From a few huts on seven hills in the eighth century BCE (or so they say), Rome became an empire that, at its greatest expanse, encompassed western Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and lands surrounding the Black Sea. More impressive than its expanse, its eastern half would last until 1453.
Rome’s influence remains visible today: its roads, many still in use, formed a network along which goods and ideas traveled; its awe-inspiring architecture, from the celestial Pantheon to the magnificent Pont Du Gard, set standards not to be reached again for over a millennium; its law code provides the foundation for Civil Law, and its art, like the murals in Nero’s Domus Aurea, and its literature, including Vergil’s Aeneid and Tacitus’ Annals, continues to inspire.
In this course we will study aspects of this historical phenomenon: read many of its most famous works, reflect on how the Romans thought of themselves and others, and trace the history of one of its texts, considered most dangerous by some. We will follow Rome’s rise and fall as an empire, and remark throughout on how different it is from Western societies today, even though the latter are profoundly indebted to it.
