Insegnamento
ROMAN HISTORY
Docente
MARCO MAIURO
The course offers an overview of the main events, historical problems and modern debates about the last century of the Republic (133-31 BC), with incursions into the Augustan age. The focus is mainly political and social history. Students are required to take advantage of the recorded lectures, and to do a set of readings (as listed below), on which the final exam will be conducted.
The program addresses the study of the last century of the republic through six different sections:
I. Introduction
II. From the Gracchi to the Social War
III. The collapse of the political order 89-49
IV. Continuous Civil Wars 49-31
V. Towards a new order 29 BC-20AD
VI. Selected themes on Late Republican History.
Every student should be familiar with Roman History. Those who are not, will read as introduction to the topic B.D. Nagle, Ancient Rome. A History.
There are a couple of recent, good single-volume manuals on the Republic, K. Bringmann, A History of the Republic, [henceforth KB] which covers also early republican history, and C. Steel, The end of the Roman Republic, 146 to 44 BC. Conquest and Crisis [henceforth CS]. Students must read at least one of them.
The 9th and 10th Volumes of the Cambridge Ancient History (2nd edition) [henceforth CAH], covers basically everything important about the period. Some essays, are mandatory readings.
Primary sources
The best anthology of written evidence for students of Roman History is N. Lewis and M. Reinhold, Roman Civilization, vol. I [henceforth LR]. Students must read Appian, Civil Wars (in translation, Penguin Classics) and A.E. Cooley, Res Gestae Divi Augusti. Text translation, and commentary. A good knowledge of those two sources, together with selected parts of LR, is a prerequisite for passing the exam.
Other collections: Plutarch, Rome in Crisis (Penguins Classics) and Plutarch, Fall of the Roman Republic (Penguins Classics); as for Cicero, students can consult Cicero, Political Speeches (Oxford World Classics). Every literary source can be found on the web with a decent English translation; I would recommend to use the Loeb’s collection.
A thorough understanding of geography is fundamental. There are several historical atlases, the most important of which is The Barrington’s Atlas of the Ancient World.
The teaching tools used are video lessons. The didactic contents are organized in modules, so that the study can be personalized by the individual student with respect to the characteristics of his / her personal path and study time.
The course is developed through:
20 hours of frontal teaching (29 video lectures)
6 hours of interactive teaching (write a book review).
The procedures to complete the self-assessment will be provided.
The evaluation will consist in an oral exam (questions concerning general and specific topics addressed during the lessons + bibliography). Students are strongly encouraged to prepare a book review, that will be evaluated during the exam.
The acquired knowledge and competencies will allow the graduates to be employed as professional archaeologists in a wide range of potential institutions, such as those connected to cultural heritage management, protection and valorisation.