Please note: Due to alternative arrangements for teaching and
assessment in place from 18 March 2020 to mitigate against the restrictions in
place due to COVID-19, information shown for 2019/20 may not always be accurate.
Please note: you are viewing unit and programme information
for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
| Unit name |
Historical Topic: Roman Imperial Culture |
| Unit code |
CLAS20062 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
I/5
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
|
| Unit director |
Dr. O'Gorman |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None
|
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
Department of Classics & Ancient History |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
This unit will cover Roman imperial culture over the period from Augustus (31 BC) to Hadrian (AD 138). It will consider the development and expression of Roman imperial culture as a distinct quality, and a development from the culture of the Republic. Students will examine how the changed circumstances of the Principate manifested themselves in a shifting cultural economy, with the emperor at its head. A wide range of manifestations of “imperial culture” will be studied, including visual culture, intellectual and literary culture, and political and social ideas.
Intended Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
- demonstrate detailed understanding of political and cultural history in the first two dynasties of the Roman empire;
- identify and use a range of ancient sources and cultural products to explain and interpret the period;
- demonstrate knowledge of the current themes and debates related to imperial culture and its dissemination;
- work effectively within and contribute individually to a group project;
- demonstrate skills in academic writing directed towards the general public, at a standard appropriate to level I.
Teaching Information
lectures + break-out seminars
Assessment Information
- Group project, creating a virtual exhibition illustrating one aspect of the historical period. Each student to write catalogue entry for one allocated object, selecting relevant primary sources to contextualise object. 1,500 words. 50% [assessing ILOs 2, 4, & 5]
- 90 minute exam with passages/images for comment, and essay questions. 50% [assessing ILOs 1, 2, & 3]
Reading and References
- Clarke, John. 2003. Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans: Visual Representation and Non-elite Viewers in Italy, 100 BC – AD 315. Berkeley: University of California Press
- Gallia, Andrew. 2012. Remembering the Roman Republic: Culture, Politics and History under the Principate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Habinek, Thomas & Schiesaro, Alessandro. (edd.). 1997. The Roman Cultural Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Hingley, Richard. 2005. Globalising Roman Culture: Unity, Diversity and Empire. London: Routledge
- Pandey, Nandini. 2018. The Poetics of Power in Augustan Rome. Latin Poetic Responses to Early Imperial Iconography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- König, Alice & Whitton, Christopher (eds.). 2018. Roman Literature under Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian: Literary Interactions AD 96-138. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
