History 505.01

Sample Mid-Term Examination

 

The mid-term exam will be held Monday, October 22, at the regular class time.  It will last 48 minutes.  The exam will cover all assignments and class material through the week of October 15.  This sample exam is to help you prepare for the examination.  These are not necessarily the precise questions that will be asked, but they represent the kind of questions that may be asked.

 

Part A.  Short Answer Questions (40%).  Provide short answers to four of the following questions (about 2-3 sentences each).

 

  1. Describe the two main types of Christian church buildings characteristic of the early Byzantine period.
  2. What is some of the evidence for the continuation of pagan belief and practice in the 200 years after the death of Julian (361)?
  3. Explain how Proclus (of Athens) is a good example of an intellectual of Late Antiquity.
  4. How would you define the position of the colonus in the early Byzantine period?
  5. Explain what Averil Cameron means by the difference between the “older model” and an “alternative approach” to the economy of Late Antiquity.
  6. Explain why Donatism was such a serious threat to orthodoxy in the fourth century.

 

Part B. Essay (50%).  Answer ONE of the following questions with a good essay.  Your essay should:1) answer the question as it is asked; 2) explain and defend your answer using specific evidence, based on  primary sources wherever possible; and 3) do this clearly and carefully in a well-written essay.  If you do not know what primary sources are, or you’re not sure how to construct a historical essay, look at some of the following resources:  http://isthmia.ohio-state.edu/teg/histh111/intro.htm (especially Sections II and IV); http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/tips.htm (especially “Tips on Writing Essays Examinations”)

 

  1. Prepare a critical evaluation of the emperor Justinian.  Was he a “good” emperor or a “bad” one?  In your essay, be sure to consider the emperor’s policies and actions, and make use of the primary sources, including the Secret History of Procopius.  Do you regard this latter as a reliable source?

 

  1. Imagine you were preparing a “check-list” of the strengths and weaknesses of the Byzantine Empire up through the reign of Justinian.  What would be the greatest of these strengths and the greatest of the weaknesses?  Explain your choices and give specific examples.