I have been asked to produce some suggestions for courses at my university. These are completely unworked drafts that reflect nothing more than my present knowledge and interests. If they go ahead, the final courses will be different. However, I do hope some of them will go ahead, as the preparation for lectures can then be recycled into books.

1. Rome: From Republic to Empire, 120 BC-20 AD

In 120 BC, Rome was a city-state with functioning republican institutions that made room for a substantial element of democracy. It was also the dominant power in the Mediterranean World. By 20 AD, Rome was the capital of an autocratic empire that covered virtually the whole of the Mediterranean World and most of its surrounding territories. Between these dates, Rome saw the collapse of its ancient governing institutions in an orgy of political assassination, civil wars, purges, and military dictatorships.

This course will seek to describe and explain the changes from Republic to Empire. All aspects will be covered in this ten-week course, though with special emphasis on the effects of expansion on class relationships, on the failed reconstructions of Sulla and Caesar, on the life and significance of Cicero, and on the final Augustan Settlement. A complete reading list will be provided – all in English. Students will be encouraged to investigate topics for themselves and to present their findings in class.

By the end of this course, you will have a broad understanding of a set of political changes that continue to shape how the various peoples of Western Civilisation see themselves and each other.

2. Rome: The Politics and Culture of Transformation, c250-650 AD

Between the Renaissance and a time within living memory, the history of Rome during this period was seen as one of “decline and fall.” Political institutions and culture were seen as progressively degraded, until the Barbarians invaded and brought the whole rotten structure crashing down. Gibbon’s magnificent History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire remains at the heart of this view. However, the modern consensus is that the period was one of frequently positive transformation, or at least of creative adaptation to circumstances either not fully understood at the time, or not even comprehended.

This course will provide an overview of the changing opinions of the period since the Renaissance. It will also discuss, among others, the following aspects of Roman history:

The Impact of Climate Change on the Demography of the Mediterranean World
The Transformation of Rome from City-State with Provinces to Empire with Common Citizenship
The Establishment of Christianity as Single Unifying Religion
The Significance and Changing Nature of the Barbarians
The Rise of Byzantium
The Western Successor States

A complete reading list will be provided – all in English. Students will be encouraged to investigate topics for themselves and to present their findings in class.

By the end of this course, you will have a broad understanding of a period that is often overlooked, but that is central to the history of the European and Islamic Worlds.

3. Love and Relationships in the Ancient World

Human beings are animals with a biological urge to reproduce themselves. We are also thinking creatures able and willing to adapt this urge in bewilderingly diverse ways. The cultural legacies of the Ancient World surround us so completely that we may be tempted to believe that the Ancients were very similar to ourselves. In fact, they were often radically different – and particularly so in their approaches to love and relationships. We are nowadays familiar with the different views the Ancients held of gay relationships. But these views are only a subset of the overall differences.

This course will provide an overview of love and relationships in the Ancient World, from Homer to Saint Augustine. It will discuss the following topics, among others:

Love and Marriage – and Concubinage and Divorce
The Status of Women
The Status of Children – Birth, Adoption, Exposure, Abortion, Infanticide
Patriarchy – Strong and Moderated
Gay and Lesbian Sexuality
Sexually-transmitted disease
The Nature and Extent of the Christian Transformation

A complete reading list will be provided – all in English. Students will be encouraged to investigate topics for themselves and to present their findings in class.

By the end of this course, you will have a broad understanding of how similar and how different the Ancients were in their response to the common biological urge to reproduce. Please note that this course will involve frank and sometimes graphic discussions of the sexual act. While gratuitous offence will be avoided, the same approach will be taken to ancient sexuality as to ancient book production – no relevant evidence will be left undiscussed.

4. Public Health and Personal Hygiene in the Ancient World

Ours is the cleanest and healthiest generation in recorded history. We are cleaner and healthier than our grandparents. They were cleaner and healthier than their grandparents. Life before 1900 was an orgy of dirt and horrifying illnesses. And so it goes back all the way to the Greeks and Romans, who shared in much of our own cleanliness and health.

Or does history show this? How clean and healthy were the Ancients? Were those vast and elegant bathing complexes much better than cesspits of infection? How clean were those beautiful cities? How beautiful were they outside their ceremonial hearts? How long did people live? What did they eat and drink? How did they wipe their bottoms? What steps, if any, were taken to control epidemic diseases?

This course will provide an overview of public health and personal hygiene throughout Antiquity. It will discuss the following topics, among others:

The Size and Population Density of Ancient Cities
Urban Food and Water Supply
Bathing and Cleanliness (Including Depilation)
Sewage Systems
Toilet Customs
Life Expectancy
Patterns of Disease (Including the Medical Responses)
Urban Decline at the End of Antiquity

A complete reading list will be provided – all in English. Students will be encouraged to investigate topics for themselves and to present their findings in class.

By the end of this course, you will have a broad understanding of how similar and how different the Ancients were in their response to dirt and disease. Please note that this course will involve frank and sometimes graphic discussions of the illness. While gratuitous offence will be avoided, the same approach will be taken as to ancient book production – no relevant evidence will be left undiscussed.

5. Ancient Literacy

How literate were the Greeks and Romans? It is often assumed that cities like Athens and Rome had similar patterns of literacy to 18th-century England and France. But how realistic is this assumption for civilisations that had no printing press, no rag or wood-pulp paper, no spectacles, little need of a literate working class, no imperative to spread the Written Word of God, and often no literary language that could be understood outside a small ruling class?

This course will provide an overview of literacy and the technologies of writing and book production throughout Antiquity. It will discuss the following topics, among others:

The Nature of Writing Systems – Alphabetic v Syllabaries
Punctuation and Word-Spacing
The Use of Scribes and Readers
The Cost and Availability of Pens and Inks and “Paper”
Technologies of Book Production
The Market for Books
The Size and Nature of Libraries
The Ancient Emphasis on Memory
Public and Private Education
Definitions and Estimates of Literacy
The Christian Contribution

A complete reading list will be provided – all in English. Students will be encouraged to investigate topics for themselves and to present their findings in class.

By the end of this course, you will have a broad understanding of reading and writing in the Ancient World.

 

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