Classics 219: The Roman Empire

CLASSICS 219: THE ROMAN EMPIRE
2005 Syllabus

Welcome to CLA/HIS 219: The Roman Empire. All of the course material (and more) is available on this web site.

TEXTBOOKS N.B.: All of these should be on closed reserve at Firestone.

The following books are required for purchase, and are available at Micawber Books, 110-114 Nassau Street.

Ward, Allen Mason , Fritz M. Heichelheim, & Cedric A. Yeo. A History of the Roman People 4th edn. (Prentice Hall, 2003) = WARD
NB: Be sure you purchase the 4TH EDITION.
Lewis, N. & M. Reinhold. Roman Civilization, Volume II: The Empire 3rd edn. (Columbia U.P., 1990) = L&R

NB: Be sure you purchase the 3RD EDITION.

L & R readings will normally be referred to by their numbered sections.

Apuleius, The Golden Ass, trans. P.G. Walsh (Oxford U.P., 1995)
Virgil, The Aeneid of Virgil, trans. A. Mandelbaum (Bantam, 1981)

Important readings will be found in the following:

P. Brown, The World of Late Antiquity (Norton, 1989) = Brown
N. Lewis & M. Reinhold, Roman Civilization Sourcebook I: The Republic and the Augustan Age 3rd edn. (Columbia U.P., 1990) = L&R I
Juvenal, The Satires, trans. N. Rudd (Oxford U.P., 1992)
Lives of the Later Caesars, trans. A. Birley (Penguin, 1976)
Pliny, The Letters of the Younger Pliny, trans. B. Radice (Penguin, 1963)
Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, trans. R. Graves (Penguin, rev. ed. 1979)
Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome, trans. M. Grant (Penguin, rev. edn. 1971)

There will be two ways of gaining access to these works:

All of them are on closed reserve in the Reserve Reading Room in Firestone Library. OR
With the exception of Brown and L & R I, the assigned sections of all of them are available on the Classics 219 Homepage. Click on the E-Texts link on the home page or click on the appropriate precept and then on the text required. (Note: the translations used on the homepage will normally not be the same as those in Firestone.)

[↑]

ASSIGNMENTS

About 100 pages of assigned readings in primary source materials and modern interpretations each week.

Occasional brief preceptorial quizzes, normally requiring identification of significant historical items from the lectures and readings of that week; 2 of these quizzes, however, will be map quizzes (dates noted below).

[↑]

GRADING

Preceptorial attendance and participation	30%
Preceptorial quizzes and papers	20%
Midterm Examination	20%
Final Examination	30%

There are no prerequisite courses, and no knowledge of Greek or Latin is assumed. P/D/F and Audit options are possible; auditors may not attend precepts. There is no grading curve.

[↑]

PRECEPTORIALS

Please: prepare adequately to participate intelligently in precepts. Readings, questions to think about, and other information will be available for each precept on the web.

Unexcused absence from more than 2 precepts will result in an automatic grade of F for the course (sorry: I want you there).

FRESHMAN/SOPHOMORE PRECEPT

I will run a special precept open to any freshman or sophomore who has some curiosity and is willing to put in a bit of extra time. You need have no experience of classics or the ancient world. The precept is open to freshmen and sophomores only.

There will be a modest amount of extra reading each week (I'll aim for about 30 pages), representing the best of modern scholarship on a topic connected with the precept topic of the week. I will expect that everyone in the precept has read it, and I will expect a higher level of group participation. In return, there will be no extra credit, just wild fun and the enormous thrill of having the professor as your preceptor.

The precept will meet Thurdays at 1:30 PM..

[↑]

LECTURES & PRECEPTS
wk. 0 Sept. 16 Lecture 1 The Rise of Rome

wk. 1	Sept. 20	Lecture 2	Hannibal's Revenge
	Sept. 22	Lecture 3	First Citizen
		No Precept. Read Virgil's Aeneid, at least Books 1-4 [pages 1-104 in the Mandelbaum translation; any translation will do, but I prefer this one]. And be familiar with the contents of L&R I, Introduction, pp. 1-49.

wk. 2	Sept. 27	Lecture 4	Restoration
	Sept. 29	Lecture 5	From Brick to Marble
		Precept 1	The Deeds of Augustus


wk. 3	Oct. 4	Lecture 6	The Limits of Empire
	Oct. 6	Lecture 7	The Emperor at Work
		Precept 2	Arms and the Man


wk. 4	Oct. 11	Lecture 8	The Haves
	Oct. 13	Lecture 9	The Have-Nots
		Precept 3	I, Claudius	1st map quiz

wk. 5	Oct. 18	Lecture 10	Social Order
	Oct. 20	Lecture 11	Men and Dynasties
		Precept 4	Slavery	1st paper due


wk 6	Oct. 25	MIDTERM EXAM
	Oct. 27	Lecture 12	A Double-Edged Sword
		No Precept	NB Reading in Ward TBA
FALL RECESS



wk. 7	Nov. 8	Lecture 13	City and Empire
	Nov. 10	Lecture 14	Civilization
		Precept 5	Control


wk. 8	Nov. 15	Lecture 15	Showtime!
	Nov. 17	Lecture 16	Centrifuge
		Precept 6	City Life	2nd paper due

wk. 9	Nov. 22	Lecture 17	Barbarians
	Nov. 24	No Lecture	Give Thanks
		Precept 7	The Golden Ass	NB: some precepts will run a week behind from here -- to be arranged.


wk. 10	Nov. 27	Lecture 18	Belief
	Dec. 1	Lecture 19	Christianity
		Precept 8	Persecution	2nd map quiz

wk. 11	Dec. 6	Lecture 20	The Age of Anxiety
	Dec. 8	Lecture 21	The New Empire
		Precept 9	Death and Renewal

wk. 12	Dec. 13	Lecture 22	Church and Emperor
	Dec. 15	Lecture 23	Decline and Fall?
		Precept 10	Christianity Triumphant	3rd paper due

[↑]

SOME THINGS WORTH KNOWING.....

