Humanities History Essay on Plato’s Republic and Ancient Greece
Background: Plato lived through Sparta’s defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian Wars.
Despite being one of the defeated Athenians, Plato admires both Sparta and Athens.
Topic: Write an approximately three-page paper that answers the following question:
How did Plato use both Athens and Sparta as models in designing his republic?
Focus on one key feature or two closely related features of the republic and explain what
ideas or practices Plato seems to have borrowed from Athens and what ideas or practice
from Sparta. Try to explain why Plato borrowed those particular ideas and practices.
Sources: You must use evidence from Plutarch’s Life of Lykurgus, Thucydides’ The
Funeral Oration of Pericles, and from Plato’s Republic. You may also use information
from lectures or from The Humanistic Tradition or from Crito.
TENTATIVE Due Date: in your history seminar Monday 9/29 or Tuesday 9/30
Critical Instructions: Major assignments will all have critical instructions. I will reduce
your grade by a third of a letter grade if you do not comply with each instruction.
1. Your essay must be typed and double-spaced and use standard margins and
12-point font.
2. Include a cover page with an original title (not “Humanities Essay”). Do not
underline your title or put it in quotation marks. Also include your name,
seminar number, and the date.
3. Staple my checkbox rubric to the back.
Citations and Works Cited Page: Please do quote or paraphrase passages from the
required works and do provide citations using correct MLA form. In addition, include a
Works Cited page at the end of your essay. Please follow the examples provided and
refer to the Purdue Owl website (find the link to this site on our humanities website).
Example of an in-text citation:
Pericles claimed that “when a citizen is any way distinguished, he is preferred to the
public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit” (Thucydides 60).
More examples on the back ->
Sample Citations and “Works Cited” Entries for The Western Tradition:
For in-text citations of historical documents, cite the name of the author of the actual
work—not the name of the editor (A). If you use some of the introductory information
actually written by the editor, use the editor’s name (B). If no author is given, use the
title of the document (C).
(A). . . making a profit was considered lawful but sinful (Aquinas 323 - 327).
(B). . . “. . . he [Charlemagne] was a man of a his time, yet he was isolated in it”
(Weber 220).
(C). . . the vassals gained in the process (“Capitulary Concerning Freemen and
Vassals” 237).
“Works Cited” Entries for the above citations:
(A) (for citation of an author whose name is known)
Aquinas, Thomas. “Summa Theologica.” The Western Tradition, Volume 1: From the
Ancient World to Louis XIV. Ed. Eugen Weber. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath
and
Company, 1995. 323-327. Print.
(B) (for citation of the editorial comments of the editor)
Weber, Eugen, editor. The Western Tradition, Volume 1: From the Ancient World to
Louis XIV. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath and Company, 1995. 323-327. Print.
(C) (for citation of work with no known author)
“Capitulary Concerning Freemen and Vassals.” The Western Tradition, Volume 1: From
the Ancient World to Louis XIV. Ed. Eugen Weber. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath
and Company, 1995. 237. Print.
Cross-referencing:
If you use multiple works from The Western Tradition, MLA allows you to make one
complete entry in your Works Cited page for The Western Tradition. Then, for each
separate work contained within The Western Tradition, you would create a short entry
without all of the bibliographic information. See below:
Aquinas, Thomas. “Summa Theologica.” Weber 323-327.
“Capitulary Concerning Freemen and Vassals.” Weber 237.
Weber, Eugen, ed. The Western Tradition, Volume 1: From the Ancient World to Louis
XIV. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath and Company, 1995. Print.