HIS2831H: The Roman Emperor in Theory and Practice

Abstract

►Course description: “Cultures Over Time” (CUOT) courses allow students to explore the distinctiveness of the past and how it relates to the present through an investigation of values, traditions, modes of thinking, and modes of behavior of one or more cultures, beginning before 1900. ►This HIS course does that by examining various ways of understanding the figure of the Roman emperor, by focusing on the first emperor Augustus and one of his successors, Nero. We will consider a range of textual and visual sources for the emperor, including poems, historical accounts, ruins, and coins, and place the emergence of the emperors within Rome’s political, religious, and cultural traditions. Assessment will be by exams and a range of short papers. ►Learning objectives of CUOT courses: a) Students will be able to understand the role of historical context in cultural production and the complex and multiple ways in which cultures evolve over time. b) Students will be able to analyze the cultural artifacts of pre-twentieth century societies using multiple kinds of sources. c) Students will be able to write and defend historically grounded theses using both primary and secondary materials. ►Content goals of this course: a) Students will develop historically-informed knowledge of the Roman world and about the early Roman emperors. b) Students will investigate Roman values and behavior from a variety of cultural artifacts.