Order ID 53563633773 Type Essay Writer Level Masters Style APA Sources/References 4 Perfect Number of Pages To Order 5-10 Pages Description/Paper Instructions
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HISTORY 10: PAPER ASSIGNMENT PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENT ANALYSIS
In this paper, you will analyze (not simply summarize) the assigned historical document (see attached). The prompt and questions below are intended to guide your analysis of the document:
DOCUMENT: Tacitus, Germania (First Century C.E.)
As the Roman Empire expanded, they came into contact with various peoples. None of them was to have a more significant or enduring influence on the shaping of Western civilization than the Germans, whose chieftains eventually would supplant Roman authority in Western Europe. That at least some Romans had an inkling of the Germans’ later importance is evident in the Germania of the Roman historian Tacitus, (56-117 C.E.), a Roman official and well-known historian, who wrote this work at the end of the first century C.E.
Occupying much of central Europe north of the Roman Empire, ancient Germanic-speaking peoples were never a single “nation” but rather a collection of tribes, clans, and chiefdoms. They were regarded by the Romans as barbarians, though admired and feared for their military skills. These Germanic peoples were famously described by Tacitus, who wrote the most detailed early description of the Germans. In doing so, he was also commenting on the Rome of his own time, as much as on the German themselves.
Tacitus himself had never visited the lands of the people he describes; rather, he relied on earlier written documents and interviews with merchants and soldiers who had traveled and lived in the region to write this ethnography (i.e. a written description of an “ethnic” group). Unlike earlier Herodotus, he wrote about people who lived without the states and cities characteristic of civilizations.
PROMPT: In this class, we will read about the Roman Empire and Roman
civilization. We are reading a book (Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization) on the Romans’ relationship with the Germanic Tribes to their north. Your task in this paper is to analyze the historical document attached here in terms of what it tells you about this relationship. Do not simply summarize the document, but rather analyze it in terms of what it tells you about this historical relationship as well as what it tells you about the Roman and the Germanic tribes, respectively. A “deep” reading of the document will be absolutely necessary here. You should also keep in mind that Tacitus does not represent the “typical” Roman view on these “barbarians.”
You are strongly advised to read ahead on the Romans in the Hunt textbook (i.e. pages 169-199). You should have at least some sense of what is going on politically and socially in Rome during the First Century (the time Tacitus is writing).
You should consider the following questions in your analysis of the document:
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- What can we learn from Tacitus’s account about the economy, politics, society, and culture of the Germanic peoples of the first century C.E.?
- In what ways are his accounts descriptive of the economy, politics, society, and culture of the Romans of the first century C.E.? In what ways are his descriptions of the Germans implicitly comments on the Romans? Please provide specific examples.
- As described by Tacitus, what were some of the principle values that governed German society? How did those values compare with values of imperial Roman societies, as evidenced implicitly in Tacitus’s account?
- Modern scholars have argued that Tacitus used the Germanic peoples to implicitly criticize aspects of his own Roman culture. What evidence might support this point of view? From what you have read about Roman civilization, what does this document reveal aspects of Romans?
- Given that Tacitus’s intended audience are Romans, why wouldn’t Tacitus make his criticisms of Roman culture more explicit?
- Which statements of Tacitus might you regard as reliable, and which are more suspect? Why?
- In what ways did Tacitus regard Germanic peoples as distinctly inferior to Romans? In what ways were they not?
- How might he have responded to the idea that these people would play a major role in the collapse of the Roman Empire several centuries later?
- Does Tacitus’s account, in any way, explain the cause of the Western Roman Empire’s collapse in the fifth century CE? Here Ward-Perkin’s book with be crucial. Please keep in mind Tacitus is writing while the empire is strong. This is hundreds of years before the Western Roman Empire is invaded by the Germanic people.
- What similarities and differences might you notice between the description of Herodotus’s Histories (in Hunt, 81) of a neighboring civilization of the Greeks and Tacitus’s discussion of the Germans?
IMPORTANT: You are expected to consult the modules and both texts for the class (i.e. Hunt’s Making of the West and Ward-Perkins’s The Fall of Rome) for historical context or background in your analysis of this document. Please italicize or underline all book titles.
