Introductory description

This module focuses on the history of the High Roman Empire, and political, cultural and social developments in Roman society in this period.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Historical events from Antoninus Pius to Constantine and the cultural/social/political developments, e.g. ancient literary genre(s) (SHA, Fronto, Dio, Aelius Aristides, etc), the Second Sophistic, Roman frontiers, the rise of Persia, transformations and developments in the city of Rome, the Severan transformation of Lepcis Magna, the coming of Christianity, the Constitutio Antoniniana and citizenship, the 'third century crisis', provincial coinage, the tetrarchy, Galen and Roman medicene, the Asklepion and healing at Pergamum, civic life and inter-city rivalries, changes in imperial representation.

Term 1:
Week 1: The reign of Antoninus Pius (1 hour lecture)
In praise of the 'Golden Age': Panegyric, Aristides and Fronto (1 hour lecture)
Week 2: The reign of Marcus Aurelius (1 hour lecture)
Foreign Wars and the Column of Marcus Aurelius (1 hour lecture)
Week 3: Commodus (1 hour lecture)
Seminar: The Scriptores Historia Augusta
Week 4: The Civil War of AD 193 (1 hour lecture)
Literature of the Severan dynasty (Dio, Philostratus, etc)
Week 5: The reign of Septimius Severus (1 hour lecture)
The Severan transformation of Lepcis Magna (1 hour lecture)
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7: The reign of Caracalla (1 hour lecture)
Roman citizenship and the Constitutio Antoniniana (1 hour lecture)
Week 8: The reign of Elagabalus (1 hour lecture)
Septimius Severus and Elagabalus in modern art, politics, and literature (1 hour lecture)
Week 9: The reign of Severus Alexander and the rise of Persia (1 hour lecture)
Seminar: Did Severus Alexander win the Persian War?
Week 10: The Severan transformation of the city of Rome (1 hour lecture)
Galen and Roman medicine (guest lecture by Caroline Petit, 1 hour)

Term 2:
Week 1: Maximinus to Gordian III (1 hour lecture)
Was there a 'third century crisis?' (1 hour lecture)
Week 2: The reign of Philip I (1 hour lecture)
Saecular festivals and their representation (1 hour lecture)
Week 3: Trajan Decius to Aemilian: changes in imperial representation (1 hour lecture)
Seminar: Roman imperial coinage (handling of coins)
Week 4: The reign of Valerian (1 hour lecture)
Shapur I and the victory monument at Naqš-i Rustam (1 hour lecture)
Week 5: Gallienus to Quintillius (1 hour lecture)
Damnatio memoriae and Roman memory (1 hour lecture)
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7: The reign of Aurelian (1 hour lecture)
The Aurelian walls and the city of Rome (1 hour lecture)
Week 8: Tacitus to Carinus (1 hour lecture)
Barbarian invasions of late antiquity (1 hour lecture)
Week 9: Diocletian and the Tetrarchy (1 hour lecture)
Literary genres of late antiquity (chronicles, hagiography, etc) (1 hour lecture)
Week 10: Constantine (1 hour lecture)
Seminar: Constantine in text and image

Term 3:
Week 1: The city of Mediolanum (Milan) (1 hour lecture)
The city of Trier (1 hour lecture)
Week 2: Private monuments, part 1 (1 hour lecture)
Private monuments, part 2 (1 hour lecture)
Week 3: Revision (2x1 hour sessions)
Week 4: Revision (2x 1 hour sessions)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Students should possess a knowledge of the key political, cultural and social developments in the Roman Empire in the period from Antoninus Pius to Constantine, and have a good understanding of different types of ancient media (literary genres, sculpture, etc) and how to approach them.
• Students should be able to communicate their ideas clearly and concisely in written and oral form.
• Students should be able to critically analyse different types of media, both textual and visual, as well as other scholarship. They should be able to test hypotheses and sustain a reasoned argument.
• Students should be able to use libraries and online databases to research a particular subject or object. They should be able to draw upon images, maps, and other diagrams and critically assess these. They should be able to organise and present research in a clear and convincing manner, supported by evidence.

Indicative reading list

Barnes, T.D. (1981). Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge, Mass.
Barnes, T.D. (1982) The new empire of Diocletian and Constantine. Cambridge, Mass.
Barnes, T. (2011). Constantine: dynasty, religion and power inn the later Roman Empire.
Beckmann, M. (2011). The column of Marcus Aurelius: the genesis and meaning of a Roman imperial monument. Chapel Hill.
Birley, A.R. (1999). Septimius Severus: the African emperor. London.
Bowie, E. & Elsner, J. (2009) Philostratus. Cambridge.
Champlin, E. 1980. Fronto and Antonine Rome. Cambridge, Mass.
Ewald, B.C. & Norena, C.F. The emperor and Rome: space, representation, and ritual. Cambridge.
Dodgeon, M.H. & Lieu, S.C. (1991) The Roman eastern frontier and the Persian Wars (AD226-363). London.
Hankinson, R.J. (2008). The Cambridge Companion to Galen. Cambridge.
Harris, W.V. (ed) (2008). Aelius Aristides between Greece, Rome and the gods. Leiden.
Hedlund, R. (2008). '…achieved nothing worthy of memory'. Coinage and authority in the Roman Empire, c. AD 260-295. Uppsala.
Hekster, O. (2002). Commodus: an emperor at the crossroads. Gieben.
Hekster, O. & Zair, N. (2008). Rome and its Empire AD 193-284. Edinburgh.
Icks, M. (2011). The crimes of Elagabalus: the life and legacy of Rome's decadent boy emperor. London.
Leadbetter, B. (2009). Galerius and the will of Diocletian. London.
Lenski, N. (2012). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine. Cambridge.
Millar, F. (1964). A Study of Cassius Dio. Oxford.
Potter, D.S. (2006). A companion to the Roman Empire. Malden, MA.
Rowan, C. (2012) Under Divine Auspices: The Visualisation of Imperial Power in the Severan Period, AD 193-235. Cambridge.
Stoneman, R. (1992). Palmyra and its Empire: Zenobia's revolt against Rome. Michigan.
Swain, S., Harrison, S. & J. Elsner. (2007). Severan Culture. Cambridge.
Syme, R. (1983). Historia Augusta Papers. Oxford.
Syme, R. (1971). Emperors and biography: studies in the Historia Augusta.
Thomas, E. (2007). Monumentality and the Roman Empire: architecture in the Antonine Age. Oxford.
Varner, E. (2004). Mutilation and transformation: damnatio memoriae and Roman imperial portraiture. Leiden.
Ward-Perkins, J.B. (1993). The Severan buildings of Lepcis Magna. London.
Watson, A. (1999). Aurelian and the Third Century. London.

Subject specific skills

By the end of the module, students:

• should possess a knowledge of the key political, cultural and social developments in the Roman Empire in the period from Antoninus Pius to Constantine (AD 138-337).

• should be able to critically analyse different types of media, both textual and visual, as well as the views of modern scholarship. They should be able to test hypotheses and sustain a reasoned argument

• develop an improved awareness of how this period of history has been constructed by scholars, artists, politicians and others, from the Renaissance to the present day

• have enhanced research, writing and communication skills

Transferable skills

• critical thinking
• problem solving
• active lifelong learning
• communication
• information literacy
• ICT literacy
• citizenship
• professionalism