Topics for 1-page Essay
Please do one of the following:
1. Compare Greece in the Middle Helladic (Bronze) Age (c. 2000-1600) with Late Helladic (Bronze) Age Greece.
2. Discuss the end of the Greek Bronze Age. Which explanation or explanations do you favor? (See Schofield, ch.
10.)
3. Discuss the different types of secular, religious, or funerary architecture in the Bronze Age.
4. What can we learn about life in the Mycenaean Age from the wall frescoes?
5. Compare Mycenaean Greece with Dark Age Greece in terms of architecture, population, civilization, &
economics.
6. Describe the changes in the Dark Age from the 1100s down to the 700s.
7. Discuss the nature of the gods in the Iliad.
8. Who is the real hero of the Iliad: Achilles or Hector?
9. Discuss the relationship of gods and humans in the Iliad and/or Odyssey.
Your essay must be typed and single-spaced. It must not be any longer than one
page (minimum 400 words). Please do not add a title page or bibliography. Put your name in the upper right-
hand corner and in the upper left-hand corner the title of your essay. You will be graded on a scale of ten
points: seven points for content, and I will take off up to three points for misspelled words, typos, improper
English usage, and other grammar mistakes. Please have someone proof your paper before you hand it in.
Points lost on your essay will usually be due to not following directions or some error/s noted below.
Organizing Criteria (to be exhibited in your essay):
You must have a thesis sentence at the beginning of the essay.
Think of the three, four, or five paragraph essay format, with an introductory thesis paragraph, supporting
paragraphs, and a brief concluding paragraph. (Remember: In an essay you are arguing a point, trying to prove a
point, or elucidating a point. Your thesis statement states what the point is.)
Make sure your sentences make sense. Clumsy phrases and incorrectly used words will cost you points.
Keep to the same verb tense.
Stylistic Points (I will not mark off for style, but keep the following in mind):
Avoid split infinitives.
Avoid passives.
Avoid wordiness; make your statements direct.
Vary your sentence structure: a simple sentence, a compound sentence, a sentence with subordinate clauses, etc.
Common Errors to avoid:
Do not use contractions in formal writing.
Iliad or Iliad, not Iliad: underline or italicize titles of books. Titles of articles are enclosed by quotation marks.
its = possession
their = possessive vs. there
punctuation: …store. …store, …store; …store: (Single punctuation marks are placed within the quotations,
while double punctuation marks are placed outside.)
Avoid run-on sentences: He wanted to go home as soon as he finished, however he stayed behind. A complete
sentence ends with a period or semi-colon, except when you string several very short sentences in a row: I came, I
saw, I conquered.
Avoid fragmentary sentences: Since he lived in the South for over ten years during the 1960s and experienced many
facets of country living in those years.
Capitalize proper nouns and adjectives: Greeks. Do not capitalize the word ancient in ancient Greece.
Use commas properly. End a subordinate clause beginning with such words (called subordinating conjunctions) as
when, since, although, as long as, while, as with a comma. When he finished the assignment, he
handed it in. But usually has a comma before it as in: I went home, but no one was there. Words or phrases in
apposition have a comma before and after. Similarly, such words as however.”
