HISTORY 4370 001

 GREAT CITIES--ROME

(CRN: 49411)

Spring 2016

Holden Hall 152 on MWF at 9:00 am

TEACHER
John Howe

Department of History, Texas Tech University (TTU), Lubbock, Texas 79409-l0l3
Office in Holden Hall 143

Office Hours: Tu 8:30-10:00; W 10-11 and 12-1:00; and by appointment
Home Address: 3109 25th Street, Lubbock, Texas 79410-2134
Telephone:; 806 742-3744 (History Dept.); or 806 834-7544 (office); or 806 438-1321 (Home)
E-Mail: john.howe@ttu.edu; fax: 806-742-1060; web:  http://myweb.ttu.edu/jhowe

PURPOSES OF THE COURSE

To survey the development of the City of Rome, ab urbe condita until today.  To examine a world capital's physical structures, ceremonial features, and cultural identity. To examine vignettes of life in such a place. To investigate how historians and archaeologists have acquired knowledge of Rome.  To gain contemporary self-knowledge by examining a community culturally ancestral to but yet significantly different from our own.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Required Texts:

Den Arend, Paul. Bernini in Rome: Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the Baroque in Rome. Haren: Vandi Design, 2015.

Hibbert, Christopher.  Rome:  Biography of a City: 3,000 Years of Her History from the Etruscan Kings to Mussolini. Baltimore: Penguin 2001. [Amazon]

Holloway, R. Ross. Constantine and Rome. New Haven:  Yale University Press, 2004. [Amazon]

Herzfeld, Michael. Evicted from Eternity: The Restructuring of Modern Rome. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.

Partridge, Loren. The Renaissance in Rome.  London: Laurence King Publishing. 1996.

Wickham, Chris. Medieval Rome: Stability and Crisis of a City, 900-1150. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Internet Ancient History Sourcebook (IAHS)
Internet Medieval Sourcebook (IMS)

Internet Modern History Sourcebook (IMHS)

Required Reading

Specific reading assignments for each class are listed in the Reading and Lecture Schedule, just ahead and to the right of the lecture date by which they should be completed. Each assignment is the subject of the following lecture or discussion. Read so that you arrive in class prepared to explain, praise, criticize, and question. If read for their assigned classes, the readings are manageable, but if neglected they quickly become overwhelming.

Class Attendance

Successful completion of this course requires regular attendance. In the classroom very difficult reading assignments are interpreted and contextualized, additional subject matter is introduced, and visual materials are displayed (which are difficult to comprehend from a friend’s notes). Part of the course grade is based on class participation, and you cannot participate if you are not present.

Examinations

Midterm tests are scheduled for February 12, March 11, and April 11. Each will include multiple-choice questions, identification questions, a single essay (to be selected from two or more choices), and perhaps map work. If, for good reason, a test is missed, a make-up test may be taken at 2:00 pm on Monday, May 9, in HH282. Students receiving a grade below “C” on a midterm should meet with the teacher to discuss it (this will be part of the class participation grade).

The final examination will feature multiple-choice questions and identification questions, on the material covered since the third midterm, as well as several essay questions (to be chosen out of six or more alternative questions) covering the material of the entire course. Bring blue books for the final examination on Thursday, May 12, at 7:30 am.

Term Paper

Students will write a research paper of 20-25 pages related to some aspect of the history of the City of Rome.  The topic must be approved by the instructor, approval contingent on some significant relationship to the City of Rome and to access to the requisite primary and secondary sources. Subject areas, topics, bibliographies, demonstrations of research methods, and a preliminary draft will be sequentially required: a subject area and one or more preliminary topics are due F Feb 12; a working topic and a preliminary bibliography by F March 11; and a show-and-tell demonstration of a data gathering system on W March 23.   Assignments submitted one class late will be penalized one letter grade; later assignments will not be accepted.  Some version of a preliminary draft of the paper MUST be submitted on or before Wednesday, April 20.  These will be returned on Monday April 25 and students may choose either to keep the grade earned then or to rewrite the paper for a new grade. Re-written papers must be submitted by 4:00 on Tuesday May 17.

NECESSARY ACCOMMODATIONS
             Any student who, because of a disabling condition, may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible so that the necessary accommodations can be made. 
 

