Description For the ancient Greeks, arete or excellence meant primarily excellence in battle. It wa ...
Description For the ancient Greeks, arete or excellence meant primarily excellence in battle. It was a culture of war and booty. It was a military culture, too, because of the constant threat of takeover by Persia. It stayed free because of a military tactic called the phalanx. As seen below, soldiers stood soldier to soldier, shields up and spears at the ready. It was a formidable defense against any enemy and kept the Athenian peoples safe. But such a defense requires great courage from the men who stood in the line, especially the first line with thousands of soldiers lined up behind them. As one in the first line fell, one from the second line stepped up to fill in the hole. There could be no cowardice, no running away. The safety of all depended upon the courage of all. It is from this beginning that the Greeks formulated the idea of the excellence of character, or arete.Arete is one of the most important concepts to travel through time from Homer to today. It was the foundational belief that made the Athenian culture in Greece what is considered to be the greatest culture in all of human history. And yet, as our reading indicates, arete is simply a belief in ourselves--in our own excellent predispositions which if encouraged and educated, can create successful individuals. If that sounds to you like the world we live in now, where people develop their talents in order to become successful and prosperous, that would be a mistaken view of the Greek ideal. In addition to excellence, the Greek Homeric ideal stressed many important concepts, like working for the common good, justice, balance, honor, moderation, and hubris. Using only the first chapter in our text, Explain what you take to be that ideal and explain how the concepts just mentioned fit into it. Explain how the idea of hubris characterizes much of Western culture. Give examples. Explain how justice, balance, and honor if accepted would make a difference in culture. What if we all worked for the common good as the Greeks did and not for our individual goods? Is moderation morally necessary today? Might the Homeric ideal be a way to improve American culture? Why do you think so? Submission: Must be a minimum of 1 and a half pages with standard 1-inch margins in Times New Roman or Garamond font. Must be double-spaced. Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought. Must include in-text citations and references in MLA style. Name, course, and assignment top left. Include a Title. Rubric- Assignment ?? ?? ?? Assignment ideas are stated clearly and easy to understand. 30 Exemplary- Ideas are stated clearly and easy to understand. 20 Proficient- Ideas are stated clearly and easy to understand with minimal distractions. 10 Basic- Writing needs improvement. Ideas were hard to follow and there was no general flow of the topic. 0 No-Submission- The assignment is either nonexistent or lacks the components outlined in the topic. 30 ? ???????????Purposefully addresses all portions of the topic and has a fully developed thesis. 30 ??Exemplary- Purposefully addresses all portions of the topic and has a fully developed thesis. 20 ??Proficient- Slightly underdeveloped thesis and purpose. Needs further work. 10 ??Basic- Purpose and thesis are partially underdeveloped. 0 ??No-Submission- The assignment is either nonexistent or lacks the components outlined in the topic. 30 ? ???????????Major supporting ideas are thoughtful, readily identi?able and well-developed in uni?ed paragraphs with concrete, substantial and relevant information. 30 ??Exemplary- Major supporting ideas are thoughtful, readily identi?able and well-developed in uni?ed paragraphs with concrete, substantial and relevant information. 20 ??Proficient-Supporting ideas are relevant and developed in uni?ed paragraphs with substantial information. 10 ??Basic- Supporting ideas are not relevant, and/or paragraphs need to be uni?ed with substantial information. 0 ??No-Submission- The assignment is either nonexistent or lacks the components outlined in the topic. 30 ? ???????????Comfortable command of the language, makes precise word choices, and shows few - if any -errors in usage or mechanics. 10 ??Exemplary- Comfortable command of the language, makes precise word choices, and shows few - if any -errors in usage or mechanics. 5 ??Proficient- Word choices are precise, though there are some errors in usage or mechanics, few are signi?cant. 3 ??Basic- The essay uses standard diction and appropriate word choices, but there may be a pattern of minor errors accompanied by a few signi?cant errors in usage or mechanics. 0 ??No-Submission- The assignment is either nonexistent or lacks the components outlined in the topic. 10 ?
