COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course surveys the history of ancient Rome and Italy, focusing on the origins and metamorphoses of Rome from its archaic foundations as an Italic-Latinate kingship to an imperial city. The course examines the establishment, expansion, and conflicts of the Republican period; the political and cultural revolution of the Augustan ‘Principate’; the innovations of the High Empire; and the transition into Late Antiquity. Course materials include the writings of ancient authors in translation (these may include Polybius, Sallust, Cicero, Livy, Augustus, Suetonius, and/or Tacitus) as well as modern historians and archaeologists, along with considerations of Roman art, architecture, and archaeology.
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1.1
. First class: Review syllabus, logistics, assessment
The Mediterranean environment and setting: topography, taxonomy, geography. Italy in
that environment: topography, geography, geology, peoples, products. The Mediterranean, then
and now.
. How and what we know about the ancient Roman world: sources and reception.
. Assignment: Ancient Rome (AR) Chapter I - 3; Livy, "The Rise of Rome", Books I - III
(Guidelines and criteria for these readings will be discussed in class.)
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1.2
. Pre-Roman peoples of Italy: the Villanovans, Etruscans and Greeks: cultural developments and
influences on the Romans.
. Discussion of AR Chapter 1,2
. Resume writing.
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Suggested Visits: Museo delle Terme (opposite Termini Station, Piazza dei Cinquecento) Early Rome
collection.
Tarquinia, Cerveteri, (Towns north of Rome, formerly Etruscan, with extensive Necropoleis.
Castelli Romani, Castel Gondolfo (Monte Albano)
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2.1
. . Review and discussion of Livy, Book I: Institutionalizing early Roman society. Writing, legends and
history. Stoic history. The Regnum (Early, seven kings of Rome)
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2.2:
. Test no. 1 . Assignment: AR: , Chapter 3
. Early Rome and Livy (continued)
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3.1
. Review and discussion of Livy, Books II & III: Foundations of Republican institutions/constitution
Writing, legend and history. Stoicism and stoic influences on Livy's history. The Regnum: the Seven
Kings of Rome.
. The conflict of the orders, legislation and laws in the conflict. The unification of Italy under the
Roman Republic.
. Review of AR: , Chapter 3
. Assignment: AR: Chapter 4,5
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3.2
. Topics for final papers and oral pesentations:. Due: Tuesday, June 17
(Guidelines and criteria for content and style of these presentations will be distributed in class)
. Roman expansion in the Mediterranean: the four conflicts with Carthage (Punic Wars);
. Reveiw of AR: Chapter 4
. Resume writing
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4.1:
. The Punic/Carthaginian Wars: Hannibal in Italy. Consequences of the wars: agriculture, demography,
slavery, latifundia, political.
. Assignment: AR, Chapter 6
. Hellenism and Stoicism at Rome: a cultural revolution among the elite.
Presentation assignments. Due: Tuesday, June 10
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4.2
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5.1
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5.2
Roman domestic politics and economy: Imperial Expansion in Macedonia, Greece and Asia Minor Slave revolts, The Gracchan reforms.
In-Class Reading: Polybius, "Histories" Book VI (selections on the constitution of the Roman Republic)
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6.1
Resume writing.
The Collapse of the Roman Republic 1: Marius to Pompey. The Social Wars
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6.2
Test No. 3
The Collapse of the Roman Republic 2: Pompey - Octavian. The Career of Cicero.
Assignment: AR: Chapters 6,7; Sallust, "Cataline" (selections).
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Suggested visits: Forum Romanum, Forum of Julius Caesar
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7.1
Transformation to the Pincipate: Octavian, Antony, Cleopatra.
In-Class Reading: "Res Gestae Divi Augusti"
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7.2
Presentations
The early Julio-Claudians: Augustus - Nero
Assignment: AR: Chapter 7; Suetonius, Tacitus, Life of a Julio-Claudian
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8.1
Presentations
The early Julio-Claudians (con't): Augustus - Nero
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8.2
Resumes on emperors: oral reports based on resumes.
Assignment: Chapter 8
Discussion of Fianl Paper: Due: Friday, June 20
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9.1
Test No. 4
Evolution of the Principate: Nero - Trajan. The end of imperial expansion.
Social and economic considerations of empire: slavery, ethnicity, urbanism, legal developments (Jurists)
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Suggested Visits: Colosseum, Forum Romanum, Palatine Hill, Museo Altemps (near Piazza Navona), Capitoline Museums (on Campidoglio),
Museo dell'Archeologia Romana (Palazzo Massimo, in front of Termini station), Meseum Montemartini (Via Ostiense), Vatican Museums,
Porta Maggiore.
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9.2
Evolution of the Principate: Hadrian - Alexander Severus: Hadrian and Hadrianic architecture, Marcus Aurelius, the Severan dynasty and
militarization of the Roman state.
Assignment: AR: Chapters 9,10
In-Class Reading: Aelius Aristides, "On Rome"
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Suggested Visits: Imperial Fora (Transitoria, Trajan's Forum, Pantheon, Tivoli (Hadrian's Villa), Parco degli Aquedotti)
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10.1
Resume writing
The end of the Severan dynasty and the 3rd century chaos to 285. Diocletian and the Dominate: Structural reforms, persecution of Christianity,
division of the Empire.
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10.2
The rise of Constantine: Constantines career and impact on the Empire: Final division of the Empire; Edict of Milan (313), Constantine and the
Christian church. The "Donation of Constantine".
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Suggested Visits: St Peters Basilica, San Giovanni and area, Santa Croce in Gerusaleme, Ponte Milvio, Arch of Constantine, Mausoleum of Constanza (Nomentana)
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11.1
From Constantine to Romulus Augustulus: The collapse of the Western Roman Empire, role of the Gothic et al invaisions, Christiian assumption of power.
The Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantium. Final summation of Roman society and culture.
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11.2
Final papers due. Oral presentations of papers.
Resumes due
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