COR 046H: Ancient Rome in Film, Fiction, Fact
Schedule of Topics and Assignments, Part I

I. Roman Names: September 10

• Course Pages:
  • Roman Nomenclature (including sub-page on abbreviations of praenomina)
• External Links:
  • The Roman Name
  • Names in Ancient Rome

II. Types of Historical Evidence; Sketch of Early Roman History and Military Expansion: September 15 (These Were the Romans Ch. 1-2)

• External Links:
  • HyperHistory OnLine
  • A Roman History Timeline
  • Timeline: Ancient Rome
  • Notes on the Punic Wars
  • The Punic and Macedonian Wars

III. The Conflict of Orders and Structure of Roman Republican Government: September 17-22 (These Were the Romans Ch. 5-6)

• Course Pages:
  • The Conflict of Orders
  • Roman Cursus Honorum
• External Links:
  • *The Roman Republican Constitution
  • *Roman Government
  • *The Roman Republican System
  • Polybius 6.11-18: The Constitution of the Roman Republic
  • The Roman Assemblies from 218 to 49 B.C.
  • The Main Political Offices of the Roman Republic
  • List of Roman Consuls (300 BCE - 68 CE)
  • Censors of the Roman Republic
• Assignment: The class will be divided into three teams; each team will be assigned to review one of the first three web sites in the above list (those marked with an asterisk). Using the criteria presented in A Student's Guide to Research with the WWW, describe the page type to which it belongs and evaluate it for relevance, authority, and accuracy. Describe your reaction to this web site (is it attractive? appealing? does it make you want to learn about the topic?). No later than 8:00 pm on Wednesday, September 23, each team will submit their evaluation to Dr. McManus by e-mail.

IV. Roman Social Classes and Political Factions of the Late Republic: September 24 (These Were the Romans Ch. 9)

• Course Pages:
  • Roman Social Classes and Political Factions (including sub-pages on the optimates and populares)
• External Links:
  • Forum Romanum
  • The Forum Romanum: Exploring an Ancient Market Place
• Assignment (due October 1): Hand in a list of 10 objective questions with answers (true and false or multiple choice) covering the most important aspects of the following topics: Roman names, Republican government, social classes and political factions. These questions should be prepared individually, not in groups; they should emailed to me before class on October 1. All areas should be covered by at least one question. We will use these to begin to build a library of questions for our course project, the Roman Pursuit game in the VRoma MOO. On October 1, the class will take a brief objective quiz on the same topics.

V. The Roman Army (These Were the Romans Ch. 19): September 29-October 8

• Course Pages:
  • The Roman Army I: legions, camps, standards, officers, troops in Rome
  • The Roman Army II: legionary armor, auxiliary troops, army activities and pay, punishments and rewards
• External Links:
  • Josephus on the Roman Army
  • Polybius on the Roman Maniple vs. the Greek Phalanx
  • Armamentarium: The Beginner's Guide to Roman Military Equipment
• Re-enactment Groups:
  • The Ermine Street Guard
  • Legio II Augusta
  • Legio IX Hispana
• Assignment (due October 8): Conduct a web search for web sites that present information on the Roman army. By class time on October 8, hand in a list of sites found (with URLs), described according to overall content, design and attractiveness, and usefulness for our course study. Also describe the search process you used, including key words and search engines. The following links were compiled and recommended by the class:
  • Models of the Roman Legion (Gary Brueggeman)
  • Warfare in the Ancient World (Hugh Elton)
  • The Glory That Was Rome (Daniel Green)
  • Roman Military Sites of Britain (Peter Green)
  • Great Battles of the Roman Republic
  • Military Medicos
  • Roman Army (Center for Instructional Support and Technology)
• Assignment (due October 20): Hand in a list of 10 objective questions with answers (true and false or multiple choice) covering the most important aspects of the unit on the Roman army; these will also contribute to our library of questions for the Roman Pursuit game in the VRoma MOO. These questions should be prepared individually, not in groups; they should be emailed to me before class on October 20. On October 20, the class will take a brief objective quiz on the same topic.

VI. Roman Slavery and the Rebellion of Spartacus (These Were the Romans Ch. 13; view film Spartacus): October 13-20

• Course Pages:
  • Spartacus: Historical Background
• External Links:
  • Life of Crassus, 8-11 by Plutarch (translated by John Dryden); required reading
  • "Slavery in the Roman Empire: Numbers and Origins," by John Madden. Classics Ireland 3 (1996).
  • Lecture Notes for film Spartacus (Bernard Frischer, UCLA)
  • Spartacus Home Page (History in Film)
  • Spartacus (background about film)
  • Review of Spartacus (reviewed by Brian Koller)
  • Spartacus: The Man, the Myth, the Legend

SCHEDULE OF LAB SESSIONS:

1. Introduction to the VRoma MOO; basic MOO commands and navigation (September 15)
2. MOO mail and mailing lists; evaluating web pages (September 22)
3. MOO Treasure Hunt (September 29)
   • Skills: read and send mail; navigate; find and manipulate objects
   • Content: nature of Roman politics; importance of location for various political activities in the city
4. Continuation of MOO Treasure Hunt; work on web search assignment (October 6)
5. MOO Building and Object Creation (October 13)
6. Creation of MOO resources on the accuracy of the film Spartacus in relation to these questions (October 20)

Schedule continues on Topics and Assignments Part II

VRoma Home Page