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finding an Assignment topic...help please

• Message 1.Ìý

  Posted by xXGlowwormXx (U10756177) on Wednesday, 2nd January 2008

  Hi, i have recently been given a major assignment for extension history in my final year of school. The only problem with this is that we can choose our essay question on any topic that interests us.
  
  I would really apreciate hearing some suggestions about things which you have found interesting etc. i am currently looking towards something to do with ancient Greece, Rome or Persia although any suggestions you have would be great, both Ancient or Modern history, the more narrow the topic the better since we need Lots of historiography and its only a 1500-2000 word assignment

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• Message 2

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  Posted by Vizzer aka U_numbers (U2011621) on Wednesday, 2nd January 2008

  the more narrow the topic the better since we need Lots of historiographyÌý
  
  Surely a narrow topic would suggest a limited historiography while a broader topic would lend itself to a wide historiography.
  
  As the saying goes - 'An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less'.

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• Message 3

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  Posted by ElizaShaw (U10750867) on Wednesday, 2nd January 2008

  I think one of the most crucial topics for study is the fall of the Roman Empire - because it has such scary echoes for our own day.
  
  Demographic pressure is the greatest historical force possible, and it would be a very sobering study to see how it impacted the roman empire, and see whether there are lessons than can be learnt for ourselves. What mistakes did the Romans make, and was there any better way to avoid the empire falling? As an alternative, why not look at why the western empire fell, but the eastern empire managed to hold out for another thousand years? What was the difference?
  
  Going even further back in time, why not tackle the thorny issue of why Bronze Age civilisation collapsed around 1200 BC-ish? Climate change? Demographic pressure? Burn-out of the Hittites/Egyptians/Mycenaens?
  
  A topic that is becoming popular is a sort of 'anti-Hellenism', ie, a 'rescue' of Persian culture, inverting the tradition Western (ie, Greek!) view that the Persian empire was a Bad Thing?
  
  With only l500-2000 words, however, you will really only be able to produce a summary of a big topic - but that's a great mental discipline to develop! Distilling down to the essentials always makes for a good read! (It's about the length of a feature article in a magazine, to give you a measure)

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  Posted by Jim Reuss (U10298645) on Wednesday, 2nd January 2008

  If your essay is to be on a topic that interests you, why not tell us what historical eras/periods you find interesting and why? That way posters may be able to in fact help you narrow the scope your topic while at the same time not bombard you with the full complement of subjects that interest us.

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  Posted by an ex-nordmann - it has ceased to exist (U3472955) on Thursday, 3rd January 2008

  2,000 words max is not a very long essay at all. Best to refine your topic to something extremely pointed in terms of scope. If you're interested in Roman history there are plenty of topics that suggest themselves - eg. the Gracchi brothers, Marius's contribution to the end of republican Rome, Sulla's likewise, and of course Julius Caesar (though from an histiography point of view the last might be a bit of a minefield). In all these cases conclusions can be drawn that the events initiated by the subjects in question were more important for what they led to than for what they represented at the time, and such logical deduction (backed up by references) are something examiners tend to appreciate.

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• Message 6

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  Posted by xXGlowwormXx (U10756177) on Thursday, 3rd January 2008

  Thank you so much for your replies
  
  these are all wonderful ideas and the historiography from all your suggestions, especially those from Rome is quite extensive.
  
  i especially like the ideas of anti-Hellenism and the grachi brothers as well as Sulla's contribution to the end of Roman republic.
  
  just a few questions
  
  when studying Sulla and the Gracchi's would Plutarch be the major historian to study? would there be any other major people?
  
  For anti-Hellenism i know even less. where would be a good place to start?
  

