Download The World of Classical Rome

CLST 276: The World of Classical Rome
Spring Semester 2017
Mondays & Wednesdays | 10:00-11:15 am | Section A03
Dr. David Lambert
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Mon. 11:45 am-12:45 pm, or by appointment
Course Description
The World of Classical Rome explores the historical development of the Roman people, via a study of their
history, politics, and society during the last century of the Roman Republic and the reign of Augustus, the first
Roman emperors.
During the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, the Romans conquered almost the entire Mediterranean world. The wealth
of the Roman empire produced the public baths, gardens, libraries, circuses, theatres and amphitheatres whose
ruins have fascinated the world ever since. An elaborate network of roads and aqueducts all led to the Eternal
City. This was the period which saw the creation of many of the greatest works of ancient art and literature.
Yet this was also an age of corruption, violence, political conflict, civil war, and intrigue. While Rome
conquered the world outside Italy, its political system came under increasing strain and eventually collapsed
into seemingly endless civil wars. Stability was finally restored by Augustus, who replaced republican rule with
monarchy – but at what price?
This course seeks to show how the period concerned was indeed a time of chaos, but also of political and
cultural creativity. Literary sources, archaeology, and epigraphy, are combined to show how classical Roman
civilization took shape, was modified, but at the same time was carried further by Augustus and his successors.
Throughout the course, some of the major issues in the study of the city of Rome and the wider Roman world in
this transitional period are examined closely. Primary sources and secondary literature from a variety of
disciplinary perspectives reveal the drama of the history, society, and culture of Classical Rome and its empire.
This course focuses on evaluating the theories, research findings, and analyses which seek to explain one of the
most turbulent but creative periods of world history.
Learning Outcomes
This course is a survey of Roman history from the mid 2nd century BC to the early 1st century AD. By the end of
the course, students should be able to:
 Demonstrate knowledge of the events, institutions, trends, significant political, cultural and social
accomplishments of the age, and of its major figures.
 Show awareness of the problems and debates concerning key themes from this period of history.
 Demonstrate an understanding of the working of historical mechanisms. They need to be able to
scrutinize, evaluate and critically analyze the available source material, and be sensitive to the problems
of interpreting evidence.
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Required Text / Materials
 Christopher S. Mackay, The Breakdown of the Roman Republic: From Oligarchy to Empire (Cambridge
University Press).
 Reader
Attendance Policy
In accordance with the JFRC mission to promote a higher level of academic rigor, all courses adhere to the
following absence policy:
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For all classes meeting once a week, students cannot incur more than one unexcused absence.
For all classes meeting twice a week, students cannot incur more than two unexcused absences.
For all classes meeting three times a week, students cannot incur more than two unexcused absences.
This course meets twice a week, thus a total of two unexcused absence(s) will be permitted. Unexcused
absences beyond these will result in a lowering of your final grade.
Evaluation
Final grade assessments will be based on the combination of two exams, one mid-term and one final, and one
large essay concerning a topic of free choice and based on primary sources and secondary literature. A small
percentage of each student’s grade will be derived from attendance and participation.
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Participation
Midterm Exam
Paper
Final Exam
10 %
30 %
30 %
30 %
The two exams will test your knowledge and understanding of material in the textbook (Christopher S. Mackay,
The Breakdown of the Roman Republic), the topics dealt with in the lectures and seminars, and the additional
literature prescribed for each class. The textbook provides a general outline of the developments of Roman
history, society and culture in the period.
Grading
94-100: A
90-93: A87-89: B+
84-86: B
80-83: B77-79: C+
74-76: C
70-73: C67-69: D+
60-66: D
59 or lower: F
Written work and examinations meriting the grade of “A” (excellent) must:
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address the assigned question or topic directly and intelligently;
demonstrate a careful and considered reading of the texts at hand;
present a lucid thesis and a reasoned argument in its defense;
use correct grammar, punctuation, and sentence construction;
make appropriate use of quotations from the texts;
reveal thoughtfulness, originality and insight.
Written work and examinations awarded the grade of “B” (good) adequately fulfil a majority of these criteria,
with areas of improvement indicated by grading remarks and comments.
The grade of “C” (average) is given when written work and examinations fail to meet most criteria, therefore
indicating to the student that an appointment should be made with the professor, before the next assignment, to
discuss methods for improvement.
