HIST 302
Roman Empire

 

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Syllabus

Course Goals:

Learn about the Roman empire. Learn about the task of researching and writing historical papers and formulating logical and cohesive historical arguments based on critical analysis of primary sources and modern scholarship.

Texts:

Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Penguin, rev. ed. 1979
Cassius Dio, The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus, Penguin, 1987.
Tacitus, Complete Works of Tacitus, Moses Hadas (ed.), The Modern Library, 1942.
Boatwright, Mary T. et al., The Romans: From Village to Empire, Oxford University Press 2004.
WWW

Evaluation:

Participation 15%
Semester Project 50%
Midterm Exam 15%
Final Exam 20%

Please note: The professor uses a +/- grading system.

Participation:

Much of class time will be dedicated to discussion of primary sources. In order to earn credit for participation, you must participate in the discussions. Your silent presence is insufficient for a passing grade. In order to get full credit you will have to show evidence that you have done the reading assigned for that week (or day) and thought critically about it.

Semester Project:

List and comments on reliability of 3 websites 2
Modern Bibliography of 3 Books and 3 articles 3
List of primary and other ancient sources 2
Response to 2 Book Reviews 3
Thesis and Topic Sentences 3
Thesis and Topic Sentences Peer Reviews 3
First Draft of paper (1800-2000 words) 5
First Draft Peer Review 4
Final Draft 15
Class Presentation (group, weeks 11 & 12) 10

Additional Expectations:

Come to class regularly and on time. Do the work on time. No late work will be accepted and no make-up quizzes will be given. Behave like considerate, mature, and ethical adults who want to learn about the Roman empire. If necessary, further advice is available online.

SCHEDULE

Week One: Rome and the Rise of Octavian

W, January 23 Roman Republic

F, January 25 Roman Revolution

Boatwright, pp. 254-288
Cassius Dio 50.1-6, 32-33; 51.8-15, 19-22
Suetonius, Augustus 1, 8-11, 13-17, 27
Topic Selection due

Week Two: The Nature of “imperial” power

M, January 28 Politics

Boatwright, pp. 288-293, 299-301, 313-315
Tac. Ann. 1.2-4
Suet. Aug. 26-28, 29, 35-37, 47, 58
Dio 52.35, 40, 42; 53.1, 4, 8-23, 30-32
Res Gestae Divi Augusti 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 34, 35

W, January 30 Army

Boatwright, pp. 301-309
Tac. Ann. 1.2-3
Vellius Paterculus 2.96, 104
Suet. Aug. 20, 22-26, 29, 30, 32, 38, 41-49, 57, 59
Dio 51.3; 52.22-27, 28-30, 37; 53.1-2, 7-15, 20, 22, 25-27, 29
Res Gestae Divi Augusti 1-5, 12, 15-30, 32, appendix 1-4

F, February 1 Religion

Boatwright, pp. 71-75, 312-313, 347-351
Tac. Ann. 1.2-3
Suet. Aug 7, 23, 31, 52-55, 92-95, 100-101
Dio 51.22; 52.35-36; 53.1, 2, 9, 16; 55.46
Res Gestae Divi Augusti 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 19, 20, 24, 29, 34, 35, appendix 2

Week Three: Culture and Society

M, February 4 Money and Public Works

Boatwright, pp. 309-312
Tac. Ann. 1.2; Suet. Aug. 29, 30, 37-38, 41-46, 57, 59, 66
Dio 52.22, 24, 25, 29, 30; 53.1-2, 16, 20, 22, 27
Res Gestae Divi Augusti 1, 3, 5, 15-24, appendix 1-4

W, February 6 Literature

Boatwright, pp. 293-295
Horace, Carmen Saeculare (entire) and epode 1 and 7 on the same page.
Virgil, Aeneid, 6.752-705 (end of book 6). Use the arrows to get to the next page. Aeneas is getting a tour of the underworld from his father Anchises. Whom does he meet there and how does the "future" look for Rome?
Ovid, Ars Amatoria, Book 1 part 1 to book 1 part 7
Ovid, Tristia 2.120-252
Suet, Aug. 84-89

F, February 8 Family and Morality

Vell. Pat. 2.100, (Note: “Nero” is Tiberius)
Suet. Aug. 19, 34, 61-65, 69, 73
Dio 53.1, 18, 27; 55.8, 14-21; 56.1-10
Res Gestae 35
Tac, Ann. 5.1
Marriage Legislation
Website (no encyclopedias!) list with reliability due

