HU Credits: 4

Degree/Cycle: 1st degree (Bachelor)

Responsible Department: history

Semester: Yearly

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Dr. Matthias Schmidt

Coordinator Email: matthias.schmidt@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: Mondays 14:30 - 16:00

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Matthias Schmidt

Course/Module description:
The seminar offers a comprehensive survey of the ancient and modern debates surrounding the Roman Republic. Reading and discussion will focus on three aspects: (a) How ancient authors of the 1st century BCE onwards remembered, understood and reconstructed the ‘old’ Republic; (b) How Caesar Augustus established his monarchical system as a reconstruction of the Republic through creative memory and contemporary concepts; (c) How modern historians from the 19th century onwards described and reconstructed the republic - from the tradional ‘orthodox’ view that the republic was in fact a dominantly oligarchic and aristocratic political form until the recent argumentation that the Roman republic’s political culture was essentially democratic in nature, stressing the central role of the ‘sovereign’ people and their assemblies.The seminar covers a host of topics, including the Roman value system; the senatorial aristocracy; competitors in war and politics within this aristocracy; the symbolic language of public rituals and ceremonies, monuments, architecture, and urban topography.

Course/Module aims:
Students will get acquainted with the historical and historiographical discussions surrounding the nature of the Roman republic in antiquity and modern times. They will learn to differentiate between the few actually known facts about the republican system and the conceptualisation of this political system and its functionalization by ancient historians, authors and politicians as well as modern historians for their own needs. Students will familiarize themselves with the ideological elements concerning the reconstruction of politics, ethos and culture of the Roman republic, and will understand how our knowledge about Roman politics is rooted in abstract ideas, political actions and social ideology of their respective times. They will learn to develop different models of the Roman Republic from the given literary and archaeological sources, and will collect and interpret solutions to the permanent crisis of the republic offered by the historical protagonists. They will realize that the concept of the Roman republic is the result of a certain political ideal in different periods. Since no ancient author before Cicero has actually written explicitly and theoretically about the res publica, students will realize how our modern understanding of the “old” republic depends on our knowledge gained implicitly about the establishment of monarchy in the disguise of a “restored republic”. Students will analyse relevant source material, discuss methodological problems and research approaches as well as historical evaluations of the republic and the Augustan enterprise. They will understand how modern perceptions of the Roman state depend primarily on the contemporary social and political context of historians. They will learn how to use a variety of primary sources (texts, archaeological findings, art objects, architecture) to reconstruct and interpret the republican system, its ideal and its moral ethos. They will differentiate between available facts and much wider distributed fiction to get acquainted with the main scholarly questions aired over the last generations. In addition they might themselves develop new directions for discussion of this subject matter.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
- Examine and evaluate the historical and political discussions about the nature of the Roman republic
- Analyse a variety of available source material for the reconstruction of the republican system
- Assess the accuracy, credibility and objectivity of ancient and modern authors concerning the questions under discussion
- Validate the political, social, cultural, military and economic changes in the transition from Republic to Monarchy
- Evaluate the Augustan system in historical perspective and discuss the ambivalent approaches towards the principate as a “restored republic’ in ancient and modern historiography
- Identify, date and describe different modern approaches towards the political system of Rome
- Develop different explanatory models for the political systems and the political ethos of ancient Rome
- Differentiate between facts and concepts in history
- Realize the variety of possible interpretations of ancient source material and their consequences for modern discourse
- Understand the functionalization of ideas by contemporary and modern authors for their own political needs
- Realize the interdependence between contemporary political thinking and interpretation of ancient sources by modern historians
- Synthesise material from lectures and recommended primary sources and secondary literature to use in oral and written discussion of set topics

Attendance requirements(%):
90%

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Lectures, power point presentations, movie clips, analysis of different source material (text, maps, art, archaeology), interpretation of source material, discussion of research literature, student presentations

Course/Module Content:
The following schedule gives the main sections of the seminar (without sub-sections, sources and research literature). A detailed work plan will be published on moodle step by step during the year.

1. Introduction
1.1 Principle questions

1.2 Aims of the seminar: aspects and contents and methodology

1.3 Terminology, definitions, concepts, sources

1.4 The research problem: The Roman state between aristocracy, democracy and monarchy

2. The reconstruction of the Roman Republic by ancient and modern authors
2.1 Historiographers and Intellectuals of the 2nd and 1st Centuries BCE
2.2 The Importance of the Regal Period for the formation of the Res Publica
2.3 Historiographers and Intellectuals of the 19th Century and beyond

3. The Roman Constitution - Provisions and Arrangements, Values and Concepts,
3.1. The Conflict between Senate and Individual Politicians as Reflection and Challenge of Power Distribution
3.2 Provisional arrangements of the Roman constitution as threats for the power balance
3.3 Genealogies and Political Groupings - the nobilitas as a closed circle?
3.4 Senate and Senators - the prosopopgraphical approach
3.5 The Homo Novus Campaigning for Consulship Source:

