Course syllabus

Ancient History 260/360:

Roman Revolutions

Semester 2, 2017

 

 

   Lecturers:                   Dr Jeremy Armstrong               Assoc. Prof. Lisa Bailey

                                       js.armstrong@auckland.ac.nz       lk.bailey@auckland.ac.nz

                                       206-804 (Arts 1, room 804)          206-808 (Arts 1, room 808)                                                                                                                       Office Hr : Tuesday 3-4                 Office Hr: Friday 10.30-11.30

 

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

 

This course will cover the history, politics, society and culture of Rome during the late Republic and early Imperial periods. Designed to expand on the material covered in ANCHIST 103 and supplement existing course offerings in both Ancient History and Classical Studies, the course will employ a number of faculty within the department to offer a wide ranging investigation into this important period which will deal with not only various aspects of ancient Roman society, but also modern debates around them.

 

 

 

COURSE SPECIFICS

 

The course will be conducted primarily in a lecture format, although there may be occasional group activities. There will not be a tutorial. The material covered in the lectures will be supplemented by readings from the required texts (see below). Please note that each student will be expected to know (and will be tested on) both the material covered in the lectures and that contained in the reading. As a result, although class attendance is not mandatory, it is expected and will be crucial to achieving a good grade in this course.

 

 

COURSE ASSESSMENT

 

The course will be assessed by means of 1 essay (approx. 1,500 words for Stage II and 2,000 words for Stage III) worth 30%, 1 group project (details below) worth 20% and a final exam (2 hours) worth 50%.

Instructions on the essay and group project are provided at the end of the syllabus. If you have any specific questions about what will be expected, on either the exam or the essays, please contact the lecturers as soon as possible.

 

 

STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

 

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence.  The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting his or her learning.  Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced.   This requirement also applies to sources on the world-wide web.  A student's assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms.  Upon reasonable request, students may be required to provide an electronic version of their work for computerised review.

 

 

READING

 

For the first half of the course you will also be expected to read Shotter’s The Fall of the Roman Republic  (Shotter, D. (2005) The Fall of the Roman Republic (2^nd ed.). Routledge: London.) in order to acquaint yourself with the broad sequence of events in a bit more detail than was covered in ANCHIST 103. You will also be assigned particular chapters from the Cambridge Ancient History (3^rd ed.) (hereafter CAH), which is available as an e-resource. In the second half of the course, there are recommended sections each week from Lewis, N and Reinhold, M. Roman Civilization: Selected Readings, volume 2, The Empire (3^rd ed.) Columbia University Press, New York, NY, 1990 (hereafter L&R) and from the CAH. L&R is recommended for purchase, but is also available on Short Loan and in the Lacey Library (206-710). Again, the CAH is available electronically. If you use older editions of either, the text the pages and sections will not match what is listed below, and some material may be out of date.

 

 

 

COURSE STRUCTURE

 

 

WEEK ONE: Introduction/Rome in the 2^nd Century BC

                   Lecture 1: Introduction

                   Lecture 2: The Second Century BC (1)        

                   Lecture 3: The Second Century BC (2)

Reading: Shotter Chapters 1-2, CAH vol. 9, chapter 2

 

WEEK TWO: The Army and the Land

                   Lecture 4: The Roman Army of the Republic

                   Lecture 5: The Economics of Warfare and the Marian Reforms

                   Lecture 6: P.A. Brunt’s ‘The Army and the Land’

Reading: Shotter Chapters 3-4, CAH vol. 9, chapters 3-4

 

WEEK THREE: The Civil Wars and Augustan Settlement

                   Lecture 7: The Civil Wars (1)

                   Lecture 8: The Civil Wars (2)

                   Lecture 9: Roman Historiography (19^th and 20^th C)

Reading: Shotter Chapters 5-7, CAH vol. 9, chapters 9-11

 

WEEK FOUR: Families, Clients and Communities

                   Lecture 10: Roman Families

                   Lecture 11: Patronage

                   Lecture 12: Social Connections in Context

Reading: CAH vol. 9, chapters 15-17

 

WEEK FIVE: The Wider Mediterranean                                                                                                                                                

                 Lecture 13: Caesar and Gaul 

                 Lecture 14: Pompey and the East

                  Lecture 15: Livy and Roman History

Reading: CAH vol. 9, chapters 10-11, and 18

 

WEEK SIX: Augustus and After

                   Lecture 19: Augustus

                   Lecture 20: Julio-Claudians

                   Lecture 21: Flavians

Reading: L&R Vol. 2, pp. 2-4, 8-9, 16, 347-50, 354-8; CAH vol. 10, chapters 2-3, 5-7.

Essay Due Friday September 1^st, 4pm

 

MID-SEMESTER BREAK 

 

WEEK SEVEN: Revolutions in Literature

                   Lecture 16: Revolutions in Literature (1)

                   Lecture 17: Revolutions in Literature (2)

                   Lecture 18: Revolutions in Literature (3)

 

WEEK EIGHT: The Second Century

                   Lecture 22: Nerva to Hadrian

                   Lecture 23: The Antonines

                   Lecture 24: Pertinax to the Severans

Reading: L&R Vol. 2, pp. 6-7, 11-12, 21-3, 37-8, 373-80; CAH vol. 11, chapters 2-3

 

WEEK NINE:  Presentations week

 

WEEK TEN: Rome and the Provinces

                   Lecture 25: The Urban Ideal

                   Lecture 26: Administration, Economy and Trade

                   Lecture 27: Control and Resistance

Reading: L&R Vol. 2, pp. 52-61, 107-13, 231-2, 251-5, 278-88, 329-37; CAH vol. 10, chapters 4, 10, 15; vol. 11, chapter 11

 

WEEK ELEVEN: Religion

                   Lecture 28: Imperial Cult

                   Lecture 29: Religions of the Roman Empire (1)

                   Lecture 30: Religions of the Roman Empire (2)

Reading: L&R Vol. 2, pp. 514-28, 541-8, 550-56, 562-4; CAH vol. 10, chapter 16; vol. 11, chapter 35

 

WEEK TWELVE: Worlds of Learning

                   No lecture Oct 23^rd – Labour Day

                   Lecture 34: The Army and the Provinces

                   Lecture 35: Conclusions and Exam Preparation

.