Primary Sources: The major sources for this period are literary works, particularly histories and biographies, but also letters, novels, and poems, written by Greek and Latin authors. You should try to get an acquaintance with the major writers (the nature and scope of their works, and their biases), and with ancillary types of evidence, particularly inscriptions and papyri. For a general introduction read Lewis and Reinhold's introduction at L&R I, pp. 1-49.

*NB*: whenever you meet a new source, check L&R I's Introduction: the Sources, which covers authors (pp. 10-37), laws (pp. 37-44), inscriptions, papyri and coins (pp. 44-49). *It will be assumed that you are familiar with these.*

Names of Persons and Institutions: Consult the Oxford Classical Dictionary [Firestone Reference Room: (DR) DE5 09] for any item about which you are uncertain. Or consult the the OCD online: Oxford Classical Dictionary (@ Firestone Library)

Also check the Glossaries in: L&R I, pp. 647-650, and L&R pp. 641-644.

*NB*: The important Roman Emperors and the dates of their reigns are listed in: Max Cary and H.H. Scullard, A History of the Roman People Down to the Reign of Constantine, 3rd edn., 1975, at p.571. There are several copies of this book on reserve in the Firestone Reserve Reading Room, at 2958. 242. 11 1975. You will be expected to know the names and dates of emperors from Augustus to Severus Alexander for the midterm exam, and from Augustus to Constantine for the final exam. This is not just for Trivial Pursuit -- they are very useful chronological signposts to help you get your bearings over almost four centuries of history.

Chronology: You are strongly advised to draft your own chart or time-line of the dates you think are the most important ones, from both lectures and readings. Every date you'll ever need can be found in Cary & Scullard at pp. 559-566.

Geography: It is crucial to know where things happened in history. Note the useful maps at Ward, pp. 12, 79, 92, 272, 282; Brown, pp. 208ff.; Lives of the Later Caesars, pp. 323ff.; Pliny, pp. 312f.; Suetonius, pp. 342ff.; Tacitus, pp. 418ff.

Every place you could possibly need to know about can be found in two volumes in the Firestone Reference Room: N.G.L. Hammond, Atlas of the Greek and Roman World in Antiquity (1981) [(DR) G1033 .A84 1981f]; and R.J.A. Talbert, Atlas of Classical History (1985) [(DR) G1033 .A833 1985], a selection from which is posted for you here: 219 MAPS

You should know and be able to locate at least the following. They are listed more or less clockwise around the empire, and with rough modern equivalents:

Italy: Rome, Mediolan(i)um (Milan), Neapolis (Naples), Pompeii; Tiber River

Spain/Portugal: Hispania Tarraconensis, Lusitania, Baetica;

Gades (Cadiz), Corduba (Cordova)

France: Narbonensis, Aquitania, Lugdunensis;

Massilia (Marseilles), Nemausus (Nîmes), Lugdunum (Lyons);
Rhône River

Britain: Britannia; Londinium (London), Eburacum (York); Hadrian's Wall

Germany/Austria/Hungary: Belgica, Germania Inferior, Germania Superior, Rhaetia, Noricum, Pannonia;

Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne), Moguntiacum (Mainz), Carnuntum, Aquincum, Sirmium
Rhine River, Danube River

Balkans: Dalmatia/Illyricum, Upper Moesia, Lower Moesia, Dacia,Thrace, Macedonia, Achaia/Achaea;

Athens, Corinth, Byzantium/Constantinople (Istanbul)

Asia Minor: Asia, Bithynia-Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia;

Pergamum, Smyrna, Ephesus, Tarsus, Samosata;

Near East: Syria, Judaea, Arabia;

Antioch, Dura, Jerusalem, Caesarea

North Africa: Egypt, Cyrene, Africa, Numidia, Mauretania;

Alexandria, Cyrene, Lepcis Magna, Carthage, Lambaesis;
Nile River

Mediterranean: Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Cyprus; Aegean Sea, Adriatic Sea

Outside: Armenia, Parthia, Mesopotamia; Ctesiphon, Babylon, Artaxata;

North Sea, Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus), Red Sea; Euphrates River, Tigris River

*NB*: The first map quiz will cover the western half of the empire on the North side of the Mediterranean, from Italy through the Balkans inclusive; the second map quiz will cover everything else, from Asia Minor through to Outside.

• Further questions, contact Caesar Imperator Maximus, E.J. Champlin:
champlin@princeton.edu
Tel 258-3959
Office 151 East Pyne

Office Hours: M 2:00-2:50, Th 3:30-4:20, or by appointment.

[↑]