Barbarization and Christianization:
Transforming the Roman Empire [64-565 CE]
Prof. Sarah E. Bond
bonds@wlu.edu
Winter Semester, 2012
Newcomb 309 |Office Hours: T/R 2-4
In the span of just a few hundred years, the Roman empire was transformed, both in terms of culture
and religion. This course explores the textual and archaeological evidence for the spread of
“barbarian” cultures (e.g., the Goths and the Huns) and Christianity within the Roman empire from the
first century CE to the early medieval period. In tracking the apparent expansion and assimilation of
these two groups within the Roman empire, students will examine the shifts in religion, culture, law,
gender, and infrastructure during the period known as Late Antiquity, and question both ancient and
modern constructions of the “barbarian,” the “Roman,” and the “Christian.”
Required Texts:
Stephen Mitchell, A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284-641: The Transformation of the Ancient
World (Blackwell, 2006) ISBN: 978-1405108560.
Michael Kulikowski, Rome’s Gothic Wars (Cambridge, 2008) ISBN: 978-0521608688.
Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire: A.D. 354-378 (Penguin, 1986) ISBN: 9780140444063.
Anthony Kaldellis, trans. Prokopius: The Secret History with Related Texts (Hackett, 2010)
ISBN: 9781603841801.
Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints (University of Chicago, 1981) ISBN: 978-0226076225.
Online Texts (Available through library.wlu.edu)
Peter S. Wells, The Barbarians Speak: How the conquered peoples shaped Roman Europe (Princeton,
2001).
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Develop Historical Literacy: You will acquire an essential body of factual information about slave
systems functioning in antiquity. You will learn how to analyze historical documents and texts. You will
be introduced to key points of scholarly debate, and expected to engage in them as well.
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2. Develop Critical Writing Skills: You will develop your interpretive and analytical writing skills in
three expository papers; two responses and one research paper. Writing will be graded for factual
accuracy, correct citation of sources, logic and organization, and correct English grammar.
3. Develop Oral Communication Skills: You will develop your analytical and expository skills orally in
class discussions, as well as through a final project with a fellow classmate.
4. Academic Integrity. Washington and Lee's Honor Code prohibits not only cheating on exams, but
PLAGIARISM from books, websites, and other students in writing essays. That is, you may not
transcribe, paraphrase, or closely summarize another author's work without using quotation marks
or making attribution (a footnote). You may not present someone else's words or thoughts as though
they are your own. See “Avoiding Plagiarism” on the History Department’s home page
(http://www.wlu.edu/x31282.xml ).
GRADE MAKEUP:
Attendance and Participation
Response Paper (2 Pages)
Hagiography Paper (5-6 Pages)
Hagiography Presentation
Historical Film Critique (2 pages)
Take Home Final Exam
15%
10%
30%
15%
10%
20%
Final Grade
100%
Attendance and Participation: Attendance in class is mandatory. Engaging with the readings and
responding to lecture are an important part of your overall grade, but your input is also valuable to
the success of the class as a whole. Please come ready to contribute.
Response Paper: The Response paper is (2) pages in length, and responds to a central question (see
1.26.11 assignment) or questions from lecture and the readings. Response papers must be properly
cited (see the Chicago Manual of Style guide on Sakai) and show use of the primary sources especially.
Please do not do outside research for this paper. Use the readings as a resource to formulate a strong
thesis with supporting evidence pulled from the texts.
Hagiography Paper and Presentation: At the beginning of the semester, each student will be
assigned a hagiographical text (i.e., a biography of a saint) to read, write, and report on in class. The
(5) page paper will investigate the Christian, Roman, and/or Barbarian attributes of your particular
Saint and position his or her life within the broader historical context of the time (e.g., fourth century
Egypt). The hagiographical presentation will be 15 minutes, and will introduce your saint to the class,
particularly the life and struggles of your saint. Your paper is due at the time of presentation.
Historical Film Critique: This (2) page response compares the depiction of Hypatia in the film Agora,
to the primary sources written on the life and death of Hypatia.
Take Home Final Exam: The two-hour take home exam is open-book and comprehensive. A review
sheet and review session will be announced prior to the exam.
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CLASS CALENDAR
(*Please note the key themes for each class [this will aid in your response papers!] and do the reading
prior to coming to class for each day listed.*)
Week I: What is a Roman?
Tuesday, January 10, 2012: Christians, Barbarians, And –Izations
Online: G.W. Clarke “The Origins and Spread of Christianity,” Cambridge Ancient History X
(Cambridge, 1996), 848-872.
Sakai: Edward James, “Who are the Barbarians?” in Europe’s Barbarians A.D. 200-600 (Pearson,
2009), 1-20.
Thursday (1.12) Assimilation and Roman Citizenship in the First Century
Online Primary Sources: Acts: 22-27; Tacitus, Annals, Book 11.
Online: M.T. Griffin, “The Lyons Tablet and Tacitean Hindsight,” CQ 32.2 (1982), 404-418.
Sakai: Lyon Tablet; James S. Jeffers, “Citizenship,” The Greco-Roman World of the New
Testament Era (Intervarsity Press, 2009), 197-210.
