Major Issues in Roman History

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2008:

This source-based research seminar will focus on a variety of issues which are of major importance for the history of Rome from the early Republic until the fourth century CE. At the height of its power and splendour, the Roman Empire stretched from the Syrian borders to the Portuguese Atlantic and from the Sahara to the hills of Scotland, and comprised many peoples, from Germans to Greeks and Arabs, from Celts to Jews. This seminar will concentrate on a series of topics concerning social, political, military, cultural and religious aspects of Roman life and history, from the 5th century BCE to the 5th century CE. These include, a survey of the Roman conquest and organisation of Italy; the struggle of the orders; the conquest and exploitation of the Mediterranean; the ÂRoman RevolutionÂ, the transition from Republic to Principate; the administration of Rome and its growing empire under the Republic; society and culture of the Roman world; the modalities and consequences of the so-called pax Romana in Rome and the provinces; the position of women in the Roman world; the notorious crisis of the third century CE and its consequences; pagan religious life and the making of the Christian Empire.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• develop research skills through competent use of the library and other information sources;

• develop adequate skills to critically assess and reconstruct historical reality on the basis of the extant source material;

• demonstrate critical thinking and analysis through recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion, and by determining the strength of an argument;

• be able to communicate knowledge intelligibly and economically through essay writing and tutorial discussion;

• develop time management and planning through managing and organizing workloads for recommended reading, essay and assignment completion.