Roman Civilization
Course Requirements
Attendance is mandatory. I take attendance each class. You may skip class without a dean's excuse no more than two (2) times. You will lose a full grade for each unexcused absence other than the two freebies I have granted. This means that if your average in the course is 100 and you have three unexcused absences, you will receive a B.There are two important exceptions to this policy:
- Do not come to class if you are sick. Go to the health center. I do not want your germs in my classroom. Once you have achieved a non-infectious state, contact me and we will straighten out the attendance record so that you will not be penalized for your good judgment.
- Do not come to class if you have a true personal/family emergency. Rome has waited for you for two millenia, it will wait another day or two. Attend to your business and then contact me and we will straighten out the attendance record so that you will not be penalized for your good judgment.
If you have perfect attendance for the course (no absences, whether excused or freebies), I will add two and one half (2.5) points to your grade as a reward for your committment to your own education. Thus, if you have an 82 average (B-) and perfect attendance, I will record your grade as 84 (B).
Participation includes reading and thinking about assigned readings and offering your opinions and questions in class. Failure to fully participate will have a negative effect on your grade.
Every student will be a member of a discussion group. Each group must have four (4) members. You may form your own groups or ask me to assign you to a discussion group. Please send an email to me no later than Wednesday, January 16th (1/16/02) listing the names of the members of your group, or asking me to assign you to a group. The final list of all groups and their participants will be posted by Friday, January 18th.Each group will arrange a regular, 55 minute, weekly meeting time outside of class. You must meet in a place where you will not be interrupted (i.e., a dorm room is ok, a dorm lounge is not; an enclosed conference room in the library or the Ronj is ok, the Den is not). You must meet for one hour each week that a discussion meeting is posted on the syllabus. You must meet at the same time and place for each session and you must inform me by Friday, January 15th (1/25/02) of your meeting time and place. I plan to attend at least one session of each discussion group and I can only do so if I know when and where you meet.
At each meeting, one student will act as discussion leader and one student will act as discussion secretary. I will post discussion questions to guide your ruminations. The discussion secretary will write a report (no more than three pages) summarizing the outcome of your discussion which he/she will submit to me by email no later than 9:00 am of the Monday following the week of the discussion. (I.e., if you hold your discussion group meeting for Week 3 on Sunday evening, January 27th (the last day of week 3) the discussion secretary will have to stay up late to finish his/her report).
Your discussion group will meet eight times during the course of the semester. Each member will write two discussion group reports and be discussion leader two times. [This is why each group must have four members]. Your discussion group reports will be posted on the web. Your written reports are graded assignments and should include the following information:
- Attendance: a list of everyone present at the meeting
- Questions raised during your discussion
- Responses of different group members to the discussion
- The response of the DG secretary to the discussion
- Questions that arose during the discussion that group members felt unable to answer; e.g.: factual questions: e.g.: how old were Roman girls when they got married? methodological questions: e.g.:is it helpful to compare Roman games to American sporting events? comprehensive questions: Did Romans think that Livy was writing their history or their mythology or both?
- The last 5-10 minutes of each discussion section should be spent formulating one (and only one) essay question on the assigned readings that I can use on your exams and the reasons why your group thinks this question is a good one, and what criteria I should use in evaluating answers to the question. You will probably spend some time debating various proposals before you select a question and then begin to formulate the reasons why you think it's good, and how it might best be answered. [Note: I don't want your group to answer this question; I want you to tell me what I should think about when I grade the answers].
I will grade your discussion group reports on the quality of the thinking you have done and the quality of the prose you have written (see requirements for writing papers).
You will prepare three (3) book reports. A book report is a 3-5 (900-1500 word) report on either:a book from the suggested reading lista group of articles on a topic which amount to at least 100 pages of reading
a book not listed on the suggested reading list which I have approved in advance.
Your book report should include:
relevant bibliographic informationa description of the argument made in each chapter (or article)
a critique (what was persuasive and not persuasive) of the chapters (article) and book in general
a discussion of how the book relates to a) your paper or web page; b) the course as a whole
The due dates for the book reports are fixed in stone. If you are on life-support systems I might consider granting an extension - but don't even think about asking for one unless you have a drop-dead compelling excuse that will make my jaw drop in wonder/horror/amazement.
I strongly urge you to pick books and articles to write on which relate to the topic of your term paper or web page.
You may choose to do a term paper or a web page as your course project. If you choose to do the web page assignment:You and two of your classmates (i.e., no group should have more than three (3) people in it) may choose to collaborate on a Web Page Assignment. You must work with at least one other person on this assignment. You must tell me by Friday, January 25th, 2002, that you have elected the Web Page Assignment and who the members of your team are (one email per team will suffice).
Your team must decide and inform me (one email per team), what topic you have chosen for your Web Page Assignment by Friday, February 1st, 2002.
Your team must submit a web site description and summary to me (one email per team will suffice) by Friday, February 8th, 2002. The web site description and summary should include: the subtopics your site will cover, the assignments each team member will be responsible for, the bibliography (both web and traditional) you will review to prepare pages for your site, and the location of graphics and pictures you will review to find material for your site.
