From Hannibal to Augustine: Rome and North Africa

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The course explores the history, culture, religion and society of Roman North Africa, one of the centers of early Latin Christianity. Important authors such as Cyprian, Tertullian, Lactantius, Perpetua and above all Augustine of Hippo lived and wrote in the region dominated by the ancient Phoenician city of Carthage, and this is where some of the greatest writings of ancient Christianity were produced. In this course, we will situate the culturally and economically fertile environment of 3rd to 5th -century North Africa in its context in terms of geography (surrounded by the Mediterranean, the Sahara desert, the African provinces to the East, first and foremost Egypt, and lastly the Iberian Peninsula, from where the Vandal invaders would arrive), politics and history (from the Phoenician colonization to the arrival of the Arabs), economics, multiethnicity and religious diversity. We will discuss literary works, works of art, archaeological relics and historical sources to gain a multifacetedunderstanding of a complex and fascinating era whose legacy would contribute so much to shaping the Christian Middle Ages. Knowledge of Greek or Latin is not required. No prerequisites.