I. Identifications

Define 10 (and only 10) of the following terms. This section is worth 20 points.

1. Ashurbanipal
2. avatar (or avatara)
3. calpulli
4. Codex Mendoza
5. Bull of Heaven
6. Forest Journey
7. King Xuan of Qi
8. polis
9. Lex talionis
10. metis
11. Nahuatl
12. soma
13. Valmiki
14. Yu Rang
15. Zuo zhuan

II. Quotations

Read carefully the following passages and answer the questions associated wîth 2 (and only 2) of them. This section is worth 30 points.

1. When Rama, slayer of enemies, heard Kaikeyi's hateful words, like death itself, he was not the least disconcerted, but only replied, 'So be it...'

Give the context of this statement both within the text and within Indian culture. Why is Rama unmoved by Kaikeyi's hateful words?

2. "...You saw the ox but not the lamb. The attitude of the gentleman towards animaIs is this: once having seen them alive, he cannot bear to see them die, and once having heard their cry, he cannot bear to eat their flesh. That is why the gentleman keeps his distance from the kitchen."

What ideal values of kingship are represented in the passage? Is staying away from the kitchen the same as "seeing no evil"?

3. "You shall be without a roof for your commerce, for you shall not keep house with other girls in the tavern, but do your business in places fouled by the vomit of the drunkard. Your hire wilI be potter's earth, your thievings will be flung into the hovel, you will sit at the cross-roads in the dust of the potter's quarter, you will make your bed on the dunghill at night, and by day take your stand in the wall's shadow. Brambles and thorns will tear your feet, the drunk and the dry will strike your cheek and your mouth will ache..."

Who pronounces this curse and to whom is it addressed? Quite apart from its place in the plot of the story, what more general cultural function might this speech have served?

III. Essay Questions

Answer one (and only one) of the following essay questions. This section is worth 50 points.

1. Cultures often create histories for themselves which will serve the needs and values of the present. Give examples from two of the cultures we have studied in which such history writing has taken place. In the examples you have chosen is history represented as a warning or a lesson to the present age? What do these different understandings of history telI you about how these cultures conceived of the past more generally?

2. Using textual sources from two of the cultures we have studied, give examples of how religious beliefs were used to dramatize and justify social roles and hierarchies. In the examples you have chosen analyze how religion can be used to convince people to fulfilI their social obligations.