Your team must schedule a meeting with me during the week of March 4th , 2002 At this meeting you will preview your web page for me, submit drafts of the subtopics you will cover on your site, list tasks that remain to be completed for the site and your plans to complete them on a timely basis.
You must hand in your Web Page Assignments by Friday, March 22th, 2002. You will complete the assignment by
a) posting your web siteb) emailing me the url of the web site so that I may link it to the class web page
c) providing me with a copy of the site on a floppy disk (or disks)
For your Web Page Assignment, you must choose a town/city in the Roman Empire outside of the city of Rome itself. You could choose a town/city in Gaul, Britain, Spain, North Africa (e.g. Carthage), Southern Italy (e.g. Pompeii), or Egypt, for example.
Your report will take the form of a web site that describes the town/city. Your site should contain, at a minimum, the following information:
- The ancient and modern name of the town and its location.
- When and by whom the town/city was founded.
- If the Romans did not found the town/city, a brief description of the distinctive features of the people who founded the town, and the reasons they did so.
- How the Romans came to be involved in the history of the town/city.
- What the economic and political significance of the town/city for the Roman Empire (note: this might change over time: you might choose a town/city that original wasn't very important, but became so; or started out as very important, but lost its influence over the centuries).
- A description of the the physical site of the town/city and its layout during the Roman empire [a link to a map already existing on the web, or your own map might help].
- A description [with links to pictures] of some of the principal archeological sites in the town/city [e.g., temples, fora, etc.] and a comparison of these sites and the cultural activities that occured at them to comparable sites in Rome.
- An assessment of what Romanitas was in this town/city. A bibliography (no more than one page) of suggested readings and web sites about this town/city.
You may not choose a site prepared by previous Roman Civ classes. These sites are listed in the Roman Civ '00 web site. You should review these sites to ensure that you do not choose a pre-empted topic and to see the kind of work I'm looking for. If you want an "A" on this assignment, be prepared to submit a web page assignment at least as good as the Pompeii page.
A word about copyright: Please review and find all the images/graphics on the web you can in order to prepare this assignment. If you find an image/graphic that will really help your site - DO NOT COPY IT! Instead, describe it in your site and post a link to the site where it is originally stored.
You will find that the Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites [also in Ladd on permanent reserve] and the Romarch server contain excellent information about most sites and Romarch contains links to pictures, reports and articles you will find useful. You will also find that Ladd has an excellent selection of books on ancient Roman sites. If you aren't particularly experienced with creating web pages - do not be afraid to try this assignment. BCIS (Bates College Information Services) offers regular workshops on creating web pages (they're excellent) and web page editors (e.g., Claris HomePage; Netscape Composer, Dreamweaver) are very easy to use. Team up with a classmate who's less of a luddite than you and give it a shot. It's the new millenium and you're going to have to learn how to do this sometime soon.
You may choose to do a term paper or a web page as your course project. If you choose to do the term paper:Due dates:
You must submit to me a general description of the topic you wish to write on by Friday, January 25, 2002.You must submit an outline and bibliography for your paper by March 1, 2002. Your outline should include:
a) a thesis statementb) a formal outline (i.e., headings in complete sentences)
c) a description of the evidence you will use in support of your argument
d) the quotes you will use in your paper.
If you would like me to read a draft of your paper, you must hand it into me by March 15, 2002. 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 15, 2002.
You must hand in your final paper by April 5, 2002. You will not pass the course unless you hand in the paper.
Paper Requirements: This paper has a ten to fifteen (10 -15) page limit requirement. This limit translates to 3000 - 4500 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.
You will take a one hour in class midterm on February 28, 2002 (the Thursday after February break). The exam will consist of identifications and essays. A study guide will be posted on the web prior to the exam.You will take a one hour in class final on Wednesday, April 9, 2002 at 1:15 pm. The exam will consist of identifications and essays. A study guide will be posted on the web prior to the exam. The exam will not be cumulative (i.e., you will only be responsible for material since the midterm on the final).
The Program in Classical & Medieval Studies will sponsor a lecture series this semester. I attend these lectures. If you attend a lecture, you will receive a one half point on your grade (i.e., an 82 (B-) becomes an 82.5 (B). If you attend all the lectures you will receive 1/2 point for each lecture plus an additional 1/2 point as a reward for your committment to your own intellectual life. I'll announce the schedule of the lecture in class.This is the only way to receive extra-credit in this course. If your schedule prevents you from attending one or more of the lectures you will not get an opportunity to do extra-credit work to compensate you for the scheduling complexities of your life.
I use the following curve when assigning grades:97-100 - A+ / 87-89 - B+/ 77-79 - C+/ 67-69 - D+ / <60 - F
93-96 - A / 83-86- B/ 73-76 - C/ 63-66 - D
90-92 - A-/ 80-82 - B-/ 70-72 - C-/ 60-62 - D-