Roman Civilization

CMS 206/History 206

Course Description

"People and places, the things that they do and the times that they do them," Dennis Sipowicz, the hero of NYPD Blue,  once informed his son, were the matters that a good patrol officer needed to pay attention to.  The advice also serves cultural historians remarkably well.  In this course we will study Roman civilization of the late Republic and early Principate by studying first the places of Roman life, the walls that surrounded the city, and the temples, homes, stadium and markets within those walls, analyzing how the Romans built these places and why they chose to.  For each site of Roman life that we study we will also explore the people and the nature of the activities they engaged in within these locations, seeking answers to burning questions like, "what did the Romans eat for breakfast: how did they party; and why wasn't there rugby at the Games?"  Finally, we will locate our study of place, people and actions within the context of the Roman calendar, mapping our objects of study not simply within a geographical sphere, but also a temporal one.

Our resourses include an extense web database of representations, recontructions and site maps, as well as English translations of Roman (and on occasion Greek) authors.  A course reader includes secondary readings (in English) on relevant topics.  The course requires no knowledge of Latin.  Classics/History 100 is recommended, but not required as a prerequisite.