The World of Ancient Rome

The course will explore the social and cultural basis of Roman civilisation, from the foundation of Rome to the collapse of the Western Empire. Drawing on archaeological evidence, literary texts, architecture and the visual arts, it will look at the complex and shifting relationships between the present and the past in the definition and transformation of European cultures and identities.

Week 1 Magna Graecia: The Greeks in Italy.
Week 2 Italic Responses: The Etruscans and their Contemporaries. Week 3 Origo Gentes Romanum: The Foundation of Rome.
Week 4 Res Publica: The History and Evolution of the Roman Republic
Week 5 “Carthago Delenda Est:” The Punic Wars.
Week 6 The Roman Conquest of Greece.
Week 7 Cursus Honorum: Politics and Rhetoric in the Late Republic. Week 8 The Age of Dictators.
Week 9 The Campaigns of Julius Caesar.
Week 10 Arma Virumque Cano: The Aeneid, and the Latin Epic Tradition.
Week 11 Pax Augusti: The Age of Augustus.
Week 12 The Julio-Claudian Dynasty

Dr Mark Patton
Mark is a graduate of the universities of Cambridge and London, and the author of several published works of historical fiction and non-fiction. He has taught at the universities of Leiden, Paris, Wales, Greenwich and Westminster, and currently teaches for the Open University.