The ancient world: rome

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1 hour / session

Recitation: 1 session / week, 1 hour / session

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Textbook

Boatwright, Mary, Daniel Gargola,‎ Noel Lenski, et al. The Romans, From Village to Empire: A History of Rome from Earliest Times to the End of the Western Empire. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780199730575.

Ancient sources in translation

Livy. The Rise of Rome: Books 1–5. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by T.J. Luce. Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780199540044.

Plutarch. Roman Lives. Translated by Robin Waterfield, with Introductions and Notes by Philip A. Stadter. Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780199537389. [Preview with Google Books]

Suetonius. Lives of the Caesars. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Catharine Edwards. Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN: 0199537569. [Preview with Google Books]

Tacitus. The Annals. Translated, with Introduction and Notes, by A.J. Woodman. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2004. ISBN: 9780872205581. [Preview with Google Books]

For additional readings, see the Readings section.

The Oxford Classical Dictionary, a scholarly and authoritative encyclopedia of all things ancient Greek and Roman.

The Loeb Classical Library Online. The LCL has for generations been the go-to collection for reading English translations of ancient texts alongside the original Greek or Latin. Some of the translations are now quite old and correspondingly stilted; but the collection is comprehensive and reliable.

LacusCurtius. Many of the same texts appear on the LCL site, but here in a format that some will find more user-friendly. Also includes collections of photos of Latin inscriptions and theatres inter alia.

Your final grade for the subject will be based on the following THREE elements of assessment. Please note that failure in any one of the three elements of the subject will result in a failing grade for the whole.

Class Participation

Your grade for class participation will be based on the following:

Attendance
You are required to attend both of the weekly lectures and your weekly recitation.

Readings
You are required to complete all reading assignments in time for the meeting with which they are associated, as indicated in the Readings table. You are also required to bring with you to lecture/recitation a copy of any reading that has been assigned.

Active participation
You are expected to arrive at each of our meetings having completed all the reading and prepared to pose questions and actively to contribute to the discussion of the material covered.

Writing Assignments

3 papers + 1 revision

For further detail on the papers, see the Assignments section. For further detail on the final exam, see the Exams section.

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