Book review (50 points). Write a
review of the book. Do not just summarize the book's contents but also
examine its strengths and weaknesses and place the book in its proper historical
context. You can suggest a different book.
Archibald MacLeish, J. B.; Aristophanes,
Lysistrata; Herodotus, Histories; Homer, The Iliad
or The Odyssey; Plato, The Republic; Sophocles, Oedipus
or Antigone; Thucydides, The Peloponnesian Wars; Arrian,
Campaigns of Alexander; Julius Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic
Wars; Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Plutarch,
Parallel Lives of the Greeks and Romans; Virgil, The Aeneid;
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy; Bede, Ecclesiastical
History; Beowulf; Egil's Saga; Dante Alighieri, The
Divine Comedy; Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologica; Umberto Ecco,
The Name of the Rose; Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances;
Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron; François Rabelais, Gargantua
and Pantagruel; John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion;
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote; Alexander Dumas, The Three
Musketeers; Sir Thomas More, Utopia; Max Weber, The Protestant
Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
Folger Shakespeare Library (50 points).
Visit the Folger Shakespeare Library at 2nd and E. Capitol Sts., SE, and
submit a short report describing Shakespeare's life and what you have seen
at the Folger. Please
submit either a photo of yourself (or a photo of a brochure or ticket) as evidence of your visit.
National Gallery of Art (50 points).
Visit the Renaissance collection at the National Gallery of Art and submit
a brief essay explaining how certain specific paintings illustrate some
of the characteristics of the Renaissance. Please
submit either a photo of yourself (or a photo of a brochure or ticket) as evidence of your visit.
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (50 points).
Visit the Human Origins Hall at the Museum of Natural History and submit
a one-two page essay explaining what you discovered. Note some specific artifacts from the exhibit. Please
submit either a photo of yourself (or a photo of a brochure or ticket) as evidence of your visit.
Renaissance, or Madrigal, concert
(50 points). Attend a Renaissance concert, or fair, and submit a short
report explaining what you heard and saw and how music was evolving during
the Renaissance. Please
submit either a photo of yourself (or a photo of a brochure or ticket) as evidence of your visit.
Walters Art Museum (50 points). Visit
the collections dealing with Egypt and the Ancient Near East at the
Walters Art Museum and submit a brief essay explaining how certain, specific items
illustrate some characteristics of life in the Ancient world. Please
submit either a photo of yourself (or a photo of a brochure or ticket) as evidence of your visit.
Egyptian Building, Richmond, Virginia (50 points). Visit
the building, now a part of the VCU medical center and explain the building's unique history and its Ancient Egyptian style. Please
submit either a photo of yourself (or a photo of a brochure or ticket) as evidence of your visit.
Washington National Cathedral (50
points). Visit the National Cathedral at the corner of Massachusetts and
Wisconsin Aves., Washington, D.C., NW, and submit an essay about its construction
and how it is, or is not, similar to other Gothic cathedrals in Europe. Please
submit either a photo of yourself (or a photo of a brochure or ticket) as evidence of your visit.
Architectural portfolio (50 points).
Locate and document at least eight examples of buildings in the DC area
that were modeled after pre-1600 architecture. You must include your own photographs with an explanation of
your samples. Check out outstanding examples of the architectural project
done by Stacie Weiss (very large *.pdf file) and Lori Plunkett (large *.pdf file).
Note that if you have any other proposals
for a project, such as a visit to an out-of-town museum like any of those located in New York, please contact your instructor for approval and point value
before you begin.
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