2 Tribes and Kings

Thursday, February 2

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 1. Roman history: Its geographic and human foundations (Schultz xxvi–13)

    • 2. Phoenicians, Greeks, and Etruscans in pre-Roman Italy (Schultz 14–35)

    • 3. Early Rome to 500 b.c.e. (Schultz 36–51)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • DIONYSIUS / On the Subject of Roman History

    • DIONYSIUS / Early Rules for Clients and Patrons

    • LIVY / Numa’s Religious Settlement

    • LIVY / The Capture of the Sabine Women

    • DIONYSIUS / Servius Tullius’s Reform of the Comitia Centuriata

    • LIVY / The Rape of Lucretia

3 Patrician and Plebeian

Thursday, February 9

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 4. Early Roman society, religion, and values (Schultz 52–72)

    • 5. From tyrant kings to oligarchic republic (Schultz 73–98)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • DIONYSIUS / Coriolanus Opposes the Plebs

    • DIONYSIUS / The Tribunes and their Manipulation

    • FRAGMENTS / The Twelve Tables

    • LIVY, DIONYSIUS / The Roman Way of Declaring War

    • CICERO, DIONYSIUS / The Mythology of the Farmer General

    • LIVY / The Defeat of the Latins

    • POLYBIUS / The Constitution of the Roman Republic

4 Conquering the West

Thursday, February 16

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 6. The Roman conquest of Italy and its impact (Schultz 99–118)

    • 7. The First Punic War, northern Italy, and Illyrian pirates (Schultz 119–135)

    • 8. War with Hannibal: The Second Punic War (Schultz 136–149)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • POLYBIUS / The Roman Maniple vs. the Macedonian Phalanx

    • LIVY / The Samnites’ ‘Linen Legion’ Remains Undaunted

    • CORNELIUS NEPOS / Hannibal

    • POLYBIUS / The Battle of Cannae

    • LIVY, PRUDENTIUS / The Magna Mater

    • POLYBIUS / The Siege of Syracuse

5 Acquisition of Empire

Thursday, February 23

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 9. Roman imperialism East and West (Schultz 150–173)

    • 10. The transformation of Roman life (Schultz 174–192)

    • 11. The great cultural synthesis (Schultz 193–207)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • POLYBIUS / The Destruction of Corinth

    • LIVY / Cato Opposes Extravagance

    • PLAUTUS / From The Menaechmi

    • VARIOUS / Accounts of the Roman State Religion

    • VARIOUS / Slavery in the Roman Republic

6 Optimates and Populares

Thursday, March 2

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 12. The Gracchi and the struggle over reforms (Schultz 208–223)

    • 13. Destructive rivalries, Marius, and the Social War (Schultz 224–239)

    • 14. Civil war and Sulla’s reactionary settlement (Schultz 240–250)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • APPIAN / On Tiberius Gracchus

    • PLUTARCH / On Tiberius Gracchus

    • APPIAN / On Gaius Gracchus

    • SALLUST / Speech of Marius Against the Nobility

    • APPIAN AND PLUTARCH / Mithridates Against Rome

    • APPIAN / Drusus and his Enemies

    • LIVY, APPIAN / Sulla’s Brutality

7 Crossing the Rubicon

Thursday, March 9

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 15. Personal ambitions: The failure of Sulla’s optimate oligarchy (Schultz 251–272)

    • 16. Caesar wins and is lost (Schultz 273–296)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • SALLUST / Pompey’s Letter to the Senate

    • CICERO / Against Catiline

    • APPIAN / Pompey’s Conquest of the East

    • ASCONIUS / The Murder of Clodius

    • SUETONIUS / On Julius Caesar

8 End of the Republic

Thursday, March 16

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 17. The last years of the Republic (Schultz 297–316)

    • 18. Social, economic, and cultural life in the late Republic (Schultz 317–341)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • PLUTARCH / The Assassination of Julius Caesar

