Module CLAS3041: ROMAN REPUBLICAN HISTORY TOPIC

Department: CLASSICS AND ANCIENT HISTORY

CLAS3041: ROMAN REPUBLICAN HISTORY TOPIC

Type	Open	Level	3	Credits	20	Availability	Available in 2005/06	Module Cap	None.	Location	Durham

Prerequisites

• Crisis of the Roman Republic (CLAS2131).

Corequisites

• For students in the Classics Department, please refer to the Regulations for your degree programme. For students from other Departments, there are no corequisites.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• The End of the Roman Republic, 80-42 BC.
• It deals with various aspects of the last generation of the Roman republic - the age of Pompey, Caesar and Cicero.
• It introduces and exemplifies several different methods of approaching the evidence provided in the abundant contemporary sources.
• The students are then expected to apply these approaches to other topics, formulating questions and exploring the feasibility and limitations of interpretative strategies.

Content

• Michaelmas Term: Students learn to use various research tools (reference works, text-searching programmes, textual analysis) by practical experience with individual examples, as follows: Oratory: analysing a speech (de lege Manilia), Prosopography: families, careers and "factions", Ideology, libertas for populares and for optimates, Images on coins and sculpture: the triumph and triumphator.
• Epiphany and Easter Terms: Students apply the various suggested approaches to a range of topics.
• As far as possible, they are encouraged to follow their own interests and formulate questions for themselves.
• Among possible themes for investigation are: The career of Pompey, The tribunate: a radical institution? Elections: canvassing, bribery and clientela, Theatres and shows, The army and the land, Caesar in Gaul: achievement and propaganda, Optimate and popularis violence, Political aspects of religion, A family and its clientela (the Claudii), Caesar as dictator, The tyrannicides: background, motivation, ideology.

Learning Outcomes

• A knowledge of an important period of Roman history, based on familiarity with the varied range of contemporary and later evidence (chiefly literary, but including some visual material) which pertains to it; a knowledge of the most important issues in contemporary scholarly debate in the area.

• An ability to handle the methodologies appropriate for a sophisticated understanding of the diverse range of evidence that exists for the history of antiquity: in particular written texts (literary and otherwise), artefacts, and the visual culture; an ability to synthesise these different forms of evidence in reconstructing a coherent and plausible picture of the history of the Roman world; the ability to present ideas and arguments in written form according to the conventions of academic writing; sophisticated ability to handle issues of scholarly debate in the areas studied.

• The skills needed to analyse, evaluate, and synthesise a wide range of evidence, and to select and apply the methodologies appropriate in different cases; the capacity to sustain a clear, well-structured, and well-defended argument in written form; the ability and self-discipline to work autonomously.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Seminars enable students to discuss and develop their ideas in an interactive environment; written work receives specific feedback.
• The formative essays require students to develop arguments at greater length.
• The examination assesses the students' familiarity with the evidence and the sophistication of their analyses.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity	Number	Frequency	Duration	Total/Hours
Seminars	22	1 Per Week	1.5 Hours	33
Preparation and Reading				167
Total				200

Summative Assessment

Examination 100% (three-hour written examination 100%).

Formative Assessment:

One essay; brief exercises (some collaborative) on the various research tools.

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■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University