History 203: Ancient Mediterranean: Power and Identity

This course will focus on the institution of slavery in antiquity, beginning in Archaic Greece and following the practice of enslavement and the lived experience of slavery until the 5th-century decline and transformation of the Roman west.  Along the way, we will explore the multitude of slaveries that existed throughout the Mediterranean, looking at the relationship between slavery and the ancient economy, resistance to and rebellion against enslavement, and how the reality of slavery was reconciled with the ideology of the early Christian faith.  Students will gain a more nuanced perspective on ancient slave systems and how they compare with more recent manifestations of the practice.

History/Classics 205: Survey of Roman History

Beginning as a tiny city-state on the banks of the Tiber, Rome developed into a multi-ethnic empire whose power encompassed the Mediterranean basin.  The Empire ruled by Augustus and his successors was created during centuries of Republican expansion in Italy, Spain, Africa, and the Hellenized lands of the Eastern Mediterranean.  This class will delve into the story of this expansion, a story of power, wealth, and war; of culture and identity; of cultural change and continuity.  Along the way students will develop an understanding of the Roman and other worlds that made up the ancient Mediterranean.

History/Classics 404B: The Roman Empire

 Drawing on the history of Rome under the emperors, this course will concentrate on three particular Imperial moments: Augustus’ creation of the Emperor, spectacle and disaster under the Flavians, and the specter of collapse glimpsed by Marcus Aurelius. Special emphasis will be given to concepts of power and how these are negotiated in politics, society, religion, material culture and gender ideals of the imperial period. Students will make use of a range of primary evidence, both ancient texts and archaeological material, to increase their understanding of the ancient Romans and to gain greater familiarity with the techniques of the historian in analysis and communication.

History 495A: Studies in Early Europe: Cleopatra

This course focuses on Cleopatra VII (69-30 BCE), the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt. After some consideration of the historical background of this Hellenistic kingdom and its ideology of royal power, we will try to locate Cleopatra in her chronological context, both as an active ruler and as an object of fiercely-competitive political and social discourse. We will then turn to post-Roman images in drama, art, and film, to explore how the story of Cleopatra has been crafted and recrafted to represent different "truths" about sex, power, and identity.