CLCS 383: CULTURE AND SOCIETY OF IMPERIAL ROME

SPRING 2024

CLCS 383 ARM 1103, 10:30AM

CLCS 383 SC 239, 1:30 PM

PRELIMINARY SYLLABUS JAN. 2024

 

Roman Empire, web links

 

Assigned Readings:

William C. Morey, Outlines of Roman History

Sir William Smith, Smaller History of Rome (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b196000&seq=23)

Rauh, CLCS 181 Website: Classical World Civilizations  (http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~rauhn/Hist_416/hist420/HIST420_INDEX.htm)

Packback Assignments (you must purchase Packback access; see below)

History 102 On-line Lectures and Notes: Archaic Rome, The Roman Constitution, The Roman Aristocratic Ethos, Roman Imperialism The Fall of the Roman Republic, Dictators and Emperors, The Pax Romana, Late Philosophical Developments, Augustan "Flow Chart"; Augustan Settlement Notes; Tiberius Notes, Caligula Notes, Claudius Notes, Nero Notes, Women’s Notes, Civic Life Notes, Notes to Religion lecture; Religion table, Fall of Roman Empire Notes; Diocletian; Germanic Invasions; Rise of Christianity

 

On Line Resources: Perseus Classical Library, including Tacitus, The Annals (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/home.html)

Tacitus, The Histories (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/home.html)

The Private Life of the Romans by Harold Whetstone Johnston, http://www.forumromanum.org/life/johnston.html

Forum Romanum Digital Library of Latin Texts (including translations), http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/table.html

Nikelaos of Damascus, Life of Augustus, http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/nicolaus.html

Plutarch’s Lives (all of the assigned lives are posted here, the life of Caesar is unfortunately truncated), http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/browse-Plutarch.html

Suetonius, Divus Julius,  http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/suetonius-julius.html

 

      Other on-line resources of use:

Attalus.org (an annalistic compendium of source references through 27 BC; it contains hundreds of links to ancient texts in translation)

Plutarch’s Lives (all of the assigned lives are posted here, the life of Caesar is unfortunately truncated), http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/browse-Plutarch.html

Suetonius, Divus Julius,  http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/suetonius-julius.html

R. Syme The Roman Revolution (Oxford, 1939)

The Private Life of the Romans by Harold Whetstone Johnston, http://www.forumromanum.org/life/johnston.html

Forum Romanum Digital Library of Latin Texts (including translations), http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/table.html

Nikelaos of Damascus, Life of Augustus, http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/nicolaus.html

Odds and Ends:

Complete List of the Roman Emperors

Sources for the Roman Empire

Powerpoint for the Julio-Claudians and Antonines

Thumbnail Sketches of Roman Historians

 

COURSE SCHEDULE

 

PART ONE -- FORMATION OF THE PRINCIPATE

JAN. 9- 11:  Introduction; Review of the Roman Republic. Review Morley chapters 1-26; Smith, chapters 26-37;  History 102 On-line Lectures: Archaic RomeThe Roman ConstitutionThe Roman Aristocratic Ethos, Smith, 116-124

 

JAN. 16-18: History 102 On-line Lectures:  Roman Imperialism; Smith, 68-112

 

 

JAN. 23 - 25: History 102 On-line Lectures: The Fall of the Roman RepublicDictators and Emperors; Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar; Smith, 148-250

 

JAN. 30 - FEB. 1: The Augustan Settlement. Morley chapters 23-24; Smith, 252-284; Suetonius, life of Augustus; Suetonius, Life of Augustus; Augustan "Flow Chart"Augustan Settlement Notes; Syme, Roman Revolution, 97-123, 187-201, 276-331, 389-419; Julio-Claudian Dynasty (chart)

 

QUIZ 1, THURSDAY FEB.1

 

FEB. 6   15:  The Reign of Tiberius.  Suet. Life of Tiberius; RECOMMENDED: Tacitus, Annals 1-15 (Death of Augustus). Morley, The Julians (on line textbook); Imperial Administration; Tiberius notes.

 

Feb. 20-22:  Reign of Caligula.  Suet. Life of Gaius, Morley, Chapter 24; Caligula Notes

 

FEB. 27-29:  Reigns of Claudius and Nero.  Suet. Lives of Claudius & NeroThe Julians; Morley, chapter 24, Tac. Ann. Books 9-16; Claudius Notes; Nero Notes; Year of 4 Emperors Notes

 

MIDTERM EXAM IN CLASS TUESDAY MARCH 5

 

MAR 7:  The Year of Four Emperors and the Flavian Emperors. Read Suet. Lives of Vespasian, Titus, Domitian and one of the following: Galba, Otho, or Vitellius; Morley, chapter 25; Tacitus, Histories, Books II-III; ; Flavian Dynasty Notes

 

NO CLASSES THURSDAY MAR. 12-14 (spring break)

PART TWO -- SOCIETY AND CULTURE UNDER THE ANTONINES

 

MAR. 19-21:  RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE; THE ANTONINES PART I, Morey, Outlines, chapter 26; Antonine Notes; Read Polytheistic World ViewsEarly Developments in Greek Rational Thought; Philosophical Developments, Part Two; the Gospel of John; Juvenal, Satire 13; Religion Notes

                                                                          

MAR 26-28:   SEXUALITY AND GENDER RELATIONS; Petronius, the Satyricon; Juvenal, Satires, 2, 6, 11; Notes on Status of Women; Additional Aid, Greek Gender and Sexuality

 

APRIL 2-4: LIVING CONDITIONS IN ROME AND THE EMPIRE; LAW AND ECONOMY; CULTURAL HOMOGENEITY; THE ANTONINES II.  I, Morley, chapter 26; Antonine  Notes; Civic Life; Petronius, the Banquet of Trimalchio; The Private Life of the Romans by Harold Whetstone Johnston, 

http://www.forumromanum.org/life/johnston.html; Juvenal, Satires 3, 5, 8, 12, 15; 

 

QUIZ 2, THURSDAY APRIL 4

 

PART THREE -- THE LATER ROMAN EMPIRE

 

APRIL 9-11:  THE THIRD CENTURY CRISIS, IMPERIAL REORGANIZATION; DIOCLETIAN and CONSTANTINE. Morey, Outlines, chapter 27-28; Smith, 316-343; On Line aids,  Fall of Roman Empire Notes; Diocletian.

 

APRIL 16-18, THE RISE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH; GERMANIC INVASIONS AND KINGDOMS, JUSTINIAN'S RECONQUEST. Morley, chapters 28-29; Smith, 316-343; online aid, Rise of Christianity, Germanic Invasions

 

APRIL 23-25, NO CLASS, prepare for online final.

 

FINAL EXAM WILL BE TAKE HOME, DUE WED. MAY 1, 11:59 PM.