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  Posted by ElizaShaw (U10750867) on Thursday, 3rd January 2008

  The first time I read about 'anti-hellenism' (it's not a real term by the way, I just made it up!) was in the Sunday Times colour supplemnent that was to do with the major exhibition last year I think at, I assume, the British Museum about the Persian Achmaenid (sp?!) dynasty, which raised the question of why we regard the Persians as 'barbarians' and the Greeks as 'civilised' when the Persian empire was a pretty peaceful place full of culture and weath, and most of the Greek states were busy warring with each other and living on bread and olives. So maybe the BM might be the place to start, and see if there are any books/authorities quoted in the exhibition catalogue?? Maybe someplace like SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London) or any other similar uni department might do?
  
  To me, however, the fatal flaw in the 'anti-hellene' argument is that, if the Persians were so damn wonderful, why did they insist on trying to conquer Greece? Why couldn't they have just left them alone?
  
  It did them no good, either, in the longer term - just sowed the seeds of an emnity that resulted in A the Great destroying the persian empire and taking it over (which, with great irony, ensured that Hellenic culture 'went global' in the Hellenistic period post Alexander, without which we'd probably never have heard of the ancient Greeks in the first place!)
  
  However, it can also be said that the Persian Wars were simply yet another example of the perpetual emnity between Mediterranean Europe and the Middle East, which stretched from at least the Trojan wars to the Greek expulsion from Smyrna in the l920s, and which can even be said to be still around, not least in the opposition to Turkey being allowed into the EU just because it owns a few square miles of Europe around Constantinople!)

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• Message 8

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  Posted by RainbowFfolly (U3345048) on Thursday, 3rd January 2008

  Hi xXGlowwormXx,
  when studying Sulla and the Gracchi's would Plutarch be the major historian to study? would there be any other major people?Ìý
  
  Yup, Plutarch is one of the biggest, but he's interested more in the characters of the people he's writing about in his various "Lives of...". You also have Appian and his "Civil Wars" which covers the period from the Gracchi onwards. Livy's books on this period are lost, but the summaries are still extant and are available in the last volume of the Loeb translation of Livy - as a bonus, you also get a curio by Julius Obsequens in this volume which lists prodigies and omens during this period, which you can use to add a bit of juice to your essay.
  
  Sallust covers the war against Jugurtha in ummm... the imaginatively named "Jugurthine War", and is good stuff if you're looking at Marius and Sulla.
  
  Off the top of my head, I think the essay titles I chose from those recommended for this period were "Were the Gracchi Real Revolutionaries?" and "Were Sulla's Reforms Successful?".
  
  Cheers,
  
  
  RF

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• Message 9

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  Posted by an ex-nordmann - it has ceased to exist (U3472955) on Thursday, 3rd January 2008

  
  when studying Sulla and the Gracchi's would Plutarch be the major historian to study? would there be any other major people?
  Ìý
  
  Very different topics - Sulla and the Gracchis. Plutarch wrote much about the former and his writings are indeed a primary source. But don't limit yourself to one viewpoint (especially Plutarch who was rather sensationalist and prone to bending truths somewhat). For example, compare Sallust with Plutarch with regard to Sulla. The Gracchis were examined in an almost always critical light by later historians so they are harder to pin down from ancient source material - much must be deduced in light of the conservative views of the authors (and their toadiness to their employers, it must be said also).
  
  But as long as you're referencing primary source material such as that and can use it to substantiate your viewpoint then your view is as good as anyone's and should be interesting to read. That's the point of the essay, I imagine, after all - an argument mooted and supported through reference. Sulla's unwitting aid in dismantling the very republic he claimed to be rescuing is a good start, for example. That the Gracchis suffered for daring to introduce reforms which later were introduced to an even greater extent by the social class that reviled them is another of Rome's little ironies that can lead to an interesting short treatise.

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• Message 10

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  Posted by RainbowFfolly (U3345048) on Friday, 4th January 2008

  Hi Nordmann,
  That the Gracchis suffered for daring to introduce reforms which later were introduced to an even greater extent by the social class that reviled them is another of Rome's little ironies that can lead to an interesting short treatise.Ìý
  I also find it quite ironic that regardless of how much the Gracchi brothers were reviled, their mother - Cornelia - was still seen as the ideal Roman matron.
  
  Cheers,
  
  
  RF

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