Assignment: Personal Significance

Items you selected:

The humanities Traditional disciplines that express the meaning of human life

Visual arts Drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, architecture

Performing arts Music, dance, acting, theatre, film

Religion Revelation, ritual, sacrament, community

Philosophy Knowledge, reality, logic, ethics, law

Items you did not select:

Discursive arts Writing, literature, poetry

Stone tools Carefully crafted pre-historic blades and weapons

Megaliths Pre-historic stone constructions on a monumental scale

Akhenaten and Nefertiti Egyptian rulers who promoted monotheistic religion

Hammurabi Codified a written law governing Babylonian life

Olmecs Meso-American civilization governed by priests

Dharma Account of right conduct in Hindu culture

Daoism Chinese practice focused on harmony in life

Classicism Clarity, simplicity, harmony, moderation, dignity

The Iliad and The Odyssey Homeric epics describing the heroic age of Greece

Greek tragedy Dramatic depictions of life, arousing pity and fear

Allegory of the Cave Platonic image of the relation between appearance and reality

Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean Aristotle’s account of virtue as moderation in all things

Doric column Characteristic feature of Greek architecture, as in the Parthenon

Rule of law Roman tradition of providing written codes for administration

Arch and vault Architectural method for enclosing large volumes of space

Pantheon Domed building preserving the achievements of Roman architecture

Han literature Neo-Confucian writings to preserve ancient Chinese traditions

Public space Architectural design of indoor and outdoor space for public use

Realistic sculpture Three-dimensional representation of human figures

MEDIEVAL

Items you selected:

Revelation Divine disclosure of sacred knowledge

Supernatural Experience of reality that transcends observations of the natural world

Judaism Monotheistic religion of the Hebrew nation

Islam Religion focused on the relationship between a community and Allah

Qur’an Islamic scripture of the teachings of Muhammad

Items you did not select:

Ritual Repeated activity intended to evoke religious feeling

Covenant Contractual agreement between a community and their deity

Canon Body of literature selected as religious scripture

Buddhism Belief in self-renunciation as a method of escaping human suffering

Siddhartha Gautama Indian prince who sought enlightenment

Christianity Religion founded on the life and teachings of Jesus

Paul Developed a theological structure for Christianity

Monasticism Ascetic withdrawal from the secular world

Muhammad Arab merchant whose teachings form the basis for Islam

Beowulf Epic poem in vernacular Old English

Charlemagne Frankish king who established the Holy Roman Empire

Feudalism Medieval economic structure with serfs and nobles

Norman conquest French invasion of Anglo- Saxon England

Church and state Medieval coordination of religious and secular interests

Polyphony Musical performance with multiple melodic lines

Romanesque and Gothic Medieval styles of Christian architecture

Dante Italian author of an account of the afterlife in the Divine Comedy