Loyola University Chicago

CLST 277-WI: The World of Late Antiquity

Fall Semester 2006
Dr. Jacqueline Long

 Diocletian, portrait head c 284 from Nicomedia, Archaeological Museum of Istanbul, photo J. Long

Schedule of Reading Assignments and Topics

MWF 12:35-1:25 PM
Damen Hall 430

The reading assignments yield essential preparation for class meetings and discussions:
complete the reading before the day for which a reading is listed;
review it again as needed.

Texts

M 8/28 Introduction: Entering the Roman World
W 8/30 Empire and Change in the Third Century
  • Cameron, Ch. I "Introduction"
  • Strunk and White, chh. I, III, pp. 1-14, 34-38 (on-line, first edition Ch. II, first edition Ch. IV)
  • Study resource: the Imperial Index of the DIR - dates, most-familiar forms of the names, and links to peer-edited scholarly overviews of the emperors, their reigns, sources, and scholarly bibliography (not that you need to follow up on everything, but it's a good place to start when you do want to know more)
  • Study questions
  • Resolve to begin thinking about the collaborative research project
F 9/1 Old-Time Religions
M 9/4 Labor Day
  • No classes
W 9/6 Christian Conversion in Roman Society
F 9/8 Religious Enforcement by Decius
M 9/11 The Formation of the Tetrarchy
W 9/13 Imperial Care for the Economy
F 9/15 The Great Persecution
M 9/18 Christian Polemical History: Persecuting Emperors
W 9/20 Christian Polemical History: Hero on the Rise
F 9/22 Christian Polemical History: Vindication
M 9/25 Constantine
W 9/27 The "Rhetoric" of Imperial Capitals
F 9/29 Exam I
M 10/2 Imperial Power and Roman Religion
W 10/4 Treachery and Treason
F 10/6 The Subject in Roman History
M-T 10/9-10 Fall Break
  • No classes
W 10/11 Roman Society and Its Discontents
  • (part review) Ammianus Marcellinus, Books 14.6; 15.7; 16.10; 17.4; 19.10
  • (review) Cameron, Ch. VIII "Late Roman Economy and Society"
  • Strunk and White, ch. II, pp. 15-33 (on-line, first edition Ch. III)
  • Study questions
F 10/13 A Rising Star for Traditional Roman Historiography
M 10/16 Julian the Retrograde
W 10/18 Traditional Ideals Smack up against a Christian City
F 10/20 Childhood in a Roman Provincial Family of Mixed Religious Belief
M 10/23 Monnica and Women's Christianity
W 10/25 Late Roman Education
F 10/27 Late Antique Aesthetics and Culture
M 10/30 Pleasures
W 11/1 Swimming with Manichees
F 11/3 Exam II
M 11/6 Imperial Transitions
  • Cameron, Ch. VII "The Late Roman State"
  • Lee, items # 5.9, 5.10, 6.1
  • Study questions
W 11/8 Rome's Army
F 11/10 Violence and Corruption in International Relations
M 11/13 The Controversial Altar of Victory
  • Symmachus, Referral 3 (Vanderspoel's "Relation" in the title here Anglicizes the Latin, relatio, a technical term for a magistrate's letter referring some matter to the emperor's central administration for official advice - it has nothing except etymology to do with the current English word "relation")
  • Ambrose, Letters XVII and XVIII (again, Vanderspoel)
  • Study resources - visualization:
    • Victory, bronze, 1c AD, from the Civic Roman Museum of Brescia (International Association for Boundary Element Methods)
    • Victory, marble, between 240-190 BC, from Samothrace, now in the Louvre: in modern times the most famous image of Victory from the ancient Greek or Roman world (History Department of the University of North Florida)
    • pagan worship, ivory diptych of the Nicomachi and Symmachi (Haines Brown, Images from World History)
  • Collaborative presentation today: Government and Authority in the Later Roman Empire: Senate, Emperor, and Law (or as the group may otherwise title it)
  • Study questions
W 11/15 Ambrose the Bishop
  • Lee, items # 14.6, 14.10
  • Ambrose, Letter XX (John Vanderspoel, Department of Greek, Latin and Ancient History, University of Calgary)
  • Study questions
F 11/17 Augustine in Milan
M 11/20 X-treme Religious Life
W-F 11/22-24 Thanksgiving Break
  • No classes
M 11/27 Personalized Crisis
W 11/29 Christians and Jews
F 12/1 Ambrose and Theodosius: Articulating the Powers of Church and State
  • Ambrose, Letters XL, LI (John Vanderspoel, Department of Greek, Latin and Ancient History, University of Calgary)
  • Collaborative presentation today: Development of Christian Church and Doctrine (or as the group may otherwise title it)
  • Study questions
M 12/4 Holy Places: Contact and Transcendence
W 12/6 Rome and Aristocracy
F 12/8 Legacy of the Later Roman Empire
M 12/11 Study Day
  • No classes or exams
F 12/15
9:00-11:00 AM
 Final examination.
See Loyola's Final Exam Schedule.

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Revised 15 October 2006 by jlong1@orion.it.luc.edu
http://www.luc.edu/depts/classics/