4. The Self-Representation of the Roman Aristocracy and the Monumentalization of Political Culture in the Roma urbs as instruments for the reconstruction of the Republic
4.1 Political and religious rituals as reflection of the political (aristocratic) culture
4.2 Religious and public buildings as expressions of aristocratic Euergetism
4.3 The aristocratic domus and the villa urbana as symbols of aristocratic status

5. Democratic Politics in Republican Rome - The “old orthodoxy” challenged
5.1 Introduction: John North and Alexander Yakobson Literature:
5.2 Fergus Millar and the new discourse about Roman “Democracy”
5.3 A Synthesis - Robert Morstein-Marx and Henrik Mouritsen

6. The Restored Republic of Caesar Augustus
6.1 The Transformation of the Republic, or: The Alternative in Rome
6.2 The Establishment of the Augustan regime as the Reconstruction of the Republic (res publica restituta)
6.3 The reconstruction of Roman history and the restoration of the urban structure in Augustan Rome: An Interdisciplinary Approach
6.4 Augustus and Roman Religion: Continuity and Change
6.5 Art and Architecture in the Res Publica Restituta: The ara pacis Augustae as a reflection of the new society

Required Reading:
The following bibliographical items are in chronological order and in relation to the work plan of the seminar, i.e. first item will be read at the beginning, last item at the end of the course.
All items will be posted on the moodle.page for the seminar in due time, step by step according to the speed of our work caoacity in the seminar.

John A. North, “The Constitution of the Roman Republic”, in: Nathan Rosenstein, Robert Morstein-Marx (eds. ), A Companion to the Roman Republic, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2006, p. .256-277.

Mary Beard, SPQR. A History of Ancient Rome, London: Profile Books Ltd, 2015, chap. 3 The Kings of Rome, pp. 91-130.

Karl-J. Hölkeskamp, “History and Collective Memory in the middle Republic”, in: Nathan Rosenstein, Robert Morstein-Marx (eds.), A Companion to the Roman Republic, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2006, 478-495.

W. Eder, “Republicans and Sinners. The Decline of the Roman Republic and the End of a Provisional Arrangement”, in: R. W. Wallace, E. M. Harris (eds.), Transitions to Empire. Essays in Greco- Roman History 360-146 B.C., in honor of E. Badian, Norman- London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996, 439-461.

T. Robert S. Broughton, “Senate and Senators of the Roman Republic: The Prosopographical Approach”, in: ANRW I 1, pp. 250-265 (1972).

Nathan Rosenstein, “Aristocratic Values”, in: Nathan Rosenstein, Robert Morstein-Marx (eds. ), A Companion to the Roman Republic, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2006, 365-382.

Lawrence Stone, “Prosopography”, in: Daedalus 100.1 (Winter 1971), pp. 46-79.

John North, Democratic Politics in Republican Rome, in: Robin Osborne (ed.), Studies in Ancient Greek and Roman Society, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004, pp. 140-158.

Alexander Yakobson, Popular Power in the Roman Republic, in: Nathan Rosenstreich, Robert Morstein-Marx, A Companion to the Roman Republic, Chichester: Blackwell, 2010, pp. 383-400.

Erich S. Gruen, “The Exercise of Power in the Roman Republic”, in: Anthony Molho, Kurt Raaflaub, Julia Emlen (eds.), City-States in Classical Antiquity and Medieval Italy, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1991, 251-167.

Walter Eder, “Who Rules? Power and Participation in Athens and Rome”, in: Anthony Molho, Kurt Raaflaub, Julia Emlen (eds.), City-States in Classical Antiquity and Medieval Italy, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1991, 169-196.

Fergus Millar, Political Power in Mid-Republican Rome: Curia or Comitium?, in: Fergus Millar, Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution (ed. by Hannah M. Cotton and Guy M Rogers), Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002, pp. 85-108.

Fergus Millar, The Political Character of the Classical Republic, 200-151 BC, in: Fergus Millar, Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution (ed. by Hannah M. Cotton and Guy M Rogers), Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002, pp. 109-142.

Fergus Millar, Politics, Persuasion and the People before the Social War, 150-90 BC, in: Fergus Millar, Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution (ed. by Hannah M. Cotton and Guy M Rogers), Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002, pp. 143-161.

Fergus Millar, Popular Politics at Rome in the Late Republic, in: Fergus Millar, Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution (ed. by Hannah M. Cotton and Guy M Rogers), Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002, pp. 162-182.

Fergus Millar, The Last Century of the Republic: Whose History?, in: Fergus Millar, Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution (ed. by Hannah M. Cotton and Guy M Rogers), Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002, pp. 200-214.

Robert Morstein-Marx, Mass Oratory and Political Power in the Late Republic, chap. 4 “The Voice of the People”, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004, pp. 119-159.

Henrik Mouritson, Plebs and Politics in the Late Roman Republic, chap. 6 “Plebs and Politics”, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001, pp. 128-148.

Christian Meier, “C. Caesar Divi filius and the Formation of the Alternative in Rome”, in: Kurt A. Raaflaub and Mark Toher (eds), Between Republic and Empire. Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate, Berkeley Los Angeles Oxford: University of California Press 1990, pp. 54-70.

