Roman Army (CLST 319)
Professor Siobhán McElduff
M/W/F: 4-5
Instructor: Dr. Siobhán McElduff
Office: Buchanan C203
Office hours: Monday 2-3; Wednesday 1-2; or by appointment
Phone: (604) 827 4331
Email: siobhan.mcelduff@ubc.ca (email is usually the fastest way to reach me)
TA: Ms. Katie Frankson (k.frankson@alumni.ubc.ca)
Office hours: Tuesday 11-12 or by appointment
Required Texts:
Campbell, Brian. The Roman Army: 31 B.C.-A.D. 337 (Routledge, 1994) [a sourcebook] = C
on syllabus: references are to page numbers and the numbers of the documents
Sage, Michael. The Republican Roman Army: A Sourcebook (Routledge, 2008) [a
sourcebook] = S on syllabus: references are to page numbers and the numbers of the
documents
Southern, Pat. The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History (Oxford, 2007) = PS on
syllabus: references are to page numbers
Evaluation:
a. Midterm: 25%. In class October 26th
b. Final exam: 25%. The final exam is open book; the midterm is not.
c. Quizzes: 15% (best three out of 4 quizzes; each quiz is worth 5%). You will notice that
there are no dates for these on the syllabus. This is because these will take place at
random intervals throughout the semester; there will be no make up quizzes.
d. Paper: 35%. See end of syllabus for more details.
Class Schedule with Readings:
Note: Apart from the first class, you should do the readings before the class, not after.
Wednesday, September 9th: Introduction to the class:
Readings: PS: 1-36, 323-329 (most of this is helpful information about the
sources for the course); S: 1-3; C: 1-3
Friday, September 11: Roman Political history
PS: 37-86; S: 29-31, 34-36
Monday, September 14: Roman Social history
Wednesday, September 16: Organization of the Army I: Early to Mid-Republic
PS: 87-94; S: 10-12 (#11, 12), 15-23 (#14-17), 27-29 (#24), 38-41 (#32-33) 4245, 51-56 (#38), 63-76 (#43-55), 89-94 (#71-75), 97-110 (#79-88), 125-128, 131132 (#104).
Friday, September 18: Organization of the Army II: Marius’ reforms and the Late
Republic
PS: 94-96; S: 199-212 (#129-137), 234-246 (#153-163), 249-253 (#168-170)
Monday, September 21:: Organization of the Army III: the Empire
PS: 96-102, 115-130, 141-144; S: 247-249 (#165-167); C: 20-22 (#18-19), 33-35
(#44-47), 38-39 (#58-63), 43-45 (#76-82), p. 46-67 (#83-117), 79-89 (#142-149)
Wednesday, September 23: The Roman Navy
PS: 204-207; S: 131-132 (#104)
Friday, September 25: The Emperor and the Army
PS: 59-61, 82-84; C: 18-20 (#17), 68-75 (#118-138), 130-131 (#208), 181-192
(#302-319).
Monday, September 28: Recruitment, Service, and Pay
PS: 44-46, 131-133; S: 69-72 (#49), 97-114 (#79-91), 120-125 (#95-98), 135-142
(#109-114), 197-198, 208-212 (#136-137)
Imperial recruitment: C: 9-15 (# 1-12)
Wednesday, September 30: Military Equipment I: the Republic
PS: 209-217; S: 76-97 (#56-78)
Friday, October 2: Military Equipment II: the Empire
PS: 152-158, 260-261; C: #160
Monday, October 5: Training, Discipline, and Punishment
PS: 133-137, 145-149; S: 225-228 (#145-147), 229-234 (#148-152); C: 15-20
(#13-17), 107-9 (# 176-8)
Wednesday, October 7: Promotions and Military Decorations
PS: 137-138, 150-152, 302-307; S: 213-218 (#139-141); C: 32, 40, 48-9, 51-54,
59-61, 63-6, 104-7 (# 40-2, 63, 85-6, 90-92, 94-95, 105, 107, 109, 112-116, 170175)
Friday, October 9: Celebrating Victory: the Roman Triumph
S: 218-225 (#142-144); C: 75-77 (#138-139)
Monday, October 12: Thanksgiving. No class
Wednesday, October 14: Military Camps and Fortresses
PS: 129, 178-186, 190-194, 261-264; S: 135-139 (#109); C: 30 (#35), 80-81,
110-120 (#179-191) 85, 88 (#146)
Friday, October 16: Logistics and Canabae
PS: 78-79, 111-115, 217-225; S: p. 114-117 (#92-94); C: 140-151 (#235-250,
298, 299, 301).