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Remember you must provide the citations for all your sources of specific information (including the lectures). But do not rely on long quotes in your paper! Quotes should be no longer than two lines in your paper. You should paraphrase (write in your own words) wherever you can, but you must still cite your source when you do so. If and when you do directly quote your sources, you must introduce the quote and not leave it standing by itself.
This is not a “research” paper assignment; therefore, do not consult any external sources (class notes and class texts are exceptions and should be referenced). Papers must be grammatically correct, well-structured, and have citation of relevant texts and page numbers.
Sources of information (modules and texts) must be correctly cited in your paper. Modules may be cited like they are lectures. Information taken from a source (even if it is not in direct quotation marks) that is not correctly cited is technically considered plagiarism, a very serious academic crime. You must use Chicago Style footnote citations in this paper. Please use the following link for information on Chicago Style footnote citations:
https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html
Use formal academic writing in your paper; in other words, college appropriate language and vocabulary. Please do not use slang or text-speak abbreviations. Your paper should be written entirely in the third person. You should not use the first or second person (i.e. “I” or “you”).
Papers should be 4-5 pages typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins and
12-point Times New Roman font. The Bibliography or Works Cited page does not count towards the page length. Please number the pages in your paper. This is a short paper; therefore, you should not have section titles. Paragraphs should have appropriate transitions between them.
Papers must be uploaded to Turnitin via the “Analytical Paper” link by 11:59pm the same day. A paper will be considered submitted on time if it is uploaded by the deadline listed on the syllabus.
Late assignments will be penalized 1% per weekday (i.e. Monday-Friday).
A successful paper will:
- have a solid introduction with appropriate context that introduces the piece
- analyze, not solely describe or summarize the document
- be well organized with coherent paragraphs relevant to the topic
- have a concluding paragraph that accurately and concisely summarize the main points of the paper
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- adequately explain the central objectives or arguments at work in the source(s)
- draw on appropriate evidence from your source to substantiate the claims make
- properly cite and punctuate quotations and evidence
- be well written, well edited and well documented
Please consult the rubric for this paper posted on Canvas.
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TACITUS, GERMANIA (FIRST CENTURY C.E.)
The Germans themselves I should regard as aboriginal, and not mixed at all with other races through immigration or intercourse. For, in former times it was not by land but on shipboard that those who sought to emigrate would arrive; and the boundless and, so to speak, hostile ocean beyond us, is seldom entered by a sail from our world. And, beside the perils of rough and unknown seas, who would leave Asia, or Africa for Italy for Germany, with its wild country, its inclement skies, its sullen manners and aspect, unless indeed it were his home? In their ancient songs, their only way of remembering or recording the past they celebrate an earth-born god Tuisco, and his son Mannus, as the origin of their race, as their founders….
…the tribes of Germany are free from all taint of intermarriages with foreign nations, and that they appear as a distinct, unmixed race, like none but themselves. Hence, too, the same physical peculiarities throughout so vast a population. All have fierce blue eyes, red hair, huge frames, fit only for a sudden exertion. They are less able to bear laborious work. Heat and thirst they cannot in the least endure; to cold and hunger their climate and their soil inure them….
….They choose their kings by birth, their generals for merit. These kings have
not unlimited or arbitrary power, and the generals do more by example than by authority. If they are energetic, if they are conspicuous, if they fight in the front, they lead because they are admired. But to reprimand, to imprison, even to flog, is permitted to the priests alone, and that not as a punishment, or at the general’s bidding, but, as it were, by the mandate of the god whom they believe to inspire the warrior. They also carry with them into battle certain figures and images taken from their sacred groves. And what most stimulates their courage is, that their squadrons or battalions, instead of being formed by chance or by a fortuitous gathering, are composed of families and clans. Close by them, too, are those dearest to them, so that they hear the shrieks of women, the cries of infants….
Tradition says that armies already wavering and giving way have been rallied by women who, with earnest entreaties and bosoms laid bare, have vividly represented the horrors of captivity, which the Germans fear with such extreme dread on behalf of their women, that the strongest tie by which a state can be bound is the being required to give, among the number of hostages, maidens of noble birth. They even believe that the sex has a certain sanctity and prescience, and they do not despise their counsels, or make light of their answers. In Vespasian’s days we saw Veleda, long regarded by many as a divinity. In former times, too, they venerated Aurinia, and many other women, but not with servile flatteries, or with sham deification.