Observance of a religious Holy Day
            Texas House Bill 256 requires institutions of higher education to excuse a student from attending classes or other required activities, including examinations, for the observance of a religious holy day. The student shall also be excused for time necessary to travel. An institution may not penalize the student for the absence and allows for the student to take an exam or complete an assignment from which the student is excused. No prior notification of the instructor is required.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY                
            "Texas Tech is committed to creating an exciting university atmosphere that is free of academic dishonesty. All members of the university community, including faculty, students, and staff, are upheld to the standard of having integrity in the work they produce. The standard is for all members of the Texas Tech community to contribute to the campus environment in an ethical, fun, and honest manner. Integrity matters because student success matters." Academic integrity violations are outlined in the Code of Student Conduct, Part X. B3 of the Student Handbook.  Because we live in an imperfect world, it is sometimes necessary to undergird ideals with enforcement mechanisms. Be aware that Texas Tech mandates specific disciplinary outcomes for academic integrity violations. See TTU Student Judicial Programs. 

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GRADING

The course grade will be computed as follows: 30% from the three midterm tests (that is, 10% from each); 30% from the term paper; 10% from class participation; and 30% from the final examination.

READING AND LECTURE SCHEDULE

F  Jan 22         Introductions / Great Cities / Geography

                                     Hibbert 3-9; Servian Walls of Rome ; Maps of Ancient Rome ; Rome Map ; Romulus and Remus; The Rape of Lucretia

M Jan 25         Origins of Rome

[Tu Jan 26       Last day for student-initiated Drop/Add]

                                     Hibbert 9-14; Roman "Constitution"; The Law of the Twelve Tables

W  Jan 27       Development of the Roman Republic

                                     Hibbert 14-16; Livy: The Roman Way of Declaring War; Polybius: The Battle of Cannae; Polybius: Legion vs. Phalanx

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F   Jan 29        Conquest of the Mediterranean

                                     Hibbert 16-23; Plutarch: "Marcus Cato"; Letters on Running for Office 64 and 54 BC;

M Feb 1         Chaos

Hibbert 24-44; Tacitus: The End of the Republic; The Deeds of the Divine Augustus; Augustan Encomiums

W Feb 3         Imperial Rome

                                    Hibbert 45-63; Strabo: The Grandeur of Rome; Juvenal: Satire III; Seneca: On Gladiatorial Games; Colosseum

[F Feb 5         Last Day to Drop a Course without Academic Penalty]

F Feb 5          Rome as Imperial Capital

                                    Hibbert 64-69; Holloway ix-xv, 1-56

M Feb 8         Chaos and Constantine

                                    Holloway 57-119; Holloway 120-55; Model of Rome

W Feb 10      Constantine's Rome

                                    Study. Prepare a sheet of paper that lists the proposed subject area of your paper and one or more tentative topics.

F Feb 12        Midterm No. 1

                                   Hibbert 69-72; Map; Amiannus Marcellinus: On the Luxury of the Rich in Rome; Decadent Romans, Valentinian I: On Papal Power; Symmachus  Damasus, Damasus Inscription

M Feb 15        Christian Rome

                                  Hibbert 72-74; Leo I and Attila the Hun 

W Feb 17        The "Fall" of Rome    

                                  Hibbert 75-78; Gregory the Great: On the Papal Estates; Gregory I: Manumission; Map  

F Feb 19          Rome of Gregory I

                                  Hibbert 78-81; Donation of Constantine; Map

M Feb 22         Roman Revolution and Charlemagne

                                  Hibbert 81-87; Wickham 1-34

W Feb 24         Post-Carolingian Rome:  An Age of Iron?   

                                  Wickham 35-180

F Feb 26          Roman Economy

                                  Wickham 181-320

M Feb 29        Roman Society

                                  Wickham 321-84; Map;  Veronica Ortenberg, “Archbishop Sigeric’s Journey to Rome in 990,” Anglo-Saxon England 19 (1990): 197–246  

W Mar 2         Roman Geography

                                  Wickham 384-457; Hibbert 87-92

F Mar 4          The Roman Reforming Party and Senate Take Charge

                                  Hibbert 92-94

M Mar 7         Twelfth-Century Rome

                                  Hibbert 92-96

W Mar 9         Thirteenth-Century Rome

                                  Study and prepare a sheet of paper headed by your working research topic, followed by a preliminary bibliography that includes some of the major relevant primary and secondary sources