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HIST 312/CLAS 312/HUMN 312: Ancient Rome (Rev. C3 & C4) Report a Broken Link

Welcome to Ancient Rome, a third-year course that is cross-listed as Humanities 312, Classics 312, and History 312. This course examines the fascinating events and developments during a formative period in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The following items are required readings for the course, in addition to the course website and textbooks.

Unit 1: Introduction


Unit 2: Early Rome (c. 1000 - 509 BCE); Roman Religion

Livy. The History of Rome, Book 1 Preface. Translated by Benjamin Allan Foster, 1919, reproduced for the Perseus Project.

Unit 3: Roman Society and Its Organization

Sextus Propertius. 4.11, “Desine Paulle Meum,” in Propertius. Translated by John Swinnerton Phillimore, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906, pp. 175–179.
Horace. Odes 2.18, Horace Odes and Epodes, Translated by Edward Bulwer Lytton. New York: Harper and Row, 1870, pp. 224–228.
Martial. 2.68. 5.22, Epigrams, vol. 1, Translated by Walter C.A. Ker. London: William Heinemann, 1919, p. 149; p.313.
Holkescamp, Karl-J. "Conquest, Competition and Consensus: Roman Expansion in Italy and the Rise of the Nobilitas." Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 42, no. 1 (1993), pp. 12–39.

Unit 4: The Republic (509 BCE - 31 BCE)

Livy. 23.22–25. The History of Rome, Books 23–25. Translated by Frank Gardener Moore. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940. Reproduced for the Perseus Project.
Sallust. Excerpt from The War with Jugurtha, 84.1–86.5. Translated by John C. Rolfe, Published in the Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921 (revised 1931). Reproduced and updated by Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius, 2013.
Julius Caesar. Caesar: The Civil Wars, 1.1–1.12. Translated by Arthur George Peskett, Loeb Edition, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1914. Reproduced and updated by Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius, 2013.

Unit 5: Roman Architecture and Engineering

Statius Silvae 4.3 “The Emperor’s Road”
Martial. I.70, from Martial: Epigrams, vol. I. Translated by Walter C.A, Ker. London: Heinemann, 1919, pp. 72–75. Reproduced for the Open Library, 2007.
Ammianus Marcellinus. The Roman Histories. 16.10.13–17. Translated by John C. Rolfe, Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1935. Reproduced by Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius, 2008.

Unit 6: Latin Literature of the Republic; Roman Philosophy

Plautus. “Amphitryo,” Translated by Henry Thomas Riley. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1912. Reproduced for the Perseus Project 2001. Updated and adapted by A. Reynolds, 2017.
Catullus. The Carmina of Gaius Valerius Catullus. Translated by Leonard C. Smithers. London: Smithers. 1894. Reproduced for the Perseus Project.

Note: Read poems 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 13, and 85.
Polybius. The Histories 1.1-5. Translated by William Roger Patton. Loeb Classical Library, I. Cambridge, MA; Harvard University, 1922–1927. Reproduced and updated by Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius, 2016.
Sallust. The Jugurthine War 1.1-5. Translated by John C. Rolfe. Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921. Reproduced and updated by Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius, 2013.
J.C. A. Gaskin, "Epicureanism," in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 2nd ed., ed. By Ted Honderich (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
R. W. Sharples, “Stoicism,” in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 2nd ed.
R. Baine Harris, “Neoplatonism,” in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 2nd ed.
Lucretius. De Rerum Natura, 1.1–237. Translated by William Ellery Leonard. Boston: E. P. Dutton. 1916. Reproduced for the Perseus Project.
Cicero. “Cato the Elder on Old Age.” Chapters 6–8. Translated by William Armistead Falconer. Loeb Classical Library, XX. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1923. Reproduced and updated by Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius.
Marcus Aurelius. Meditations, Book 12. Translated by George Long. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–14. Reproduced for The Internet Classics Archive by Daniel C. Stevenson, Web Atomics. World Wide Web presentation is copyright © 1994–2009.
Plotinus. Excerpt from “The Fourth Tractate: On True Happiness” of the “First Ennead.” In Plotinus: The Ethical Treatises Being the Treatises of the First Ennead With Porphyry’s Life of Plotinus, and the Preller-Ritter Extracts Forming a Conspectus of the Plotinian System. Translated by Stephen McKenna. London: Philip Lee Warner, 1917. Reproduced by the Open Library.

