there with rice-balls on them. Even the uncouth
humble servants who were
walking about chattering seemed to enhance the joyful scene.
All minor officials were
there burning torches, making it as bright as day. Even the
attendants of the nobles, who
gathered behind the rocks and under the trees, talked of nothing

16. but the new light which
had come into the world, and were smiling and seemed happy as
if their own private
wishes had been.fiilfilled. Happier still seemed those in the
Audience Chamber, from the
highest nobles even to men of the fifth rank, who, scarcely to be
counted among the
nobility, met the joyful time going about idly, and bending their
bodies busily [i.e.
obsequiously].
To serve at the Queens dinner eight ladies tied their hair with
white cords, and in that
dress brought in Her Majesty’s dining-table. The chief lady-in-
waiting for that night was
Miya-no-Naishi. She was brilliantly dressed with great
formality, and her hair was made
more charming by the white cords which enhanced her beauty. I
got a side glance of her
when her face was not screened by her fan. She wore a look of
extreme purity.
The following are the maids-of-honour who tied their hair;
Minamoto Shikibu, daughter
of the Governor of Kaga Province; Kozaémon, daughter of the
late Michitoki, Governor
of Bitchu; Kohyoé, daughter of Akimasa, Governor of the Left
Capital; Osuké, daughter
of Sukechika, the head priest of the Isé shrine; 0 Uma, daughter
of Yorinobu, an officer
of the Right Bodyguard; Ko Uma, daughter of Michinobu, an
officer of the Left
Bodyguard; Kohyoé, daughter of Naritaka, Recorder of the
Capital; Komoku [or
Dakumi], daughter of Nobuyoshi. These were all young and
pretty. It was a sight worth

17. seeing. This time, as they chose only the best-looking young
ladies, the rest who used to
tie their hair on ordinary occasions to serve the Queen’s dinner
wept bitterly; it was
shocking to see them.
More than thirty ladies were sitting in the two rooms east of the
Queen’s canopy, a
magnificent sight. The august dinner trays were carried by
unemét3. Near the entrance of
the great chamber folding screens surrounded a pair of tables on
which these dining-trays
had been placed. As the night advanced the moon shone
bri~htly. There were unemé,
mohitori’4, migusiagé’5, tonomori’6, kanmori-no-nyokwan’ ,—
some with whose faces I
~ Lower ranking noblewomen serving in the imperial court and
who were chosen for their looks.
N Officials in charge of wells, soy sauce, and buildings for
storing ice.
was not familiar. There were also door keepers, carelessly
dressed and with hairpins
falling out, crowded together towards the eastern corridor of the
principal building as if it
were a public holiday. There were so many people there was no
getting through them.
After dinner the maids-of-honour came outside the misu and
could be plainly seen by the
light of the torches. The train and karaginu of Lady Oshikibu
was embroidered to
represent the dwarf pine-wood at Mount Oshio. As she is the
wife of Michinolcu,

18. Governor of the eastern extremity of the island, she serves now
in the Prime Minister’s
household. Dayu-no-Miyobu neglected the ornamentation of her
karaginu, but she
adorned her train with silver dust representing sea-waves. It was
pleasing to the eye,
though not dazzling. Ben-no-Naishi showed on her train a beach
with cranes on it painted
in silver. It was something new. She had also embroidered pine
branches; she is clever,
for all these things are emblematic of a long life. The device of
Lady Shosho was inferior
to these—many laughed at her silver foil. She was sister to
Sukemitsu, the Governor of
Shinano, and has lived at the court a long time. People wanted
to see this entertainment.
A priest was there who used to attend the court to beguile the
night with religious and
other stories. I said to him, “You cannot see such a lovely thing
every day.” “Indeed!
indeed!” said he, neglecting his Buddha18 and clapping his
hands forjoy. The court
nobles rose from their seats and went to the ste~s [descending
from the balcony]. His
Lordship the Prime Minister and others cast da ~. It was
shocking to see them quarrelling
about paper. Some [others] composed poems. A lady said,
“What response shall we make
if some one offers to drink sáké2° with us?” We tried to think
of something.
‘~ Attendants who wore hairpins.
6 The emperor’s housekeepers.
~ The cleaning staff.

19. In other words, he was distracted from his prayers.
II A dice game.
20 Rice wine.
J