A survey of the military, political, and intellectual history of ancient Rome between Julius Caesar’s assassination and the death of Constantine the Great. This course studies the foundations and transformation of the Roman principate and its impact on social, political, and religious change in the first four centuries. Topics include the First Triumvirate, the Julio-Claudian and Antonine dynasties, Augustan literature and culture, especially ancient historiography, the Roman army, the Severan Empire, philosophical schools in Alexandria, Roman law, religious conversion(s) among pagans, Christians, and Jews, the third century crisis, and the so-called “New Empire” of Diocletian and Constantine.
HST 403: The Roman Empire
Class Program