HS4358: Life in Ancient Rome

School Ancient History
Department Code SHARE
Module Code HS4358
External Subject Code V110
Number of Credits 10
Level L6
Language of Delivery English
Module Leader Professor Kate Gilliver
Semester Autumn Semester
Academic Year 2013/4

Outline Description of Module

This module provides an opportunity to study what it was like to live in the city of Rome in the late Republic and early Empire, for both rich and poor. The course covers topics such as how the city was administered, "Bread and Circuses", the various forms of leisure activity and more 'down to earth' subjects such as the quality of housing, the water supply & other urban amenities. Students will be encouraged to study the importance of social institutions in public and private life, and the changes that occurred from Republic to Empire. METHODS OF TEACHING: 10 lectures; at least 2 seminars. METHODS OF ASSESSMENT: 1 piece written work 60%, 1 hour examination (Autumn) 40%. For Study Abroad and Erasmus students, coursework (100%). REQUISITES: Pre-requisite Modules: HS2102 or HS3102. CONDITIONS: Suitable for students studying at levels Two and Three only, subject to approval by the relevant Board of Studies.

On completion of the module a student should be able to

On successful completion of the module, the student will demonstrate:

A knowledge of the documentary and archaeological evidence relating to the administration of the city of Rome and the everyday life of all social classes in late Republican and early Imperial Rome; and of modern views and interpretations of that evidence.

An understanding of various issues and use of primary evidence to evaluate them, in particular:

i) How the city of Rome was administered in this period.

ii) The social and economic conditions of Rome in this period.

iii) The importance of various leisure and social activities and their relationship to public and private life.

An ability to discuss these issues in written work with coherent and logical arguments, clearly and correctly expressed.

How the module will be delivered

11 lectures; at least 2 seminars

Skills that will be practised and developed

On successful completion of the module, the student will demonstrate:

A knowledge of the documentary and archaeological evidence relating to the administration of the city of Rome and the everyday life of all social classes in late Republican and early Imperial Rome; and of modern views and interpretations of that evidence.

An understanding of various issues and use of primary evidence to evaluate them, in particular:

i) How the city of Rome was administered in this period.

ii) The social and economic conditions of Rome in this period.

iii) The importance of various leisure and social activities and their relationship to public and private life.

An ability to discuss these issues in written work with coherent and logical arguments, clearly and correctly expressed.

How the module will be assessed

1 hour exam (100 %)

Assessment Breakdown

Type % Title Duration(hrs)
Exam - Autumn Semester 100 Life In Ancient Rome 1

Syllabus content

Introduction to the documentary and archaeological evidence; the city and how it was administered; housing, (un)employment; crime, violence, the 'urban mob' & the food supply; leisure & entertainment; patronage, changes between Republic & Empire, and the role of the emperor; death and burial.

Essential Reading and Resource List

Bibliography

(the books in bold are for Short Loan from the Library – ie one day each sothat ALL students should be able to accesssome or all of this material)

A.    Literary sources

J.A. Shelton, As the Romans Did, 1998, DG78.S4

Martial, Epigrams (Penguin / Loeb), de Spectaculis (Loeb)

Juvenal, The Sixteen Satires (Penguin), PA446.F79

Pliny, The Letters of the Younger Pliny (Penguin) (purchase required)

D.Dudley, Urbs Roma, 1967, DG13.D8

Frontinus, De Aquis (Loeb)

Tacitus, Histories (Penguin/Loeb)

Elizabeth Bowen, A Time in Rome, 1960 (Vintage Classics available on Amazon) 

B.     General

Key works (purchase a good idea):

J. Coulston & H. Dodge (eds.), Ancient Rome : the archaeology of the Eternal City, 2000, DG63.A6

D.S. Potter & D.J. Mattingly (eds.), Life, Death and Entertainment in the Roman Empire, 1999,

O.F. Robinson, Ancient Rome: City Planning and Administration, 1992,DG83.R6

J. Balsdon, Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome, 1980, DG90.B2

J. Balsdon, Social Life in the Early Empire, 1974, Fol DG272.O7

J. Carcopino, Daily Life in Ancient Rome, 1941, Counter TGW P-Roman

O. Dilke, The Ancient Romans: how they lived and worked, 1975, DG30.D4

F. Dupont, Daily Life in Ancient Rome, 1992, (no references)PA3009.D8

J.F. Gardner, Being a Roman Citizen, 1993, JC85.C5.G2

A. Giardino (ed.), The Romans, 1993, DG78.R6

K. Hopkins, Conquerors and Slaves, 1978, DG272.H6

K. Hopkins, Death and Renewal, 1983, HN10.R7.H6

R. Ling, “A stranger in Town: finding the way in ancient city”, Greece and Rome 37 (1990) 204-12

H. Mattingly, Roman Imperial Civilization, 1957, DG272.M2

C. Nicolet, The World of the Citizen in Republican Rome, 1980, DG83.3.N6

N. Purcell, “The city of Rome and the plebs urbana in the late Republic”, Cambridge Ancient History vol 9, 1994, 644-688.