Finally, the grade of “D” is assigned to written work and examinations that are unacceptable, according to the
criteria outlined above, in which case an appointment must be made with the professor and arrangements
determined for re-submitting the assignments in an acceptable form.
The Essay
Students are free to choose their own essay topic (within the general subject matter of the course), in
consultation with the instructor. All essay topics must be approved by the instructor, and students must produce
a rough draft of their essay for review before final submission of the essay.
Students are expected to base their essay on suitable reading, consisting of relevant primary sources and
appropriate modern scholarly literature (books, journal articles, and scholarly reference works, whether in
printed or online form). They must show that they have made a reasonable effort to read and engage with any
reading for their essay suggested by the instructor.
This semester’s timetable is as follows: deadline for essay proposals, Thursday 16 March (Wk 8); deadline for
submission of draft, Thursday 6 April (Wk 11); final submission deadline, Thursday 20 April (Wk 13).
Essays submitted after the final deadline will be penalized by a grade.
Essays have a word-limit of 3,000 words, including footnotes/endnotes.
Academic Honesty
Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty are unacceptable at the JFRC and will be dealt with in
accordance with Loyola University Chicago’s guidelines. Please familiarize yourself with Loyola’s standards
here: http://www.luc.edu/academics/catalog/undergrad/reg_academicintegrity.shtml. You are responsible for
understanding what constitutes plagiarism according to the LUC Student Handbook.
Disabilities
Students with documented disabilities who wish to discuss academic accommodations should contact the
instructor during the first week of class, as well as the Senior Academic Services Advisor.
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Course Program
Week 1:
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Christopher S. Mackay, The Breakdown of the Roman Republic, 10-30, 405-412
G.J. Bradley, ‘The Roman Republic: Political History’, in E. Bispham (ed.), Roman Europe (Oxford 2008), 3268.
Mary Beard and Michael Crawford, Rome in the Late Republic, 2nd ed. (London 1999), 40-59.
Edward Bispham, ‘Literary Sources’, in N. Morstein-Marx and N. Rosenstein, A Companion to the Roman
Republic (Oxford 2006), 29-50.
Week 2:
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Sulla and the Reaction
Mackay, Breakdown, 134-195.
Arthur Keaveney, Sulla: The Last Republican, 2nd ed. (London 2005), 45-63, 140-167.
P.A. Brunt, ‘The Army and the Land in the Roman Revolution’, in P.A. Brunt, The Fall of the Roman Republic
and Related Essays (Oxford, 1988), 240-280.
Week 5:
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Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and the return of popular politics
Mackay, Breakdown, 196-228.
Robin Seager, Pompey the Great: A Political Biography, 2nd ed. (Oxford 2002), 30-62.
Federico Santangelo, ‘Roman Politics in the 70s B.C.: a Story of Realignments?’, Journal of Roman Studies 104
(2014), 1-27.
Fergus Millar, The Crowd in Rome in the Late Republic (Ann Arbor 1998), 73-93.
Week 6:
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Gaius Marius and Popular Politics
Mackay, Breakdown, 84-133
Fergus Millar, ‘Politics, Persuasion and the People before the Social War (150–90 B.C.)’, Journal of Roman
Studies 76 (1986), 1-11. Reprinted in Fergus Millar, Rome, the Greek World, and the East, vol. 1, The Roman
Republic and the Augustan Revolution, edited by H.M. Cotton and G.M. Rogers (Chapel Hill/London, 2002),
143-161.
Alexander Yakobson, Elections and Electioneering in Rome (Stuttgart 1999), 13-19.
Henrik Mouritsen, Italian Unification: A Study in Ancient and Modern Historiography (Bulletin of the Institute of
Classical Studies Supplement 70; London 1998)’, 109-127.
P.A. Brunt, ‘Italian Aims at the time of the Social War’, in P.A. Brunt, The Fall of the Roman Republic and
Related Essays (Oxford, 1988), 93-143.
Week 4
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The Gracchi
Mackay, Breakdown, 30-83.
David Stockton, The Gracchi (Oxford, 1979), 1-86.
Stephen L. Dyson, Community and Society in Roman Italy (Baltimore/London, 1992), 23-55.
Week 3:
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The Rise of Rome
Cicero
Mackay, Breakdown, 229-237.
