Take one idea of the readings and answer the following question:

What factor(s) contributed to the transition from settlements to civilization?

Here ae the professor's directions.

Prompt: Please answer ONE of the following three questions. The essay should be a minimum of one page, maximum of 1.5, double spaced, times new roman, size 12, reasonable margin (1" around). You need to make use of at least TWO primary sources documents. Any outside reading will not count towards your source quota.

These sources include: Packet 1- Epic of Gilgamesh, Genesis and Exodus, Hymns to the Gods; Packet 2- Chinese Oracles, Vedic Documents from India, and the Works and Days of Hesiod.

Guidelines: Please be focused. The idea is not for you to be exhaustive, but pick and choose one specific idea and develop it. Your introduction should be short: no more than a couple of sentences, one of which has to be the thesis sentence. You should not have more than two paragraphs. Your conclusion likewise should be short, a simple reiteration of your thesis sentence will suffice.

Citations: For this exercise, you MUST avoid long citations. It is best to paraphrase. If you must cite, do no use segments longer than a line. Use in-text citations: "And Enkidu and Gilgamesh ate the wild-boar (Epic of Gilgamesh)." If you have a numbered item (as with the Chinese Oracles) use the number.

PROOFREAD: An exam with significant spelling errors or poor grammar will be penalized by up to 1/3 grade.

Essay Prompt: Using the documents mentioned above, what factor(s) contributed to the transition from settlements to civilization?

Again, I am not asking for an exhaustive answer. Your readings show you various ways the authors understood the difference between civilization and absence of civilization. You should focus on how the authors convey that difference, focusing on a single aspect. Aspects might include: the development of religious ritual, the separation of town and countryside, the development of agriculture, etc. In other words, I am asking you to answer the question based on the readings, not the scientific information contained in your textbook.

A useful resource:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/