Week Four Tiberius

M, February 11 Succession

Boatwright, pp. 295-298, 317-324
Tac. Ann. 1.3-11, 33
Suet. Aug. 19, 63-65, 97-101; Tib 6-16, 20-24, Tib. 50-51
Dio 53.1, 18, 27-28, 30-33; 54.28-29, 31, 35; 55.1-2, 9-13, 30, 32, 34-35, 46
Res Gestae 14, 22, 27, 30
Vell. Pat. 2.96, 103-104, 112.7, 124 (Note: “Nero” is Tiberius)
A handy link for today's reading

W, February 13 Tacitus, Tiberius and the Senate

Tac. Ann. 1.12-15, 46-47, 53, 72-77, 79-81; 2.27-38, 43, 50-51; 2.55, 69- 78, 82-84; 3.1-18, 56, 60, 76; 4.6,

F, February 15 Sejanus

Tacitus, Ann. 3.29, 72; 4.1-3, 7-13, 15, 17, (skim 18-22), 36, 39-41, 52-54, 57-60, 70-71; 5.1-9; 6.3, 5, 25-26, 38, 50-51
Suet, Tib. 48, 51, 54-55, 61-65, Cai. 12
Vell. Pat. 2.127, 131

Week 5 Julio-Claudians: Freedmen, Women and Youth

M, February 18 Caligula

Boatwright, pp. 324-347
Suetonius, Cai. 7-17, skim18-23, 24-25, skim 26-42, 43-49, 56-60
Josephus, War of the Jews, 2.10 sections 1, 4-5

W, February 20 Claudius

Tacitus, read the translator’s comments at the end of Ann. 6 on page 227.
Josephus, War of the Jews, 2.11 sections 1-5
Tacitus, Ann. 11.23-28, 34-35, 37-38; 12.1-3, 6-9, 22, 25-27, 41-43, 52-53, 65-67
Suetonius, Claud. 2-6, 10-11, 17, 20, 26-29, 36-37, 39, 41-46
Seneca, Apocolocyntosis 1, 5, 10-11, 15

F, February 22 Nero

Suetonius, Nero 6, 8-10, 23, 28, 31-35, 40-42, 45, 49, 57
Suetonius, Galba, 1-2
Tacitus, Ann. 11.68-69; 12.1-6, 12-29, 13.45-47; 14.1-16, 51-57, 60-61, 65; 15.37-44, 60-64; 16.6-7
Tacitus, Historia 1.1-3
Modern bibliography due

Week 6 Flavians and Empire

M, February 25 Vespasian

Boatwright, pp. 353-366
lex de imperio Vespasiani
Tacitus, Hist. 2.1, 73-101; 3.85-86; 4.1-2, 51-54; 5.1
Suetonius, Vesp. 1-7; Titus 1-2, 11, Dom. 1, 23

W, February 27 Imperial Cult meets Monotheism

Boatwright, pp. 379-381, 391-392
Jospehus, War of the Jews 2.10
Tacitus, Hist. 5.1-13

F, February 28 Engineering and Architecture

Boatwright, pp. 381-390
Suetonius, Vesp. 8-9, 24; Dom. 4-5
Read this page and view the linked images of the colosseum.
List of ancient sources due, link to instructions

Week 7 Military Expansion and Provincial Administration

M, March 3 MIDTERM EXAM

W, March 5 Domitian to Trajan

Boatwright, pp. 365-373
Look at the map of Pliny's province.
This map has pretty colors.
Scroll down to link to some maps of the empire.

Lives of the Later Caesars, Trajan pp 38-54

F, March 7 Provinces

Pliny, Letters 10.1, 14-17, 23-25, 27, 30-102, 109-122 at this site, Book 10 = "Correspondence with the Emperor Trajan." Ignore the "parts" and just look at the letter numbers. The Roman numerals for the above assignment are as follows: Letter # I, XIV-XVII, XXIII-XXV, XXVII, XXX-CII, CIX-CXXII. You don't have to print them all, but bring in your favorite 1-3 letters for talking about the nature of provincial government.

Week 8 Hadrian: Architecture, Law and Empire

M, March 10 Hadrian

Boatwright, pp. 373-392
The Augustan History, Hadrian chapters 9-14 (pp. 66-72), 19, (bottom of p. 77-78), 21 (p. 80-middle of p. 81).
Write a (or some) "Why?" question(s) that you hope to address with your paper and some other questions you will need to answer to get to your research question.

W, March 12 Law AND Bring those "Why?" questions and a book for your research project.