    • Q. CICERO / The Roman Candidate

    • SALLUST / Life in Rome in the Late Republic

    • CICERO / Scipio’s Dream

    • CICERO / On the Rise of Augustus

9 Augustus, Princeps, Imperator

Thursday, March 23

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 19. The Principate of the early Roman Empire takes shape (Schultz 342–359)

    • 20. Imperial stabilization under Augustus (Schultz 360–380)

    • 21. The impact of Augustus on Roman Imperial life and culture (Schultz 381–400)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • CATULLUS / Selections

    • HORACE / The Secular Hymn

    • VELLEIUS PATERCULUS / The Battle of Teutoburg Forest

    • AUGUSTUS / Acts of the Divine Augustus

    • TACITUS / The Death of Augustus and the Accession of Tiberius

10 Succession and Empire

Thursday, March 30

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 22. The first two Julio-Claudian Emperors: Tiberius and Gaius (Caligula) (Schultz 401–418)

    • 23. Claudius, Nero, and the end of the Julio-Claudians (Schultz 419–435)

    • 24. The crisis of the Principate and recovery under the Flavians (Schultz 436–450)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • CLAUDIUS / A Speech on Incorporating the Gauls

    • SENECA / The Pumpkinification of Claudius

    • TACITUS / The Principle of Adoption

    • TACITUS / The Legions Proclaim Vespasian Emperor

    • JOSEPHUS / The Roman Army in the First Century CE

    • LEGAL TEXT / Law Concerning the Power of Vespasian

    • SUETONIUS / How Domitian Attempted to Amuse the Populace

11 The Roman Peace

Thursday, April 20

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 25. The five “good” emperors of the second century (Schultz 451–473)

    • 26. Culture, society, and economy in the first two centuries c.e. (Schultz 474–505)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • PLINY THE ELDER / The Grandeur of Rome

    • PLINY THE YOUNGER / Panegyric Addressed to the Emperor Trajan

    • PLINY THE YOUNGER / The Correspondence of a Provincial Governor and the Emperor

    • STRABO, OXYRHYNCHOS PAPYRI / Egypt under the Roman Empire

    • VARIOUS / Roman Educational Practices

    • MARCUS AURELIUS / On the Virtue of Antoninus Pius

    • EUTROPIUS / The Reign of Marcus Aurelius

12 Third Century Crisis

Thursday, April 27

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 27. Conflicts and Crises under Commodus and the Severi (Schultz 506–526)

    • 28. The third-century anarchy (Schultz 527–540)

    • 29. Changes in Roman life and culture during the third century (Schultz 541–562)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • ZOSIMUS / Imperial Weakness Invites Barbarian Aggression

    • EUSEBIUS / The Persecution under Decius

    • VOPISCUS / Aurelian’s Conquest of Palmyra

    • HERODIAN / How Didius Julianus Bought the Empire at Auction

    • VARIOUS / The Lives of Soldiers and Sailors

13 The New Empire

Thursday, May 4

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 30. Diocletian: Creating the fourth-century Empire (Schultz 563–578)

    • 31. Constantine the Great and Christianity (Schultz 579–593)

    • 32. From Constantine’s dynasty to Theodosius the Great (Schultz 594–604)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE / Efforts to Stabilize the Economy

    • EUSEBIUS / The Conversion of Constantine

    • CONSTANTINE / The Edict of Milan

    • SOZOMEN / Constantine Founds Constantinople, 324 CE

    • JULIAN / Letter to Arsacius

14 The End of Antiquity

Thursday, May 11

• Before the meeting:
  • 1Read all of the following:

    • 33. The evolving world of Late Antiquity in the fourth century c.e. (Schultz 605–624)

    • 34. Christianity and Classical culture in the fourth century (Schultz 625–648)

  • 2Also read one of the following:

    • AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS / The Luxury of the Rich in Rome

    • PROCOPIUS OF CAESAREA / Alaric’s Sack of Rome, 410 CE

    • RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS / The Greatness of Rome in the Days of Ruin, 413CE

    • JORDANES / The Battle of Chalons, 451 CE