Spring 2018

North Hall 1006

T Th 11-12:15

Prof. Robert Morstein-Marx

morstein@classics.ucsb.edu
HSSB 4052
CLASSICS 20B: THE ROMANS
An introduction to Roman Civilization:
History, Literature, Philosophy, Monuments
Requirements and constituents of final grade:
 10%: 10 weekly quizzes taken on Gauchospace normally on Monday. Each quiz will
consist of 10 multiple-choice questions based on the past week’s lecture and
readings. (There will be no quiz on the Monday following the midterm, and the final
quiz will be on the last Friday of instruction.)
 30/60% or 45/45%: one mid-term and the final examination. The final exam will be
weighted more heavily than the midterm exam if that yields a higher grade for you
personally. Both mid-term and final will consist of a mix of multiple-choice
questions requiring a scantron card and short essays.
My office hours during Spring quarter will be Mondays 9-10:15 and Thursdays right after
class, 12:30-1:15. Our Reader, Aerynn Dighton, will some office hours before and after the
midterm and before the final (times and dates TBA).
Please show basic courtesy to me and your fellow students by following some simple rules:
 Those who take notes on laptops or tablets are asked to sit in the back half of the
rows of seats to minimize distraction of others
 Arrive on time and stay in seats until 12:15 unless you have an important reason for
the potential disruption
 Do not sleep, eat, or read other materials while class is in session
 Guests are welcome if there are seats available and they are willing to conform to
these rules
Try to get to know someone in the class who could share notes with you if you have to miss
a lecture. If you have a valid reason for an absence (e.g. illness, medical appointments,
major family events or emergencies, university-sanctioned athletic competitions) and
circumstances seem to warrant special assistance from me, I may be able to share print-
outs of the PowerPoint slides you missed.
Required books:
1) Mary Beard, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (2015)
2) Livy, The Rise of Rome. Books 1-5, tr. by T. J. Luce (Oxford 1998)
3) Plautus, The Pot of Gold and Other Plays, tr. by E. F. Watling (Penguin 1965)
4) Virgil, Aeneid, tr. by R. Fagles (Penguin 2008)
 Schedule of readings
Gauchospace must be used to access those readings marked on the schedule with ‘GS.’
Please note that because a useful book has been allowed to go out of print, the resources for
weeks 5 and 6 – both pdf documents and websites – must be accessed entirely via links on
Gauchospace. Reading assignments are subject to change without advance notice; any
adjustments made to the syllabus in the course of the quarter will be updated on
Gauchospace.
Please note:
1) Citations of Mary Beard’s SPQR (= ‘Beard’) are given in bold type with an asterisk
when they are mandatory, and in regular type without an asterisk when they are
‘merely’ recommended.
2) Other optional readings are explicitly so marked. When an item other than Beard is
not described as optional, it is mandatory.
3) Some readings marked GS are very brief. If they extend to 5pp or more they are
marked as such so that you can plan accordingly.
4) Always examine introductions for basic information about authors, works, and their
dates. Your Livy book and many readings on Gauchospace have explanatory notes
following the text, cued to the text with an asterisk.

Week 1. LIVY: ROMAN ORIGINS AND IDENTITY

Livy: Romulus and Remus, The Battle of the Champions, Lucretia (pp 3-4; 8 top-11,
line 6; 13-19; 27 (sect. 23)-33; 65 ‘A terrifying portent…’-70).
Beard, pp 15-19*, (skip pp. 21-52, which will be relevant later), 53-78*, 78-109,
109-130*
Week 2. LIVY: REPUBLICAN VIRTUE AND THE RISE OF ROME
Livy: Lucius Brutus; Horatius, Scaevola and Cloelia; Coriolanus; Cincinnatus;
Camillus (71-76; 79-85; 103, top-113, bottom; 165-71; 319-41).
Polybius on “checks and balances” of the Roman constitution (GS)
Beard, pp 131-40*, 140-46, 146-57*, 157-61, 161-92*, 192-207
Week 3. INTERESTING TIMES (I): THE LIVES AND DEATHS OF JULIUS CAESAR AND
MARCUS CICERO
Speeches of the Catiline crisis: Cicero’s First Catilinarian (GS; c 13pp), Caesar and
Cato in the Catilinarian Debate (GS; c 9pp).
Crossing the Rubicon (GS; c 5pp)
Assassination of Caesar (GS; c 5pp) and Death of Cicero (GS)
Beard, pp 21-52*, 209-69, 269-96*
Week 4. INTERESTING TIMES (II): AUGUSTUS AND THE EARLY EMPERORS
Achievements of the Divine Augustus (GS)
 Tacitus on the murder of Agrippina (GS; c 8pp)
Pliny on the Ideal Emperor (GS; c 8pp)
Optional: The imperial palaces of Rome and Italy (GS)
Beard, pp 337-74*, 374-85, 387-434*
Week 5. THE CITY OF ROME (I): THE SPLENDOR…
Aqueducts and Baths (GS; 6 pp).
 See also internet links on Gauchospace.
Venues for the Games:
 Circus Maximus and chariot-racing (GS)
 Amphitheaters and the Colosseum (GS)
 Dedication of Colosseum, AD 80 (GS)
 Cicero on crowd response at gladiatorial spectacles (GS)
 See also internet link (GS) for optional further exploration of Colosseum.
Introduction to Trajan’s Column and Hadrian’s Pantheon (GS).
 See also internet links on GS
Roman building techniques and styles (GS; 9pp)
Week 6. (A) (May 8) THE CITY OF ROME (II): … AND THE SQUALOR
Pompeii and Ostia (GS; 6pp)
Roman houses (GS; 5pp)
Juvenal on Quality of Life in Rome (Satire 3) (GS; c 13pp)
Tacitus on the Great Fire of Rome (GS; c 5pp)
Beard, pp 435-73*
(B) (May 10) MIDTERM EXAM. Bring scantron card and a blue book.
Week 7. SLAVES, WOMEN, AND THE COMEDY OF ORDINARY LIFE
Plautus, Pseudolus.
The Spartacus uprising (GS: internet link)
Tombstone of Aurelia Philematio (GS)
Servilia, mother of Brutus (GS)
Pliny on two extraordinary women (GS)
Beard, pp 297-303, 303-18*, 318-28, 328-33*
Week 8. POETS: CATULLUS, LUCRETIUS, HORACE, OVID – AND VIRGIL
Catullus 5, 8, 49, 68B, 85, 93 (GS; c 6pp)
 Lucretius 1.1-149 (GS; c 5pp)
Horace, Epode 7; Odes 1.9, 2.1; Secular Hymn (GS; c 5pp)
Ovid, Metamorphoses (selections) (GS, c 12pp)
Virgil, Aeneid Bks 1, 2
Week 9. THE EPIC OF ROMAN HISTORY: AENEAS
Virgil, Aeneid Bks 4, 6, 8, 12
Week 10. (A) (June 5) PHILOSOPHERS: EPICUREANS VS. STOICS
Lucretius 2.1-62 (GS)
Seneca, Letters 4, 5, 8, 14, 15, 24, 47, 54, 59, 63, 91 (GS; c 31pp)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (selections) (GS, c 5pp)
(B) (June 7) ROMAN RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
Pliny and the Christians (GS)
Beard, pp 475-525*, 527-36

… and a brief PS by the Emperor Claudius (GS)

FINAL EXAM: Wednesday, June 13, 12-3. Bring a scantron card and a blue
book.