 

ESSAY

 

The essay will be due on the Friday of Week 6 (1 September) by 4pm. It must be submitted both in paper copy to the Arts Assignment Centre and electronically through Canvas. Please make sure you include a signed cover sheet on the paper copy. The purpose of the essay is to encourage historical analysis and you will be expected to utilize both primary and secondary sources in your essay to argue a specific point. In order to achieve a 100%, your work should demonstrate wide knowledge, an awareness of the current state of thinking on the subject, independence of mind, initiative and intellectual rigor. The essay should be clearly prepared, with a well-structured argument, avoiding irrelevance. The essay should also stay focused on answering the question throughout and avoid being overly descriptive or including evidence that is not directly relevant to the overall argument. It should also be noted that there will be different expectations for Stage II and Stage III in terms of quality, depth, nuance, use of both primary and secondary material, etc.

Please note: Stage 2 students can access the readings for each essay in the reading lists section of the course canvas page for stage 2; BUT stage 3 students need to go to the modules section on the course canvas page.

 

 

Choose one (1) of the following questions:

 

1. The writings of Virgil and Cicero present two very different views of the ‘Roman Revolution’. Critically analyze the work of both authors and discuss how the end of the Republic was viewed by those living and writing through it. Use specific examples and be sure to include discussion of what influences (social position, political involvement, patronage, etc.) may have shaped the views of these two men.

 

2. Discuss the competing concerns of ‘personal ambition’ and ‘dealing with existing social and political issues’ in driving the decisions and events of the ‘Roman Revolution’, looking specifically at the careers and reforms of Marius, Sulla and Caesar.

 

3. Analyze how the ‘Augustan Settlement’ represented a concerted attempt to deal with the ‘problems of empire’ which had plagued Rome since the late 2^nd century BC. Please include discussion of at least three (3) specific aspects of the settlement, identifying the problems they were meant to address, in addition to commenting on its overall success.

 

4. How and why has the ‘standard’ scholarly opinion of the ‘Roman Revolution’ changed from the mid-19^th century until the present day? Discuss the dominant positions on the matter for the three (3) periods of 1850-1900, 1900-1950, and 1950-Present, presenting the major historians, debates, and possible influences on each.

 

GROUP PROJECT

 

The group project will be based around group presentations which will occur during Week 9 (October 2-6), although materials for it will be due by 4pm on 29 September. Everyone in the class will be assigned to a group and given a topic in Week 3. You will be placed into Canvas groups which will allow you to communicate with each other and plan how to tackle the research. You will then work together on a group presentation of roughly 5 minutes on your particular topic, including both a PowerPoint and a 2 page (or 1 page, front and back) handout for the class including bibliography. The PowerPoint and handout must be submitted digitally by 4pm on 29 September. The group will present in class during the week of October 2-6.

 

How you divide the work for the project is up to you, as a group, and only one or two people from each group need to give the presentation itself. Following the presentation, you will all be asked to fill in a form detailing and assessing your own contribution and that of your other group members. Grades will be determined by a combination of a mark for the group presentation and associated materials, and a mark for individual participation/work done by various members of the group. If individuals are judged not to have contributed fairly to the group, this will be reflected in the final grade they achieve for this assignment. Assessments from all individuals within the group will be compared. We recommend that you document work done by each member of the group as you proceed, in order to make this process as simple as possible at the end.

 

Groups of stage 2 students will be assigned an event to research, groups of stage 3 students will be assigned a person. In your 5 min presentation, groups should give a brief description of your event or person, examine the evidence for that event or person (and any problems with that evidence), and explain the importance or significance of that event or person. This assessment is intended to develop your research skills, so we will not be providing a bibliography. Instead, we want to see whether you are able to determine (as a group), which are the best and most reliable sources to use to find out about your event or person.

 

 

A brief note on internet sources…

 

WARNING: DO NOT USE WIKIPEDIA, OR OTHER NON-ACADEMIC WEBSITES, AS SOURCES FOR ACADEMIC WORK!

 

There are a wide range of very good websites and e-resources available on the internet. However, there are many, many more bad sites than good ones. You need to check whether a site contains peer-reviewed material. This is the process of rigorous vetting for accuracy and scholarly quality which most published books and articles go through. Wikipedia, although often an invaluable resource, is not a valid source for academic papers and essays. This is because ANYONE can post ANYTHING on Wikipedia (and the same is true for most of the internet), without going through peer review. While this does not mean that the information on Wikipedia is necessarily incorrect, you really shouldn’t put your grade in the hands of an anonymous person on the internet… For your essays, we recommend that you stick to the recommended readings on the reading list, and for the group presentation we suggest that you find and use peer-reviewed sources to impress us with your research skills.