- Mercury is the deity whom they chiefly worship, and on certain days they deem it right to sacrifice to him even with human victims. Hercules and Mars they appease with more lawful offerings. Some of the Suevi also sacrifice to Isis. Of the occasion and origin of this foreign rite I have discovered nothing, but that the image, which is fashioned like a light galley, indicates an imported worship. The Germans, however, do not consider it consistent with the grandeur of celestial beings to confine the gods within walls, or to liken them to the form of any human countenance. They consecrate woods and groves, and they apply the names of deities to the abstraction, which they see only in spiritual worship.
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Augury and divination by lot no people practice more diligently. The use of the lots is simple. A little bough is lopped off a fruit-bearing tree, and cut into small pieces; these are distinguished by certain marks, and thrown carelessly and at random over a white garment. In public questions the priest of the particular state, in private the father of the family, invokes the gods, and, with his eyes toward heaven, takes up each piece three times, and finds in them a meaning according to the mark previously impressed on them….
When they go into battle, it is a disgrace for the chief to be surpassed in valor, a disgrace for his followers not to equal the valor of the chief. And it is an infamy and a reproach for life to have survived the chief, and returned from the field. To defend, to protect him, to ascribe one’s own brave deeds to his renown, is the height of loyalty. The chief fights for victory; his vassals fight for their chief. If their native state sinks into the sloth of prolonged peace and repose, many of its noble youths voluntarily seek those tribes which are waging some war, both because inaction is odious to their race, and because they win renown more readily in the midst of peril, and cannot maintain a numerous following except by violence and war. Indeed, men look to the liberality of their chief for their war-horse and their bloodstained and victorious lance. Feasts and entertainments, which, though inelegant, are plentifully furnished, are their only pay. The means of this bounty come from war and rapine. Nor are they as easily persuaded to plough the earth and to wait for the year’s produce as to challenge an enemy and earn the honor of wounds. Nay, they actually think it tame and stupid to acquire by the sweat of toil what they might win by their blood.
Whenever they are not fighting, they pass much of their time in the chase, and still more in idleness, giving themselves up to sleep and to feasting, the bravest and the most warlike doing nothing, and surrendering the management of the household, of the home, and of the land, to the women, the old men, and all the weakest members of the family. They themselves lie buried in sloth, a strange combination in their nature that the same men should be so fond of idleness, so averse to peace. It is the custom of the states to bestow by voluntary and individual contribution on the chiefs a present of cattle or of grain, which, while accepted as a compliment, supplies their wants. They are particularly delighted by gifts from neighboring tribes, which are sent not only by individuals but also by the state, such as choice steeds, heavy armor, trappings, and neck-chains. We have now taught them to accept money also.
It is well known that the nations of Germany have not cities, and that they do not even tolerate closely contiguous dwellings. They live scattered and apart, just as a spring, a meadow, or a wood has attracted them. Their village they do not arrange in our fashion, with the buildings connected and joined together, but every person surrounds his dwelling with an open space, either as a precaution against the disasters of fire, or because they do not know how to build. No use is made by them of stone or tile; they employ timber for all purposes, rude masses without ornament or attractiveness….
They all wrap themselves in a cloak, which is fastened with a clasp, or, if this is not forthcoming, with a thorn, leaving the rest of their persons bare. They pass whole days on the hearth by the fire. The wealthiest are distinguished by a dress, which is not flowing like that of the Sarmatae and Parthi, but is tight, and exhibits each limb. They also wear the skins of wild beasts; the tribes on the Rhine and Danube in a careless
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fashion, those of the interior with more elegance, as not obtaining other clothing by commerce. These select certain animals, the hides of which they strip off and vary them with the spotted skins of beasts, the produce of the outer ocean, and of seas unknown to us. The women have the same dress as the men except that they generally wrap themselves in linen garments, which they embroider with purple, and do not lengthen out the upper part of their clothing into sleeves. The upper and lower arm is thus bare, and the nearest part of the bosom is also exposed.
