A tour through 300 years of Greek and Roman history and shifting multiethnic empires, from the death of Alexander to the death of Cleopatra (30 BCE). We read a lot: overviews of the Hellenistic Age and the Roman Republic as well as original works by Menander, Epicurus, Cleanthes, Callimachus, Theocritus, Aratus, Apollonius Rhodius, Polybius, Plautus, Terence, Ennius, Sallustius, Cicero, Caesar, Lucretius, Catullus, and others.
Code
CL3117
Name
EMPIRE AND INDIVIDUAL: FROM ALEXANDER TO CAESAR
Credits
4
Pre-requisites
None
Co-requisites
None
Equivalencies
EMPIRE AND INDIVIDUAL: FROM ALEXANDER TO CAESAR (CL3117)
Can be taken twice for credit?
No
Discipline
CL (Comparative Literature)
Level
Undergraduate
Type
CCI
CAMS ID
4591
Last update with CAMS
You will acquire a basic overview of the history of the Hellenistic (c. 300-30 BCE) period the Roman Republic (500-30 BCE), including political history, social history, and history of ideas.
You will have a good idea of the literature of that time, having read samples of almost all great authors of that period.
You will improve your reading skills by studying a wide range of complex texts from a different time period.
You will become able to read critically, using basic techniques of historical source criticism and generic analysis.
You will learn to apply methods of philology and new historicism to avoid anachronistic interpretations and become able to recognize the alterity of a different culture.
You will come to understand key ideas of Hellenistic philosophy (Skepticism, Cynicism, Epicureanism, Stoicism) and explore its reception in Rome.
Get used to tackling a difficult philosophical text and to discussing it both as a philosophical argument (structure of argument, meaning of terms, is the argument valid, role in the context of a theory developed by the author, etc.) and a literary work (genre, audience, style and figures of style, text function, etc.).
Term Code Name
Spring 2021 CL3117 EMPIRE AND INDIVIDUAL: FROM ALEXANDER TO CAESAR