Dr.

Christoph Greger
Humanities 41A
Fall 2019

Study Guide for Unit 4:

Hebrews and Romans

Below are some topics – concepts, questions, ideas and objects – that are fairly important to the course.
These are all topics that either we’ve covered in class or that are covered in some detail in our textbook,
Culture and Values (volume 1). In order to assure yourself of a good grade on quizzes, midterm and final
exams, you should familiarize yourself with most of these concepts. Of course you’re not expected to be an
expert on any of these topics, but you should be aware of why they’re important, what some of the questions
are about them, what’s unique about them… and you should be able to communicate some of this stuff in
writing, of course.

The Hebraic Tradition

 The story of the creation

 The covenant between God and the Jews
 The promised land, Canaan
 The story of Abraham and Isaac
 The story of the Exodus from Egypt
 Moses
 The Ten Commandments
 Some key differences between Hebraic and Greek religious traditions.
 Some chief characteristics of the Hebraic God

The Romans

 A rough idea of the geography of the Roman Empire, as well as its approximate dates
 Foundation myth #1: The story of Romulus and Remus
 Foundation myth #2: The Rape of the Sabine
 Some of the economic and social classes of ancient Rome: Patricians and plebeians
 Some of the key political institutions of the Roman Republic: consuls, senators, the assembly,
tribunes.
 Hannibal, and the wars with Carthage
 A little about Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, and the Civil war that ended the Republic
 A little about Octavian, and how he became the first emperor, Augustus Caesar
 Foundation myth #3: Virgil and the Aeneid, the story of the Trojan prince Aeneas
 What Hades is like, based on Virgil’s description of it in book VI of the Aeneid.
 Some developments in engineering: the arch and hydraulic setting cement
 Some of the feats of Roman engineering: aqueducts, baths, coliseums, roads.
 Some features of Roman architecture, as embodied in the Roman temple, the Pantheon
 Some attitudes towards love and empire, as expressed in the poems of Catullus, Horace and Ovid
 Key aspects of Roman art and architecture: Roman portraiture, Roman “victory” architecture
 How the Romans saw themselves: Portrait busts
 The city of Pompeii – its art and décor, as well as its fate…