Boatwright, pp. 416-425
Gaius, Institutes, 1.9-11, 20-21, 28-29, 32b-35, 40-44, 46-53, 55-57, 59-63, 97-101, 108-117, 127-130, 136-137a, 142-157, 173-192, 194-200

  • The text can be found here (with English and Latin)
  • or here, with only English, but with footnotes inserted so as to make the text difficult to read.
  • I recommend using the former, pasting the info. into a word doc., editing out the Latin, and saving some costs for paper.
    Also, check your e-mail.

F, March 14 Engineering

If you did not already do the readings for February, 28, please do those. Additional reading TBA.
Response to two book reviews due, link to instructions

SPRING BREAK

Week 9 Marcus Aurelius: Philosophy in Rome

M, March, 24 Society and Law

Continue discussion of Gaius, Institutes 1. Read Pliny, Letters 25, 34, 42, 45, 46, 49, 54, 80 (= XXV, XXXIV, XLII, XLV, XLVI, XVIX, LIV, LXXX)

  • What’s the legal difference between power and guardianship?
  • Compare laws to practice. What do Pliny’s letters suggest about the independence of women?

W, March 26 Marcus Aurelius, Last of the "Five Good Emperors"

The Augustan History, Marcus Antoninus; The Philosopher (check e-mail for pdf file). You do not need to bring the text to class.
See stemmas of various dynasties.

F, March 28 Intellectual Life

Boatwright, pp. 393-404
Tac Agricola 2, 45; Hist 4.5-9; Suet. Vesp. 15.
Epictetus, Discourses 1.1; 4.1 (only the first full paragraph and the 6th paragraph starting with "The slave wishes to be set free immediately.") Enchiridion 1.1
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 1 (entire); 2.16-17 (last two complete paragraphs in book 2); 3.11; 4 (last three paragraphs); 5.22; 6.30
Please bring Epictetus and Aurelius texts to class.

Week 10 Severans

M, March 31 Commodus to Severus

Boatwright, pp. 405-416
Epitome of Dio 73.1, 14, 16-24; 74.1-2, 8-10, 12, 14-16; 75.2 (Note how Dio has become a true primary source, unfortunately, only in epitomes).
Use your good and bad emperors handout.
You do not need to bring the reading to class.

W, April 2 Evolution of Empire

Epitome of Dio 75.12-14; 76.4, 7-10; 77.1-2, 7, 11, 15
Link to map
Spartianus, Life of Caracalla

F, April 4 Research projects ATTENDANCE MANDATORY

Thesis and topic sentences due, link to instructions

Week 11 Student Presentations

M, April 7 Student Presentations

PUBLIC ART:

  • At the Met site, read the text (secondary source or scholarship) and examine the images so that you are familiar with them.

PRIVATE ART:

  • What is a lararium?
  • What is a fresco? What types of images can be found on frescoes in Pompeii?

W, April 9 Gender; Egypt

  • GENDER
    • Pliny letters XXV, XXXIV, XLII, XLVI, XLIX, LIV, LXXX Note: These are the letters you have already read and probably printed out. Take another look at them.
  • EGYPT

F, April 11 Constantine. Note that we are skipping ahead a little chronologically.

Week 12 Student Presentations

M, April 14 Eastern Empire; Western Empire: Gaul

W, April 16 Western Empire: Germany; Spain

  • GERMANY
  • SPAIN

F, April 18 Religion, Britain

Week 13 Economy and Management of Empire

M, April 21

Proofread draft
First draft of paper due
ATTENDANCE MANDATORY

W, April 23 Julia Domna and the Third Century

Selections from Dio at Diotima

F, April 25 Caesari and Augusti

Boatwright, pp. 431-446
Map: Division of Diocese
Map: Division of Empire
See this image of the tetrarchs

Week 14 Christianity in Rome

M, April 28 Economic Reforms

Diocletian, Edict on Prices
Lactantius, On the Death of the Persecutors 5, 7
H. Michell, “The Edict of Diocletian: A Study of Price Fixing in the Roman Empire” The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science 13.1 (1947) pp 1-12 available on J-Stor.

W, April 30 "Bread and Circuses"

Boatwright, pp. 425-430
Final draft of paper due

F, May 2 Persecutions

Tacitus, Histories 5.5
Pliny Letters 10.96, 97 (the last two letters on this page)
Martyrdom of Perpetua
Cannibalism charges
Papyrus from the reign of Decius
Edicts of toleration by Galerius and Constantine
Boatwright, pp. 425-430

 

Week 15 Justinian and Theodora

M, May 5 Continuity of Paganism


Link to and read the three Lives of Hypatia from this page.
Zosimus, Historia Nova selections
Codex Theodosianus selections
Handout

 

W, May 7 Procopius, The Secret History, 9-19

F, May 9 Review

Final Exam May 15 11:20 AM- 1:20 PM