Monday, October 19: Medicine and diet
PS: 113-114, 220-22, 233-237; C: 103-104 (#165-169), 203-204 (# 331-333)
Wednesday, October 21: Religion in the Army
PS: 82-84, 137, 149-150, 162; C: 32 (#40-1), 127-139 (#207-234)
Friday, October 23: The private lives of soldiers and veterans
PS: 76-82, 145-146, 162-168; C: 13-14, 30-31, 33, 89 (#10, 36, 43, 149), 30
(#34), 151-170 (#251-283), 193-230 (#320-375)
Monday, October 26: Midterm
Wednesday, October 28: War with Carthage I: The First Punic War
S: 142- 145, 267-272 (#175, 177), 283-288 (#186)
Friday, October 30: War with Carthage II: The Second Punic War (Lake Trasimene and
Cannae)
S: 145-171 (#115-122)
Monday, November 2: War with Carthage III: The Second and Third 3rd Punic Wars
(Zama and the fall of Carthage)
Handout on course website
Wednesday, November 4: The Slave Wars: Spartacus and his Predecessors
Handout on Connect
Friday, November 6: Julius Caesar I: Gaul
PS: 198-204, 225-229, 239-242, 279-290, 308-309; S: 202-204 (#132), 232-233
(#151); + Handout on Connect
Monday, November 9: Julius Caesar II: Civil War
S: 254-258 (#171), 264-267 (#173)
Friday, November 13: The Face of Battle: the Reality of War
PS: 133-137, 145-152, 158-159, 194-197
Monday, November 16: Into the Woods: the Varian Disaster
Handout on Connect
Wednesday, November 18: Agricola's battles in Britain
PS: 313-315 + Handout on Connect
Friday, November 20: Siege Warfare I: Machinery and strategies
PS: 102-105, 213-217; S: 276-277;
Final Paper Due
Monday, November 23: Siege Warfare II: Jerusalem and Masada
C: 95-97 (#157), 100-102 (#161-162) + Handout on Connect
Wednesday, November 25: The Problem of Parthia: From Carrhae to Valerian
PS: 46-7, S: 135 (#108), C: 90-91 (#151) + Handout on Connect
Friday, November 27: Adrianople and the Failure of Rome’s military
Monday, November 30: Success vs. defeat: why Roman defeats occured
Wednesday, December 2: the (modern) Roman army: the Roman army in modern media
Friday, December 4th: Review; last day of class.
Important notes:
I. Tests and Quizzes
Quizzes. There will be four quizzes; I will take your top 3 grades from these – or you can
choose to miss one without it affecting your grade. They will be pop quizzes focusing on
the readings listed above and will take about 5-10 minutes of class time to complete.
Quizzes will be held at the start of class, so make sure you arrive on time. A pop quiz
means you have to be there to take the quiz. There are no options for make-up quizzes.
There will be no quiz in the first 2 weeks of class to allow everyone to get the books
and settle in to term. Quizzes are not cumulative.
Midterm: the format of this exam will be discussed in class at least 2 weeks before the
exam.
Final: the final will be open book, although the books are restricted to the course books
and any handouts from the course. You may write any notes you need in the books. It
will be essay question based and is cumulative. Further information will be posted on
the class website.
II. Research and Writing
Paper (35% of final grade): You will write a research paper or complete a research
project for this class based on your paper outline. Papers will be 2,500-3,000 words.
Further details can be found on the assignment sheet for the paper on the course
website. The paper is due at the start of class in hard copy on November 20.
III. Policy regarding missed exams and deadlines: I do not allow retakes for exams
except in cases of documented emergencies and illness, so try and get paperwork at the
time if you’re in the shape to do this, as it does save a lot of hassle. If you miss a deadline
for an assignment the penalty is 5 percentage points a day. That’s a lot.
IV. Cheating and plagiarism are serious offences, and will not be tolerated. They are
violations of university regulations and I will be reporting any cases (and they are
usually pretty easy to spot, I’m afraid). For more information on plagiarism and how to
avoid it go to: http://learningcommons.ubc.ca/resource-guides/avoiding-plagiarism
V. In-class etiquette: Computers and smart phones are wonderful, wonderful things.
However, if you really, really want to text your friends or loved ones for 50 minutes,
then you should very much reconsider whether you want to do that in class. You’re
getting nothing out of sitting there (even if you think you are) and you’re just annoying
other students. The same goes for using your computer for watching videos, playing a
first person shooter game (or any game), or a multitude of other fun things you can do
on a computer rather than listen about the Roman army. This is not because I believe I
should be the only focus of attention or am a megalomaniac, but because it is incredibly
distracting for the other students, especially when you sit at the front of the class and
do this. If we find someone watching videos or gaming during lecture or while other
students are speaking, we will ask you to leave the class.
VI. Email: We try to reply to all emails within 24 hours, with exceptions for holidays.
Please clearly state why you are emailing, provide your name and class, and do not use
text-speak.
VII. Extra credit: If I ever offer extra credit, it is to the entire class. So if you come to me
wanting extra credit, then you have to have an argument as to why the entire class
should have extra credit. That’s going to have to be a very convincing argument. It will
also have to convince the TA.