Classics 202: Roman Life and Culture
Spring Term, 1999
MWF 13:00 -- 13:50
- M. Jaeger
- Office hours: MW 2:00 -- 3:00pm (or by appointment)
- Office: 344 PLC
- Tel: x-4068
- e-mail: maryjaeg@oregon.uoregon.edu
MIDTERM
ANSWER KEY
In this course we will study Roman national character, self-definition,
and social mores from the founding of the city to the collapse of the
empire. Using readings from ancient authors, art, and artifacts, we will
reassess modern assumptions about the ancient Romans and try to acquire a
detailed picture of ancient Rome--city and empire--as both a civilization
that influenced western culture, and a society quite different from our
own.
Required Texts (Most of these are available used.)
- Shelton, J. As the Romans Did. Oxford.
- Livy. The Early History of Rome. Penguin.
- Plautus. The Rope and Other Plays. Penguin.
- Cicero. Selected Works. Penguin.
- Vergil. The Aeneid Penguin.
- Tacitus. The Annals of Imperial Rome. Penguin.
- Apuleius. The Golden Ass. University of Indiana.
For additional reading on any of the topics we study, see the bibliography
in Shelton, or see me for more recent references.
- Week 1
- Virtues and Vices. Who were the Romans?
- Geography and Sources.
- Suckled by a she-wolf? The foundation legend.
- Readings: Livy, pp.33-71; Shelton, pp.2-3; 433-439 (maps).
- Week 2
- Class Structure and Patronage
- The Magistrates and the Army
- Aristocratic competition
- Readings: Livy, pp.72-142; Shelton, pp.4-15; 206-212; 221-226;
243-249.
- Week 3
- The Family
- State Religion
- Social Stereotypes
- Readings: Shelton, pp.16-58; 359-387; Plautus, The Ghost.
- Week 4
- An Overview of the Mid-Republican Period.
- Education and Rhetoric
- The Law Courts
- Readings: Shelton, pp.100-122; 275-284; Cicero, First Speech Against
Verres.
First Paper Due 5:00 Friday
- Week 5
- The Pen in Politics
- The Civil Wars and the Rise of Augustus
- Midterm, Friday (ID of terms, ID of passages)
- Readings: Cicero, Second Philippic Against Mark Antony. Catullus
poems (Shelton p.53-54 and handout).
- Week 6
- The Aeneid.
- Augustan Art and Architecture
- Readings: The Aeneid Boks 1, 2, 4.
- Week 7
- Farming, Agriculture, Food
- The Transition to Empire
- Women, Slaves and Freedmen
- Readings: Tacitus Chapters 1, 4, (Tiberius) 9, 10 (Claudius); Shelton
152-167; 190-205.
- Week 8
- The Roman House (Slides)
- Spectacles
- Roman Stoicism
- Readings: Tacitus, Chapters 11, 12, 14, 15, 16; Shelton 59-65;
329-358; 424-430.
Second Paper Due 5:00 Friday
- Week 9
- Religion in the Roman World
- Apuleius and the Roman World
- Readings: Shelton, 389-427; Apuleius, The Golden Ass.
- Week 10
- The Golden Ass: An account of Conversion?
- The Roman Empire / The Legacy of Rome
- Readings: Apuleius, The Golden Ass.
The Comprehensive Final Exam will include ID of terms, ID of
passages, and
an Essay
Grading:
First Paper: 20%
Second Paper: 25%
Midterm: 25%
Final: 30%
Anything I say in class is fair game for the exams, so if you miss class,
make sure you get notes from someone who attended. I cannot accept late
written work.
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