IMPERIAL ROME: PHILOSOPHY, LITERATURE, SOCIETY in Spring 2023 (CL3114)

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Studies the Greek and Latin literature of the Roman Empire. Readings will include: Seneca, star prose writer and poet of tragedies that impressed Shakespeare; Lucanus’ anti-Aeneid; Petronius’ Satyrica, the first Latin novel; Tacitus, the dark historian; witty epigrams and biting satire; a speech On Magic; the Stoics Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, one an ex-slave, the other an emperor; and Plutarch’s account of Antony's love for Cleopatra.

Course Master: 
IMPERIAL ROME: PHILOSOPHY, LITERATURE, SOCIETY (CL3114)
Term: 
Spring 2023
Discipline: 
CL (Comparative Literature)
Credits: 
4 credits
Type: 
CCI
Level: 
Undergraduate
Can be taken twice for credit?: 
No
Cross Listed: 
IMPERIAL ROME: PHILOSOPHY, LITERATURE, SOCIETY in Spring 2023 (PL3114)
Exam Date: 
Wednesday, May 10, 2023 - 09:00
Pre-requisites: 
None
Co-requisites: 
None

Professor(s)

Jula Wildberger

Learning Outcomes

  1. You will acquire a basic overview of the history of the Principate (Imperial Rome in the first two centuries CE), including political history, social history, gender studies, and history of ideas
  2. You will analyze philosophical and literary works as a form of social practice within its societal and political context
  3. You will become able to read critically, using basic techniques of historical source criticism and generic analysis
  4. You will get to know the main philosophical movements of the time, in particular Stoicism
  5. You will have a good idea of the literature of that time, having read samples of almost all great authors of that period
  6. You will improve your reading skills by studying a wide range of complex texts from a different time period
  7. 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
  8. You will think critically about questions of elite identity and the socio-political role of higher education and scholarship
  9. Local and Global Perspectives: Students will enhance their intercultural understanding of languages, cultures, and histories of local societies and the global issues to which these relate (CCI LO1)
  10. Aesthetic Inquiry and Creative Expression: Students will engage with artistic or creative objects (e.g., visual art, theatrical works, film) in different media and from a range of cultural traditions (CCI LO2)
  11. Exploring and Engaging Difference: Students will think critically about cultural and social difference; they will identify and understand power structures that determine hierarchies and inequalities that can relate to race, ethnicity, gender, nationhood, religion, or class (CCI LO3)
  12. Civic and Ethical Engagement: Students will demonstrate awareness of ethical considerations relating to specific societal problems, values, or practices (historical or contemporary; global or local) and learn to articulate possible solutions to prominent challenges facing societies and institutions today so as to become engaged actors at various levels in our interconnected world (CCI LO4)

Syllabus

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Book List

TitleAuthorPublisherISBN Number
#5 Meditations (transl. Martin Hammond, notes: Diskin Clay, 2006) THIS translation only
Marcus Aurelius
Penguin Classics
9780140449334
#3 Annals (transl. Cynthia Damon, 2013) THIS translation only
Tacitus
Penguin Classics
9780140455649 (pbk)
#4 Discourses: Fragments: Handbook (transl. Robin Hard, notes Christopher Gill, 2014) THIS translation only
Epictetus
Oxford University Press (Oxford World's Classics)
9780199595181 (pbk)
#1 Satyrica (transl. R. Bracht Branham & Daniel Kinney, 1997) THIS translation only
Petronius
University of California Press
9780520211186

Schedule

Start Date: 
Monday, January 16, 2023
End Date: 
Monday, May 15, 2023
DayStart TimeEnd TimeRoom
Wednesday
09:00
11:55
G-L22