Compare the Res Gestae Divi Augusti to the Lives of the Twelve Caesars (source 6.3). How is the power of the emperors portrayed? Are there significant differences from Augustus to Caligula or Claudius?
Compare and contrast the lives of St. Benedict and Muhammad. What similarities and differences are there in Gregory and Ibn Ishaq’s depictions of these figures? How do these accounts reflect the values of their respective religions (Christianity and Islam)?
How do Peter of Blois, in his letter to Eleanor, and Heloise in her own letter to Abelard, describe the relationships between men and women, especially married women? What characteristics seem to be expected about female behavior?
Comparing the Wife of Bath to the Trail of Joan of Arc, in what ways did women challenge gender expectations of the later medieval period?