Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

Online
Subject Area
Course Number
ANCH 0102 920
Course Code
ANCH0102920
Course Key
76043
Day(s)
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
Time
12:00pm-2:30pm
12:00pm-2:30pm
12:00pm-2:30pm
Instructor
Primary Program
Secondary Program
Course Note
Online Course
Fulfills
Cross Cultural Analysis Course (for students admitted in Fall 2006 and later)
History & Tradition Sector (All Classes)
Course Description
At its furthest extent during the second century CE, the Roman Empire was truly a "world empire", stretching from northern Britain to North Africa and Egypt, encompassing the whole of Asia Minor, and bordering the Danube in its route from the Black Forest region of Germany to the Black Sea. But in its earliest history it comprised a few small hamlets on a collection of hills adjacent to the Tiber river in central Italy. Over a period of nearly 1500 years, the Roman state transformed from a mythical Kingdom to a Republic dominated by a heterogeneous, competitive aristocracy to an Empire ruled, at least notionally, by one man. It developed complex legal and administrative structures, supported a sophisticated and highly successful military machine, and sustained elaborate systems of economic production and exchange. It was, above all, a society characterized both by a willingness to include newly conquered peoples in the project of empire, and by fundamental, deep-seated practices of social exclusion and domination. This course focuses in particular upon the history of the Roman state between the fifth century BCE and the third century CE, exploring its religious and cultural practices, political, social and economic structures. It also scrutinizes the fundamental tensions and enduring conflicts that characterized this society throughout this 800-year period.
Subject Area Vocab