Choose your hero: Choose any of the following “heroes” from myth and/or history and summarize them and the qualities they incorporate or represent. Reflect at least a little on whether and how their qualities help to illustrate something important about the particular period in which they lived.

Aeneas, Romulus, the wife of Romulus, Numa, Lucretia (= Lucrece), Lucius Junius Brutus, Cincinnatus, Volumnia, Portia, Cato the Elder, Cicero, Marcus Brutus, Portia, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Nero, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius

Any of these major gods (and what they represent): Mars, Venus, Vesta, Jupiter

Any of these works of architecture (or any part of them):

The Arch of Constantine, the Arch of Titus, the Arch of Septimus Severus, the Golden House of Nero, the Column of Trajan, the Column of Marcus Aurelius, the Pantheon, the Coliseum; the Ara Pacis

Any of these “groups”: the Stoics (Epictetus), the Epicureans (Lucretius), the Vestal Virgins

Any of these practices: the "Triumph," gladiatorial contests

 

 

            Any one of the following saints:

Peter, Paul, Matthew, Sebastian, Catherine of Alexandria, Helen (mother of Constantine), Longinus, Andrew, Veronica, John the Baptist, Catherine of Siena (request another, if you have a favorite)

Any one of the following popes:

Gregory VII, Celestine V, Boniface VIII, Innocent III, Alexander VI, Julius II, Clement VII, Pius IX

Either of these emperors:

            Constantine, Theodosius

            Any one of the following “Christian intellectuals”

Doctors of the Church: Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory I

                        Thomas Aquinas

            The Christian virtues: Faith, Hope, Charity; Prudence, Temperance, Justice, Fortitude           

The Dominican Order (and Saint Dominic)

The Franciscan Order and/or the Spiritual Franciscans (and Saint Francis)

Either of these events: The Great Schism (1378-1417) or the Papacy at Avignon (the "Babylonian Captivity" in the 14th century)

Medieval Christian music: the Gregorian chant,

Renaissance Christian music: the composer Palestrina and polyphony  

            Any one of the following works of art or architecture (and their significance):

By Caravaggio: “The Calling of Matthew,” “Inspiration of Matthew,” or “Martyrdom of S. Matthew”

By Michelangelo, “Christ Bearing the Cross”

The basilicas of Santa Sabina, Saint Johns Lateran, San Clemente, or S. Maria in Trastevere (or any important part of one of these basilicas, such as an apse mosaic or a particular chapel)

 

 

 

Any one of the following political figures:

Cavour, Mazzini, Garibaldi, Mussolini, Alcide De Gasperi, Antonio Gramsci, Aldo Moro, Silvio Berlusconi

            Any of these popes:

Pius IX, Pius XII. John XXIII, John-Paul II, Benedict XVI

Any of these events, periods, or groups:

The March on Rome, The Treaty of Rome (1957), the “Years of Lead [bullets]” [Anni di Piombo], the Italian Partisans (during WW II), the Italian Communist Party,

Any one of these figures (or movements) regarding the arts in contemporary Italy:

The film, La Dolce Vita; the director, Frederico Fellini; “Modernism.”

Any of these works of architecture:

The Monument to Victor Emmanuel, the Palace of Justice, the new Museum of the Ara Pacis (by Richard Meier)

Immigration into Italy: Who is coming, and how are Italians responding? Islam in Italy

The Mafia or key events involving it (like the assassination of Giovanni Falcone)

The European Union (or any subordinate related issue)