History N106A: The Roman Republic
Dr. Timothy Doran
doran@berkeley.edu
Summer 2012
“There can surely be no one so petty or apathetic in his outlook that he has no desire to discover by
what means, and under what system of government, the Romans succeeded – in less than fiftythree years – in bringing under their rule almost the whole of the inhabited world, an achievement
which is without parallel in human history,” wrote the Greek statesman-historian Polybius.
How did an insignificant state on the banks of the Tiber River grow to become the hegemon of the
Mediterranean? This course explores the political, social, cultural, military, and demographic
history of the Roman state from its putative early beginnings, its paradoxical coalescence as an
ethnic group, its consolidation of power in Italy, its wars against Carthage, its involvement with
Greece, and its social turmoil in the late Republic until the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Along
the way we attend to Roman religion, slavery, hierarchy, comedy, the rise of wealth, luxury, and
Greek culture in Italy, the consolidation and breakdown of social solidarity, and Rome’s massive
territorial expansion. You will meet, and we will read in English translation, such ancient
luminaries as Caesar, Livy, Appian, Sallust, Plautus, Polybius, Plutarch, and Cicero.
This is a compressed 6-week version of a normal semester course; therefore, each day represents
almost a week of a normal semester. The reading requirements will thus be somewhat intense, but
the great inherent interest of the materials will make it worth it. Although this course is technically
a “lecture course,” since we meet for 2.5 hours per day, it would be burdensome to listen to a
straight lecture this long, and so there will be a great deal of discussion as well: discussions every
day, plus special discussions which are indicated in bold type on the syllabus. Please arrive in class
every day with the ancient texts in hand, having already read them carefully.
BOOKS
Ward et al., History of the Roman People, 5th edition
Appian, Civil Wars (Penguin)
Cicero, Selected Political Speeches (Penguin Classics)
Plutarch, Fall of the Roman Republic (Penguin)
Sallust, Jugurthine War/Conspiracy of Catiline (Penguin)
Plautus, Four Comedies (Oxford World’s Classics)
Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire (Penguin)
A handout of Livy 1 will be passed out on the first day of class.
WEEK ONE:
Foundations of Rome: from the Indo-European Migrations through the Regal Period
(up to 500 BC)
(Ward ch. 1 – 4)
1.1 Introduction to Ancient History, Roman History, and Political, Cultural, and Social History.
Ways to look at Roman History, e.g. Peter Turchin. Class introductions. Geography of Italy in the
Mediterranean. Indo-European Migrations and Descent Groups. Introduction to Livy Book 1.
1.2 Ward 1. Roman History: Its Geographic and Human Foundation and Ward 2: Phoenicians,
Greeks, and Etruscans in Pre-Roman Italy. Map Quiz (on Italy, Greece, Po/Padus River, Adriatic
Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Apennine Mountains, Tiber River, Rome, Latium, Campania, Etruria, Sicily,
Iberia, Carthage, Phoenicia, Corinth, Cumae, Veii, Egypt).
1.3 Ward 3: Early Rome to 500 B.C. Livy Book 1, p. 33-52. Romulus, the Rape of the Sabines,
population. Problems of Kingship; paradox of the formation of the Romans as an ethnic group.
Discussion: The Rape of the Sabines.
1.3. Regal Period and Livy, continued. Livy p. 52 – 101.
1.4 Ward 4: Early Roman Society, Religion and Values.
WEEK TWO:
The Early Republic, the Struggle of the Orders, the Evolution of the Roman
Constitution, the Conquest of Italy, and the First Punic War (509 – 219 BC)
(Ward ch. 5 – 7)
2.1 Ward 5: The Evolution of the Roman Republican Constitution, 509 – 287 BC. Read: Livy
2.1-9, 2.14-2.30 (Penguin pp. 107-117, 124-145)
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/twelve_tables.asp, Struggle of the Orders: Livy 3.31 – 59.
2.2 Ward 6: The Roman Conquest of Italy and its Impact, 509 – 264 BC. Livy 5.1-23.
2.3 Ward 7: First Punic War, Northern Italy, and Illyrian Pirates, 264 – 219 BC. Polybius 3.1-34;
Polybius as a source and as a writer and his background.
2.4 Continuation from 2.3
WEEK THREE:
The Second Punic (Hannibalic) War, The Third Punic War, Roman Imperialism, and
the Influx of Greek Culture (218 – 133 BC)
(Ward ch. 8 – 11)
3.1 Ward 8. War with Hannibal: The Second Punic War, 218 – 201 BC Polybius 3.34-118.
3.2 Ward 9. Roman Imperialism East and West, 200 – 133 BC
3.3 Ward 10. The Transformation of Roman Life, 264 – 133 BC and Ward 11. The Great Cultural
Synthesis, 264 – 133 BC. In the online Ancient History Sourcebook read “Accounts of Roman State
Religion, c. 200 BCE- 250CE," "Roman Religious Toleration: The Senatus Consultum de
Bacchanalibus, 186 BCE," and Under "Roman Religiones Licitae and Illicitae, c. 204 BCE - 112 CE"
read the two sources on the Magna Mater. Discussion of the Bacchanalian Conspiracy.
3.4 Plautus, Braggart Soldier and Haunted House Discussion of these works
WEEK FOUR:
Politics by Murder in the Late Republic: The Gracchi and Marius (133 – 88 BC)
(Ward ch. 12, 13)
4.1 MIDTERM EXAMINATION.
4.2
4.3 Ward 12. The Gracchi and the Struggle over Reforms, 133 – 121 BC. Read Plutarch, Lives of
Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. Discussion of the Gracchi
4.4 Ward 13. The Breakdown of the System and the Career of Marius, 121 -88 BC. Read Plutarch,
Life of Gaius Marius.
WEEK FIVE:
Sulla, Pompey, and Caesar (88 – 44 BC)
(Ward ch. 14, 15, and 16)
5.1 Ward 14. Civil War and Sulla’s Reactionary Settlement, 88 – 78 BC. Read Plutarch, Life of
Sulla.
5.2 Ward 15. Personal Ambitions: The Failure of Sulla’s Optimate Oligarchy, 78 – 60 BC.
Plutarch, Life of Pompey.
5.3 Ward 16. Caesar Wins and Is Lost, 60 – 44 BC. Plutarch, Life of Caesar
5.4 Discussion of Sulla, Pompey, and Caesar
WEEK SIX:
Caesar, Octavian, and the End of the Republic (to 30 BC)
(Ward ch. 17 and 18)
6.1 Ward 17. The Last Years of the Republic, 44 – 30 BC
6.2 Ward 18. Social, Economic, and Cultural Life in the Late Republic, ca. 133 – 30 BC
6.3 TBA
6.4 Final Exam
POINTS BREAKDOWN:
PARTICIPATION, PREPARATION, PUNCTUALITY, SUPRESSION OF ELECTRONIC
DEVICES: 10%
QUIZZES: 10%
FORMAL ARGUMENTATIVE RESEARCH ESSAY: 30%
MIDTERM EXAMINATION: 20%
FINAL EXAMINATION: 30%
The midterm and final will have similar formats. For each, you will be given in advance a list of
terms (~20 for the midterm, ~30 for the final) to prepare; on the midterm itself will be my
selection of these (~10 on the midterm, ~15 on the final) from which you will select some to
DEFINE, SIGNIFY, and CONTEXTUALIZE. You will also be given in advance a list of SHORT
ESSAY TOPICS (~6 for the midterm, ~10 for the final) from which you will select some.