Course Details

The transition from the Republic to the Imperial period in Roman history brought stability and a reprieve from generations of civil wars, but it also signaled a loss of rights. The central question of this course will be what the Romans ultimately gave up for this authoritarian stability and why. Through primary and secondary sources as well as archaeological evidence, we will use this period as a lens to investigate the curtailing of rights such as freedom of speech and democracy. We will further consider what role the civil wars and class conflict played in the breakdown of the republican system.