Robert Morstein-Marx, Nathan Rosenstein, “The Transformation of the Republic”, in: Nathan Rosenstein, Robert Morstein-Marx (eds.), A Companion to the Roman Republic, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell 2007 (paperback 2010), pp. 625-637.

Walter Eder, Augustus and the Power of Tradition: The Augustan Principate as a Binding Link between Republic and Empire”, in: Kurt A. Raaflaub, Mark Toher (ed.), Between Republic and Empire. Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate, Berkeley Los Angeles Oxford: University of California Press 1990, pp. 71-122.

Andrew Feldherr, “Livy’s revolution: civic identity and the creation of the res publica”, in: Thomas Habinek, Alessandro Schiesaro (eds.), The Roman Cultural Revolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, 136-157.

M. Toher, Augustus and the Evolution of Roman Historiography, in: Kurt A. Raaflaub and Mark Toher (eds.), Between Republic and Empire. Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate, Berkeley Los Angeles Oxford: University of California Press, 1990, pp. 139-154.

Susan Walker, “The moral museum: Augustus and the city of Rome”, in: J. Coulston, Hazel Dodge, Ancient Rome: The Archaeology of the Eternal City, Oxford University School of Archaeology: Oxford 2000, pp. 61-75.

Karl Galinsky, Augustan Culture. An Interpretive Introduction, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996, on the Forum Augustum pp. 197-213.

Eric Orlin, Urban Religion in the Middle and Late Republic, in: Jörg Rüpke, A Companion to Roman Religion, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2011, p. 58-70.

John Scheid, Augustus and Roman Religion: Continuity, Conservatism and Innovation, in: Karl Galinsky (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 175-193.

Karl Galinsky, Continuity and Chage: Religion in the Augustan Semi-Century, in: Jörg Rüpke, A Companion to Roman Religion, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2011, p. 71-82.

Additional Reading Material:


The titles below are considered as additional reading. They include comprehensive introductions to different or general aspects of our subject, monographies on certain issues and problems, but also some specific articles on different issues, which might give perspectives beyond tbe discussion in class. If necessary - some of the items will become obligatory reading during the course and then posted on the moodle.page.

צבי יעבץ, אוגוסטוס - נצחונה של מתינות, תל אביב: דביר, 4991.

משה עמית, תולדות הקיסרות הרומית, הוצאת ספרים ע‘‘ש י‘‘ל מגנס, ירושלים, 2002, חלק ראשון: תקופת אוגוסטוס, עמ‘ 1-240.

רחל פייג וישניא, בחירות, בוחרים ונבחרים ברפובליקה הרומית העתיקה, אוניברסיטת תל אביב, ההוצאה לאור, תל אביב 2008

Mary Beard, Michael Crawford, Rome in the late Republic. Problems and Interpretations, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985.

Mary Beard, SPQR. A History of Ancient Rome, London: Profile Books, 2015.

Klaus Bringmann, A History of the Roman Republic, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007 (dt. Geschichte der römischen Republik: Von den Anfängen bis Augustus, Beck: München, 2002.)

T. J. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome. Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000 - 264 BC), London: Routledge, 2002.

Werner Eck, The Age of Augustus, Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2003ץ

Karl Galinsky, Augustan Culture. An interpretive Introduction, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1996, on the ara pacis pp. 106-107; 141-155.

Erich S. Gruen, The Last Generation of the Roman Republic, Berkeley, Los Angeles London: University of California Press, 1974.

Erich S. Gruen, “The Roman Oligarchy: Image and Perception”, Jerzy Linderski (ed.), Imperium sine fine. T. Robert S. Broughton and the Roman Republic, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1996.

Fergus Millar, Erich Segal (eds.), Caesar Augustus. Seven Aspects, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984.

J.R. Patterson, “Survey Article. The City of Rome: from Republic to Empire” in: Journal of Roman Studies 82 (1992), pp. 186-215.

Kurt A. Raaflaub, Mark Toher (eds), Between Republic and Empire. Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate, Berkeley Los Angeles Oxford: University of California Press, 1990.

Kurt A. Raaflaub, “Born to be Wolves? Origins of Roman Imperialism” in: R. W. Wallace, E. M. Harris (eds.), Transitions to Empire. Essays in Greco-Roman History 360-146 B.C., in honor of E. Badian, Norman-London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996, 273-314.

Kurt A. Raaflaub, “Between Myth and History: Rome’s Rise from Village to Empire (the Eighth Century to 264), in: Nathan Rosenstein, Robert Morstein-Marx (eds. ), A Companion to the Roman Republic, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2006, 125-146.

Elizabeth Rawson, “The Father of his Country 63 BCE”, chap. 5 in idem, Cicero. A Portrait, (Bristol Classics), London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd, 1975, pp. 60-88.
Nathan Rosenstein, Robert Morstein-Marx (eds. ), A Companion to the Roman Republic, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2006.

Alexander Yakobson, Elections and Electioneering in Rome. A Study in the Political System of the late Republic, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1999.

Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1990, pp. 116-123; 158-161; 172-185; 202-295..

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 5 %
Project work 95 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information:
In this seminar classical literature and sources are studied in English or Hebrew translations. Knowledge of Greek and Latin is not required.