N. Purcell, “Rome and its development under Augustus and his successors”, Cambridge Ancient History vol 10, 1996, 782-811.

J.E. Stambaugh, The Ancient Roman City, 1988, HT114.S8

P. Veyne, Bread and Circuses, 1980, JC51.V3

P. Veyne, A History of Private Life, GT2400.H4

C.    The Built Environment

L. Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, 1992, FolDG68.R4

S. Platner & T. Ashby, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome,

http://www.ku.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/.Texts/PLATOP*/home*.html

Ostia Website, http://www.ostia-antica.org/index.html

Aqueducts website, http://academic.bowdoin.edu/classics/research/moyer/index.shtml

Bill Thayer's directory of web-sites is a great place to start if you're after plans and images of Rome.

T. Ashby, The Aqueducts of Rome, 1935, Bute Store

I.M. Barton (ed.), Roman Domestic Buildings, 1994, DG97.R6

I.M. Barton (ed.), Roman Public Buildings, 1989, NA310.R6

A. Boethius, “Remarks on the development of domestic architecture in Rome”, American Journal of Archaeology 38 (1934) 158-70

B. Frier, “The rental market in early imperial Rome”, JRS 67 (1977) 27-37

B. Frier, Landlords and Tenants in Imperial Rome, 1980, 343.49071 F

T.A. Hodge, Roman Aqueducts and Water Supply, 1992, NA325.A7.H6

R. Laurence, Roman Pompeii: Space and Society, 1994, DG70.P7.L2

W. MacDonald, The Architecture of the Roman Empire II: an urban appraisal, Bute

A.G. McKay, Houses, villas and palaces in the Roman World, 1975,DG97.M2

R. Meiggs, Roman Ostia, 1973, DG70.08.M3

H.V. Morton, The Waters of Rome, 1966

J. Patterson, “The City of Rome: from Republic to Empire”, JRS 82 (1992) 186-215

D. Strong, “The administration of public buildings in Rome during the late Republic and early empire”, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 15 (1968) 97-109

A. Wallace-Hadrill, Houses & Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum, 1994, DG70.P7.W2

D.    Population

P. Brunt, Italian Manpower, 1971, DG211.B7

K. Cokayne, Experiencing Old Age in Ancient Rome, 2003, in Cataloguing

B. Frier, “Roman life expectancy: Ulpian's evidence”, Harvard Studies in Philology, 86 (1982) 213-51

B. Frier, “Demography” in Cambridge Ancient History vol. XI, 2000, 787-816

G. Hermansen, “The Population of Imperial Rome: the Regionaries”, Historia 27 (1978) 129-68

M. Harlow & R.Laurence, Growing up and growing old in Ancient Rome : a life course approach, in Cataloguing

D. Noy, Foreigners at Rome: Citizens and Strangers, 2001, DG78.N6

J.E.Packer, “Housing and Population in imperial Ostia and Rome”, JRS 57 (1967) 80-95

W. Scheidel, Measuring sex, age and death in the Roman empire : explorations in ancient demography, 1996, Folio DG78.S2

Ed. W. Scheidel, Debating Roman Demography, 2001, HB853.R66.D3

G. Storey, “The population of ancient Rome”, Antiquity 71 (1997) 966-78

E.     Living Conditions and Food

G. Aldrete. & D. Mattingly, “Feeding the city: the organization, operation and scale of the supply system for Rome”, in D.S.Potter & D.Mattingly (eds.) 1999

P. Brunt, “The Roman Mob”, Past and Present 35 (1966) 3-27 (see also Finley, Studies in Ancient Society, DE71.F4)

K. Cokayne, Experiencing Old Age in Ancient Rome, 2003, HQ1064.R6.C6

R.J. Evans, ‘Wood Supplies for Ancient Rome’, Daedalus 4 (2003) 7-12 (photocopies available)

P. Garnsey, “Urban property investment”, in (ed. Finley) Studies in Roman Property, 1976, 123-36, 343.49071 C

P. Garnsey, Famine and Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman World, 1988, DE61.F6.G2

V. Hope & E. Marshall, Death and Disease in the Ancient City, 2000, DE61.M3.D3

R. Laurence, “Writing the Roman metropolis”, in H. Parkins (ed.), Roman urbanism : beyond the consumer city, 1-19, HT114.R6

R. Jackson, Doctors and Diseases in the Roman Empire, 1988, DG109.J2

G. Rickman, The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome, 1980, DG107.R4

A. Scobie, “Slums, Sanitation and Mortality in the Roman World”, Klio 68 (1980) 399-433

C.R. Whittaker, “The Poor in the City of Rome”, in C.R.Whittaker (ed.) Land, City and Trade in the Roman Empire, 1993, HC39.W4, PHOTO