Their marriage code, however, is strict, and indeed no part of their manners is more praiseworthy. Almost alone among barbarians they are content with one wife, except a very few among them, and these not from sensuality, but because their noble birth procures for them many offers of alliance. The wife does not bring a dower to the husband, but the husband to the wife. The parents and relatives are present, and pass judgment on the marriage-gifts, gifts not meant to suit a woman’s taste, nor such as a bride would deck herself with, but oxen, a caparisoned steed, a shield, a lance, and a sword. With these presents the wife is espoused, and she herself in her turn brings her husband a gift of arms. This they count their strongest bond of union, these their sacred mysteries, these their gods of marriage. Lest the woman should think herself to stand apart from aspirations after noble deeds and from the perils of war, she is reminded by the ceremony which inaugurates marriage that she is her husband’s partner in toil and danger, destined to suffer and to dare with him alike both in war….
Very rare for so numerous a population is adultery, the punishment for which is prompt, and in the husband’s power. Having cut off the hair of the adulteress and stripped her naked, he expels her from the house in the presence of her kinsfolk, and then flogs her through the whole village. The loss of chastity meets with no indulgence; neither beauty, youth, nor wealth will procure the culprit a husband. No one in Germany laughs at vice, nor do they call it the fashion to corrupt and to be corrupted. Still better is the condition of those states in which only maidens are given in marriage, and where the hopes and expectations of a bride are then finally terminated. They receive one husband, as having one body and one life, that they may have no thoughts beyond, no further-reaching desires, that they may love not so much the husband as the married state. To limit the number of children or to destroy any of their subsequent offspring is accounted infamous, and good habits are here more effectual than good laws elsewhere.
In every household the children, naked and filthy, grow up with those stout frames and limbs, which we so much admire. Every mother suckles her own offspring and never entrusts it to servants and nurses. The master is not distinguished from the slave by being brought up with greater delicacy. Both live amid the same flocks and lie on the same ground till the freeborn are distinguished by age and recognized by merit. The young men marry late, and their vigor is thus unimpaired. Nor are the maidens hurried into marriage; the same age and a similar stature is required; well-matched and vigorous they wed, and the offspring reproduce the strength of the parents. Sister’s sons are held in as much esteem by their uncles as by their fathers; indeed, some regard the relation as even more sacred and binding, and prefer it in receiving hostages, thinking thus to secure a stronger hold on the affections and a wider bond for the family. But every man’s children are his heirs and successors, and there are no wills. Should there be no issue, the next in succession to the property are brothers and
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his uncles on either side. The more relatives he has the more numerous his connections, the more honored is his old age; nor are there any advantages in childlessness.
It is a duty among them to adopt the feuds as well as the friendships of a father or a kinsman. These feuds are not implacable; even homicide is expiated by the payment of a certain number of cattle and of sheep, and the satisfaction is accepted by the entire family, greatly to the advantage of the state, since feuds are dangerous in proportion to the people’s freedom….
[S]laves are not employed after our manner with distinct domestic duties assigned to them, but each one has the management of a house and home of his own. The master requires from the slave a certain quantity of grain, of cattle, and of clothing, as he would from a tenant, and this is the limit of subjection. All other household functions are discharged by the wife and children….
Of lending money on interest and increasing it by compounding interest they know nothing-a more effectual safeguard than if it was prohibited.
Land proportioned to the number of inhabitants is occupied by the whole community in turn, and afterwards divided among them according to rank. A wide expanse of plains makes the partition easy. They till fresh fields every year, and they have still more land than enough; with the richness and extent of their soil, they do not laboriously exert themselves in planting orchards, enclosing meadows and watering gardens. Corn is the only produce required from the earth…
Such on the whole is the account, which I have received of the origin and manners of the entire German people.
Source
Tacitus, The Agricola and Germania, A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb, trans., (London: Macmillan, 1877).