Elizabeth Rawson, Cicero: A Portrait (London 1975), 60-88.
Catherine Steel, Reading Cicero (London 2005), 21-48.
Anthony Corbeill, ‘Cicero and the intellectual milieu of the late Republic’ in C. Steel (ed.), The Cambridge
Companion to Cicero (Cambridge 2013), 9-24.
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Ann Vasaly, ‘The political impact of Cicero’s speeches’, in C. Steel (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Cicero
(Cambridge 2013), 141-159.
Week 7:
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J.A. North, ‘Democratic Politics in Republican Rome’, Past & Present 126 (1990), 3-21.
Fergus Millar, ‘Popular politics at Rome in the Late Republic’, in I. Malkin and Z.W. Rubinsohn (eds.), Leaders
and Masses in the Roman World: Studies in Honor of Zvi Yavetz (Leiden, 1995), pp. 91-113. Reprinted in Fergus
Millar, Rome, the Greek World, and the East, vol. 1, The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution, edited by
H.M. Cotton and G.M. Rogers (Chapel Hill/London, 2002), 162-182.
Alexander Yakobson, Elections and Electioneering in Rome (Stuttgart 1999), 156-177.
Karl-Joachim Hölkeskamp, ‘The Roman Republic: government of the people, by the people, for the people?’,
Scripta Classica Israelica 19 (2000), 203-233.
Week 8:
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Augustus: Politics and Constitution, Expansion and Succession
Mackay, Breakdown, 362-402.
Walter Eder, ‘Augustus and the Power of Tradition’, in K. Galinsky (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age
of Augustus (Cambridge, 2005), 13-32.
Erich S. Gruen, ‘Augustus and the Making of the Principate’, in K. Galinsky (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to
the Age of Augustus (Cambridge, 2005), 33-51.
J.W. Rich, ‘Augustus, War and Peace’, in J. Edmondson (ed.), Augustus (Edinburgh 2009), 137-164.
Week 11:
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From the Ides of March to Actium
Mackay, Breakdown, pp. 304-361.
Andrew Lintott, ‘The Assassination’, in Miriam Griffin (ed.), A Companion to Julius Caesar (Chichester 2009),
72-82.
Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford, 1939), 227-258.
Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, trans. A. Shapiro (Ann Arbor, 1988), 33-77.
Week 10:
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Caesar
Mackay, Breakdown, 238-303.
Erich S. Gruen, ‘Caesar as a Politician’, in Miriam Griffin (ed.), A Companion to Julius Caesar (Chichester
2009), 23-36.
W. Jeffrey Tatum, The Patrician Tribune: Publius Clodius Pulcher (Chapel Hill 1999), 150-75.
Robert Morstein-Marx, ‘Caesar's Alleged Fear of Prosecution and His Ratio Absentis in the Approach to the Civil
War’, Historia 56/2 (2007), 159-178.
Elizabeth Rawson, ‘Caesar’s Heritage: Hellenistic Kings and their Roman Equals’, Journal of Roman Studies 65
(1975), 148-159.
Week 9:
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The Roman Republic: Democracy alla Romana?
Augustus: Art and Patronage, Morality and Ideology
Diane Favro, ‘Making Rome a world city’, in K. Galinsky (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of
Augustus (Cambridge, 2005), 234-263.
Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, trans. A. Shapiro (Ann Arbor, 1988), 79-165.
Susan Treggiari, ‘Women in the Time of Augustus’, in K. Galinsky (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age
of Augustus, 130-147.
Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, ‘Family and Inheritance in the Augustan Marriage Laws’, Proceedings of the
Cambridge Philological Society, n.s. 27 (1981), 58-80.
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Week 12:
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Augustus: Res Gestae
Alison E. Cooley, Res gestae divi Augusti. Text, Translation, and Commentary (Cambridge, 2009), 58-101.
Fergus Millar, ‘State and subject: the impact of monarchy’, in Fergus Millar and Erich Segal (eds.), Caesar
Augustus. Seven Aspects (Oxford, 1984), 37-60.
Nicholas Purcell, ‘Romans in the Roman World’, in K. Galinsky (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of
Augustus (Cambridge, 2005), 85-105.
Greg Woolf, ‘Provincial Perspectives’, in K. Galinsky (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus
(Cambridge, 2005), 106-129.
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