G. Woolf, “Food, Poverty and Patronage”, PBSR 58 (1990) 197-228

Y. Yavetz, “The living conditions of the urban plebs in Republican Rome”, Latomus 17 (1958) 500-517, PHOTO

F.     Romans and the Law

A.R. Bauman, Crime and Punishment in Ancient Rome, 1996, DG88.B2

J. Crook, Law and Life of Rome, 1967, DG88.C7

E.J. Echols, “The Roman city police: origin and development”, Classical Journal 53 (1955) 377-85

R.J. Evans, Review of W. Nippel, Public Order in Ancient Rome, Cambridge 1995, Mnemosyne 50, 1997,             718-721 (copies available)

A. Lintott, Violence in Republican Rome, 1968, DG231.3.L4

W. Nippel, “Policing Rome”, JRS 74 (1984) 20-29

W. Nippel, Public Order in Ancient Rome, 1995, DG82.N4

J.S. Rainbird, “The fire stations of Imperial Rome”, Papers of the British School at Rome, 49 (1986) 147-69

G.    Work, Family life and Patronage

P. Brunt “Free labour and public works at Rome”, JRS 70 (1980) 81-100

A.R. Hands, Charities and Social Aid in Greece and Rome, 1968, DE61.C38.H2

N. Kampen, Image and Status: Roman Working Women in Ostia, 1981, DG91.K2

S. Joshel, Work, Identity and Level Status at Rome, 1992, HQ1134.W6

E. Rawson (ed.) The Family in Ancient Rome: New Perspectives, 1992, HQ511.F2

(ed.), Marriage, Divorce and Children in Ancient Rome, 1991, HQ511.M2

R. Saller, Personal patronage under the early Empire, 1982, DG83.3.S2

S. Treggiari, “Urban labour in Rome”, in Garnsey (ed.), Non-slave labour in the Greco-Roman World, 1980, DE61.L2.N6

A. Wallace-Hadrill (ed.), Patronage in Ancient Society, 1989, DG83.3.P2

Web pages produced by a Cardiff undergraduate as Final Year Computing project:

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/hisar/teach/ancthist/projects/children/

H.    Leisure and Entertainment

R. Auguet, Cruelty and Civilization: the Roman Games, 1994, DG95.A8

C. Barton, The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans, 1993, DG78.B2

D. Buchanan, Roman Sport and Entertainment, 1970,Senhenydd DG78.B8

K. Coleman, “Fatal Charades: Roman executions stages as mythological enactments”, JRS 80 (1990), 44-74

R.J. Evans, ‘Seating and Ambience in Ancient Theatres’, Daedalus 4.2, 2003, 5-11 (copies available on request)

G. Fagan, Bathing in Public in the Roman World, 1999, DG97.F2

D.G. Kyle, Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome, 1998, DG95.K9

I. Nielson, Thermae et Balnea: the architecture and cultural history of Roman Public Baths, 1990, FolDG97.N4

G. Orwell, “The Sporting Spirit”, published in The Tribune, 14th December 1945, in G. Orwell, I belong to the Left 1945, 440-446, PR6029.R49.A1.F98

P. Plass, The Game of Death in Ancient Rome, 1995, DG95.P5

E. Rawson, “Chariot Racing in the Roman Republic”, Papers of the British School at Rome, 49 (1981) 1-16

E. Rawson, “Theatrical Life in Republican Rome and Italy”, PBSR, 53 (1985) 97-113

J.P. Toner, Leisure and Ancient Rome, 1995, DG78.T6

T. Wiedemann, Emperors and Gladiators, 1992, DG95.W3

M. Wistrand, Entertainment and Violence in Ancient Rome, 1992, DG95.W4

F.K. Yegul, Baths and Bathing in Classical Antiquity, 1992, FolDG97.Y3

I.       Death and Burial

T. Africa, “Worms and the Death of Kings: A Cautionary Note on disease and History”, Classical Antiquity 1, 1982, 1-17.

V. Hope, “A roof over the dead: communal tombs and family structure”, in R. Laurence & A. Wallace-Hadrill, Domestic Space in the Roman World, 1997, 69-88, Folio DG97.D6

R.J ones, “Burial in Rome and the provinces”, in J.Wacher (ed.), The Roman World vol 2, 1987, DG77.R6

J.M.C. Toynbee, Death and Burial in the Roman World, 1971, DG103.T6

Many of the journal articles can be accessed on-line via JSTOR.

If you use information from Web sites in your essays, you must use it critically, refer to it, and include the address (and date of access) in your bibliography in the same way as you do other modern works.

This module provides plenty of starting points for an Independent Second Year Study; you are welcome to discuss potential topics with the module tutor.


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