RUBRIC
QUALITY OF RESPONSE NO RESPONSE POOR / UNSATISFACTORY SATISFACTORY GOOD EXCELLENT Content (worth a maximum of 50% of the total points) Zero points: Student failed to submit the final paper. 20 points out of 50: The essay illustrates poor understanding of the relevant material by failing to address or incorrectly addressing the relevant content; failing to identify or inaccurately explaining/defining key concepts/ideas; ignoring or incorrectly explaining key points/claims and the reasoning behind them; and/or incorrectly or inappropriately using terminology; and elements of the response are lacking. 30 points out of 50: The essay illustrates a rudimentary understanding of the relevant material by mentioning but not full explaining the relevant content; identifying some of the key concepts/ideas though failing to fully or accurately explain many of them; using terminology, though sometimes inaccurately or inappropriately; and/or incorporating some key claims/points but failing to explain the reasoning behind them or doing so inaccurately. Elements of the required response may also be lacking. 40 points out of 50: The essay illustrates solid understanding of the relevant material by correctly addressing most of the relevant content; identifying and explaining most of the key concepts/ideas; using correct terminology; explaining the reasoning behind most of the key points/claims; and/or where necessary or useful, substantiating some points with accurate examples. The answer is complete. 50 points: The essay illustrates exemplary understanding of the relevant material by thoroughly and correctly addressing the relevant content; identifying and explaining all of the key concepts/ideas; using correct terminology explaining the reasoning behind key points/claims and substantiating, as necessary/useful, points with several accurate and illuminating examples. No aspects of the required answer are missing. Use of Sources (worth a maximum of 20% of the total points). Zero points: Student failed to include citations and/or references. Or the student failed to submit a final paper. 5 out 20 points: Sources are seldom cited to support statements and/or format of citations are not recognizable as APA 6th Edition format. There are major errors in the formation of the references and citations. And/or there is a major reliance on highly questionable. The Student fails to provide an adequate synthesis of research collected for the paper. 10 out 20 points: References to scholarly sources are occasionally given; many statements seem unsubstantiated. Frequent errors in APA 6th Edition format, leaving the reader confused about the source of the information. There are significant errors of the formation in the references and citations. And/or there is a significant use of highly questionable sources. 15 out 20 points: Credible Scholarly sources are used effectively support claims and are, for the most part, clear and fairly represented. APA 6th Edition is used with only a few minor errors. There are minor errors in reference and/or citations. And/or there is some use of questionable sources. 20 points: Credible scholarly sources are used to give compelling evidence to support claims and are clearly and fairly represented. APA 6th Edition format is used accurately and consistently. The student uses above the maximum required references in the development of the assignment. Grammar (worth maximum of 20% of total points) Zero points: Student failed to submit the final paper. 5 points out of 20: The paper does not communicate ideas/points clearly due to inappropriate use of terminology and vague language; thoughts and sentences are disjointed or incomprehensible; organization lacking; and/or numerous grammatical, spelling/punctuation errors 10 points out 20: The paper is often unclear and difficult to follow due to some inappropriate terminology and/or vague language; ideas may be fragmented, wandering and/or repetitive; poor organization; and/or some grammatical, spelling, punctuation errors 15 points out of 20: The paper is mostly clear as a result of appropriate use of terminology and minimal vagueness; no tangents and no repetition; fairly good organization; almost perfect grammar, spelling, punctuation, and word usage. 20 points: The paper is clear, concise, and a pleasure to read as a result of appropriate and precise use of terminology; total coherence of thoughts and presentation and logical organization; and the essay is error free. Structure of the Paper (worth 10% of total points) Zero points: Student failed to submit the final paper. 3 points out of 10: Student needs to develop better formatting skills. The paper omits significant structural elements required for and APA 6th edition paper. Formatting of the paper has major flaws. The paper does not conform to APA 6th edition requirements whatsoever. 5 points out of 10: Appearance of final paper demonstrates the student’s limited ability to format the paper. There are significant errors in formatting and/or the total omission of major components of an APA 6th edition paper. The can include the omission of the cover page, abstract, and page numbers. Additionally the page has major formatting issues with spacing or paragraph formation. Font size might not conform to size requirements. The student also significantly writes too large or too short of and paper 7 points out of 10: Research paper presents an above-average use of formatting skills. The paper has slight errors within the paper. This can include small errors or omissions with the cover page, abstract, page number, and headers. There could be also slight formatting issues with the document spacing or the font Additionally the paper might slightly exceed or undershoot the specific number of required written pages for the assignment. 10 points: Student provides a high-caliber, formatted paper. This includes an APA 6th edition cover page, abstract, page number, headers and is double spaced in 12’ Times Roman Font. Additionally the paper conforms to the specific number of required written pages and neither goes over or under the specified length of the paper. GET THIS PROJECT NOW BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK TO PLACE THE ORDER
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