Roman Civilization

CMS 206 /History 206

 Paper Topics and Requirements:

Due dates:

If you wish me to read an outline of your paper, you must hand it into me by February 11, 2000. This means, you should start doing the reading for your paper by the third week of class!

If you wish me to read a draft of your paper, you must hand it into me by March 3, 1999. There will be NO opportunity for paper rewrites in this course. Accordingly, I urge you to avail yourself of the opportunity to let me read a draft. I will read multiple drafts of a paper if you hand in the first draft by March 3, 1999.

You must hand in your final paper by April 7, 1999. You will not pass the course unless you hand in the paper.

Paper Requirements:

This paper has a seven to ten (7-10) page limit requirement. This limit translates to 2100 - 3000 words regardless of the font and type you use.

You will need to research, use and cite secondary scholarship in your paper, in addition to primary sources.

You should review my formal and analytical paper grading guidelines before you hand in your final copy. I follow these guidelines closely when I grade and you should take them very seriously.

 Paper Topics:

In this paper you will choose a site of Roman cultural activity (e.g., temple, arena, tavern), describe the types of activities that happened at it (e.g., ritual, games, social drinking), the types of people who engaged in these activities (e.g., rich people, politicially active people, woman, slaves, freedman), how the relationship between place, activity and people tells us something about Roman culture, and what that something is that this relationship tells us.

You do not need to talk about a site that we talk about in class. We won't, for example, be discussing the Roman school or Roman education much in this class. It is a great topic to write on, however [I know, I wrote a dissertation on it], and I would welcome papers on it, and other topics that lack of time prevents us from discussing in class.

You might also choose to talk about aspects of cultural life in the Roman provinces that are related to or form an interesting comparison to Roman examples (Roman walls in Britain, Roman Baths in Gaul, Africa and Spain), religious cults in the Roman empire that were particularly important outside of Rome and Italy, etc.

If you have any questions about how to formulate your paper topic; if you have three or four topics that seem interesting and you can't decide; if you can't think of anything at all - come see me [I will also be happy to do it by email]. We have a very short semester and you will need to finalize your topic and start your reading quite quickly in order to avoid a hideous conclusion to the year.