Note: Read pages 68–72.
Plotinus. Excerpt from “The Fourth Tractate: On True Happiness” of the “First Ennead.” In Plotinus: The Ethical Treatises Being the Treatises of the First Ennead With Porphyry’s Life of Plotinus, and the Preller-Ritter Extracts Forming a Conspectus of the Plotinian System. Translated by Stephen McKenna. London: Philip Lee Warner, 1917. Reproduced by the Open Library.

Note: Read pages 67–68.

Unit 7: Return to One-Man Rule; The Julio-Claudians (27 BCE – 68 CE)

Horace. Odes 1,37, in Odes and Epodes: A Metrical Translation into English. Translated by Edward Bulwer Lytton, London: Longmans, Green, 1872. Reproduced for the Open Library, 2007.
Vergil. Eclogue 4: “The Golden Age.” Translated by A. S. Kline. Poetry in Translation, 200
Vergil. Excerpt from Vergil's Georgics, Book 1.2, 458–518. Translated by J.B. Greenough. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1895.
Propertius. 1.6 in Charm: Sextus Propertius. Translated by Vincent Katz. Los Angeles. Sun & Moon Press. 1995. Reproduced for the Perseus Project. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1895.
Tacitus. Excerpt from Annals of Imperial Rome, Book 15, 38–44. Translated by John Jackson, Loeb Classical Library: Cambridge, MA, 1937. Reproduced and updated by Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius, 2009.

Unit 8: Golden and Silver Age Literature

Horace. The Odes and Epodes of Horace: A Metrical Translation into English. Translated by Edward Bulwer Lytton. London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1872.

Note: Read Epode 14 (Mollis inertia)
Horace. The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace. Translated John Conington. London. George Bell and Sons. 1882. Reproduced for the Perseus Project.

Note: Read
Vergil. Aeneid. Books 8–12. Theodore C. Williams. Translated by Theodore C. Williams. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910.
Propertius. Charm: Translations from Latin of Roman Poet Sextus Propertius. Translated by Vincent Katz. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press. 1995. Reproduced for the Perseus Project.

Note: Read
Propertius. Sextus Propertius. Translated by John Swinnerton Phillimore. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909. Reproduced for the Open Library, 2007.

Note: Read (PDF copy)

  • Elegy 2.10 “Sed tempus lustrare/To Augustus on his Eastern victories,” pp. 49–50
  • Elegies 3.9 “Maecenas eques/To Maecenas: in praise of his discreet and retired habit”, pp. 107–110
  • Elegies 3.22 “Frigida tam multos/To Tullus: In which he asserts that there are finer sights to see in Italy than in all the world”, pp. 132–134
Livy. History of Rome, 10.40–42. Translated by W. M. Roberts. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. Reproduced by the Perseus Project
Lucan. Pharsalia. Translated by Edward Ridley. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896. Reproduced for The Medieval & Classical Literature Library by Douglas B. Killings, 1996.

Note: Read Lines 1–326.
Statius. Silvae 4.1, “The Seventeenth Consulship of the Emperor Augustus Germanicus Domitian,” Translated by J. H. Mozley, London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. Reproduced by the Open Library.

Note: Read pages 207, 209, and 211.
Tacitus. Histories, Books 1–3. Translated by Clifford H. Moore. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925. Reproduced by Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius.

Note: Only read the first four chapters of Book 1.
Tacitus. Annals, 1.16–30. “The Mutiny of the Pannonian Legions.” Translated by J. Jackson. Loeb Classical Library, 1925. Reproduced and updated by Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius, 2009.

Unit 9: The Year of the Four Emperors, the Flavian Emperors, and the Roman Army

Pliny. Epistles 6.16 and 6.20. Translated by Ann Reynolds, Digital
Jon Coulston, “Courage and Cowardice in the Roman Imperial Army.” War in History 20(1), 2013, pp. 7–31.

Unit 10: The Zenith of the Empire to the Severans (96 to 235 CE)

Historia Augusta. 3 vols. “The Life of Antoninus Pius.” Translated by David Magie. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921–1932. Reproduced and updated by Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius, 2012.
Charmaine Gorrie, “Julia Domna’s Building Patronage, Imperial Family Roles and the Severan Revival of Moral Legislation,” Historia 53, no. 1 (2004): 61–72.

Unit 11: Empire in Crisis and Restored

Eusebius of Caesarea. The Life of the Blessed Constantine. The Bagster translation, revised by E. C. Richardson, pp. 481–540. A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series 1. Oxford and New York, 1890. Reproduced by Paul Halsall in “The Internet Medieval Sourcebook.”

Note: Read

  • Book 1: 10–11, 26–31, 42–43
  • Book 2: 56–60

Unit 12: Constantine and the Late Empire

“Classical Tradition,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome