Unit name | Rome: Republic to Principate |
---|---|
Unit code | CLAS22383 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Dr. Tom Geue |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Classics & Ancient History |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The end of the Roman Republic and the establishment of autocracy under the emperors is a crucial test case for understanding how a political system can collapse; however, politics was not the only aspect of Roman society that changed in this period. Rome was no longer a small city-state but a global empire; the city of Rome had grown to an extraordinary size, while the rest of Italy was increasingly urbanised and integrated into the wider world; the countryside was transformed by the crisis of the traditional peasant class and the influx of slave labour, while trading activities became ever more extensive and important. The aim of this unit is to explore the causes and consequences of this transformation, looking not only at the political history of the period but also at longer-term changes in economy, society and religion.
This unit aims to present students:
On successful completion of this unit, students should:
Lectures and Seminars.
M. Beard & M. Crawford, Rome in the Late Republic 2nd edn, 1999
M. Crawford, The Roman Republic 2nd edn, 1992
H.I. Flower, ed.The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic 2004
N. Morley,The Roman Empire: roots of imperialism 2010
N. Rosenstein & R. Morstein-Marx, eds., A Companion to the Roman Republic 2006
D. Shotter, The Fall of the Roman Republic 2nd edn, 2005