Part 1:

Please read EITHER

- Mike Paine, The Crusades (Pocket Essential, 2001), 7-46. Available as an e-book in the Drexel Library catalogue at: http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/lib/drexel/detail.action?docID=10005847

OR

- Peter Frankopan, The First Crusade: The Call from the East (Cambridge: Harvard University Press 2012); Available as an e-book in the Drexel Library catalogue at: http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/lib/drexel/detail.action?docID=10568046

And then discuss: What impact does your author think the Crusades had on the relationship between Western Europe and the rest of Eurasia between 1000-1200. NOTE: Frankopan's more recent account (2012) shows the important role the Ottoman empire played in starting the Crusades.

Part 2:

Please answer both the following:

a) Read through Plato's book Timaeus and his view of the cosmos.

http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/timaeus.html
https://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/timaeus.htm

HINT: Do not read the entire work, just skim through it to find something of interest to you.

Discuss: How does he structure it and how does it relate to his separation of the two realms?

b) View the videos: 1) 'Clay-mation Allegory of the Cave' available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69F7GhASOdM
and 'Matrix and the Allegory of the Cave' available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRNMZEDOBrM&feature=related.

Discuss: How does Plato's analogy of the cave relate to the film Matrix?

Answer 2 parts for 250-350 words