ARTH 261
Augustan Rome Fall 2016
Division I
Cross-listed HIST 260 / CLAS 260
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

In 31 BCE, Octavian defeated Marc Antony at Actium, the culminating battle in a bloody civil war that had wracked the Roman state for years. As victor, Octavian found himself in a complex position: he was sole ruler over a society that traditionally abhorred monarchy, he had defeated a charismatic Roman citizen whose supporters might now pose resistance, and he had promised to re-establish a governmental system that seemed hopelessly broken. Octavian, soon given the honorific name Augustus, set about repairing the war-torn state while simultaneously solidifying his power. He announced that he had “restored the Republic,” yet we regard him as Rome’s first emperor. How did those living through this transition and subsequent ancient authors interpret it? How do works of art from Augustus’ time contribute to, or resist, the idea that he ushered in a Roman “golden age”? In this course we will consider these questions using a range of sources including monuments and visual art, ancient historiography, biography, and poetry (Dio, Suetonius, Tacitus, Horace, Propertius, Vergil, Ovid), and selections from contemporary scholarship. In the process, we will gain a better understanding of a pivotal period of ancient history, as well as tools for thinking comparatively about power, rhetoric, and propaganda in our own day. All readings are in translation.
The Class: Format: lecture/discussion
Limit: 40
Expected: 25
Class#: 1997
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: class discussion, student presentations, quizzes, two papers, and a final exam
Extra Info: meets Division 1 requirement if registration is under CLAS or ARTH; meets Division 2 requirement if registration is under HIST
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: majors and intending majors in Classics and History
Distributions: Division I
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
ARTH 261 Division I HIST 260 Division II CLAS 260 Division I

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