The Origins of Rome
This course examines the origins of Rome, the quintessential city in the Western experience. It considers both the literary and archaeological evidence for the earliest periods of the city’s occupation, and the challenges involved in using and combining these two quite different forms of evidence. Particular attention will be given to recent archaeological discoveries and the ways in which these are transforming our understanding of early Rome. The course also examines the ways in which people in later periods – both in antiquity and in more recent times - have drawn on their knowledge of early Rome for a variety of different purposes, ranging from politics, to scholarship, to the arts. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required.
Topics
- Students achieve a familiarity with the overall topography of the city of Rome Students achieve a familiarity with the archaeological and textual evidence regarding Rome ca. 1000 - 300 BC Students obtain an understanding of the social, political, and economic development of the early community of Rome Students obtain an understanding of the methods that scholars employ to recover and interpret archaeological and textual evidence regarding the past, the possibilities and limitations associated with each of these two different types of evidence, and the challenges involved in integrating these. Students obtain a familiarity with the ways in which people have made use of stories about early Rome for a variety of different purposes. Students develop their skills in the critical reading of ancient historical texts and modern historical/archaeological literature and in the composition of essays that express the critical evaluation of these
Official catalogue course objectives and student learning outcomes
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027