Hello Students,

I hope that you have all finished interesting and thoughtful essays on heroism. I look forward to reading these! Please upload them to the folder in Onedrive by the end of the school day on Monday.

This week, our focus will be on history. We'll review Victoria's lecture on Epic Poetry, discuss the elements of societies in Mesopotamia and look at what it means to have a code of law as well as history of the first recorded law code in the Western World.

You should understand the following:

 Where is Mesopotamia and what are some features of each element of society in the ancient societies of that region.
What are the features of Epic Poetry and what was its purpose?
What is a law code? What is significant about writing laws?
What is a primary source?
Who was Hammurabi and what does his code teach us about ancient Mesopotamia?

In Gilgamesh, the focus will be on annotation. We'll discuss what to annotate and why.
I also want to make sure you understand the following literary terms and concepts:

the hero cycle
setting
characterization
theme
symbol and metaphor

 Friday we have conferences, so let's review this on Monday to make sure we have covered all of this material.

As always, let me know if you are confused.

Heather