Week II: Nova Res: Superstition and Apprehension in the First and Second Century CE
Tuesday (1.17): Christianity and superstitio
Online: G.E.M. de Ste. Croix, “Why were the Early Christians Persecuted?” Past and Present 26
(1963), 6-38.
Sakai: Tacitus, The Trial of Pomponia Graecina; Suetonius, The Expulsion of the Jews from
Rome; Pliny, Christians in Pontus-Bithynia: Letters to Trajan: [1-25].
Thursday (1.19): Founder’s Day [Adjusted Schedule]: Marcus Aurelius and the Germanic Wars
Pictures: The Column of Marcus Aurelius
Sakai: Martin Beckmann, “The Frieze as History,” in The Column of Marcus Aurelius: The Genesis
and Meaning of a Roman Imperial Monument (University of North Carolina, 2011), 128-155;
Anthony Birley, “The Northern Wars,” in Marcus Aurelius Routledge, 2000), 159-183.
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Week III: New Places, New Faces in the Second and Third Century
Tuesday (1.24): Martyrdom, Christian Identity, and the Catacombs in Rome
Sakai: The Martyrdom of Polycarp [1-15]; Peter Lamp and Marshall D. Johnson, “Topography,”
in From Paul to Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the first two centuries (Fortress, 2003),
19-47.
Thursday (1.26): The Third Century Persecutions and Roman religio
[Response Paper Due]
Online: Decian Libellus, James Rives, “The Decree of Decius and the Religion of Empire,” JRS 89
(1999), 135-154.
Sakai: Tertullian, Letters to the Martyrs [1-7]; Cyprian, Selections [44-74].
Response Paper: How did the construction of the ‘Roman’ shift from the beginning of the first
century to the end of the second century CE? What consequences did this shift have both socially and
politically?
Week IV: Third Century Transformations in Religion and Politics
Tuesday (1.31): Goths and Persians: Pressures on the Frontiers
Online: Historia Augusta: “The Two Valerians.”
Textbook: Michael Kulikowski, “The Goths Before Constantine,” in Rome’s Gothic Wars, 14-33.
Thursday (2.2): Defining the Late Antique World
Textbook: Mitchell, A History of the Later Roman Empire, 1-42.
Week V: Extending the Empire
Tuesday (2.7): Constantine and the Nova Roma: Constructing a Paradigm of Christianity
Sakai: Eusebius, The Life of Constantine, [Selections] 1-50.
Thursday (2.9): Confronting Barbarians: The Battle of Adrianople
Textbook: Michael Kulikowski, Rome’s Gothic Wars, 123-143; Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later
Roman Empire, 410-443.
Week VI: Cult and Christianity
Tuesday (2.14): St. Valentine’s Day Special: The Cult of the Saints
Textbook: Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints, 1-49.
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Tuesday (2.16): Film Viewing: Agora (2009)
Sakai: Primary Sources for the Life and Work of Hypatia of Alexandria, 1-15.
Week VII:
Washington Break: No Class This Week
Week VIII: How could God let this happen?
Tuesday (2.28): The Sack of Rome: Augustine and the Christian Response
[Film Critique Due]
Sakai: Augustine, City of God [Selections], 1-32.
Online: T. Mommsen, “St. Augustine and the Christian Idea of Progress,” Journal of the History
of Ideas 12.3 (1951), 346-374.
Thursday (3.1): Lecture: Michael Kulikowski
[Title and Location TBA]
Week IX: The Christian Barbarian?
Tuesday (3.6): Hagiography Presentations
[Hagiography Presentation: Part I]
Thursday (3.8): Barbarian Christianity and Law
Sakai: Primary Documents: The Conversion of Clovis, The Council of Orleans, Selections from
the Visigothic Code, Gregory of Tours, History [1-12]; Edward James, “Kingdom, Kingship, and
Law,” Europe’s Barbarians (Pearson, 2009), 235-254.
Week X: Civilizing Britannia
Tuesday (3.13): From Roman Soldier to Barbarian King: Arthur as Exemplum
Sakai: Nennius, The History of the Britons, 1-6; “The Genesis of Arthur,” in King Arthur: Mythmaking and History (Routledge, 2002), 38-97.
Thursday (3.15): (Note: Beware the Ides of March) Conversion in Britain
Sakai: The Venerable Bede, Conversion of England, 1-10.
Week XII: The Growth of Monastic Culture in the North
Tuesday (3.27): Missionaries and Monasticism in the Early Church
Sakai: The Penitential of Finnian, The Rule of St. Columba, Rule of St. Benedict, 1-23. Selections
from The Life of St. Benedict, 1-15.
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Thursday (3.29): Hagiography Presentations
[Hagiography Presentation: Part II]
Week XI: Rome Reborn?
Tuesday (3.27): Christianity in the Eastern Roman Empire
Textbook: Procopius, The Secret History, 1-60.
Thursday (3.29): Justinian and the Byzantine Empire
Textbook: Documents Concerning Justinian, 133-182.
Week XIII: The Fall.
Tuesday (4.3): The East in the Sixth Century
Textbook: Stephen Mitchell, “The Challenges of the Later Sixth Century,” in A History of the Late
Roman Empire, 371-422.
Thursday (4.5): The “Fall” of Rome and the Roman Legacy
Sakai: Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [Selections], 1-20.
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