Last updated: April 16, 2008

 

Classics Section 
Major/Minor Programs in Classics at BGSU
Department of Romance and Classical Studies
Bowling Green State University

The oculus of the Pantheon dome.

The oculus of the Pantheon dome on a misty summer day, 2006 (Copyright by JMP)

CLCV 388/ROML 694: THE ROMAN CITY

Afternoons (2:15-3:15) twice weekly
Torre di Babele
Via Cosenza, 7 - 00161 Roma

INSTRUCTOR:    James M. Pfundstein, Ph.D.
                                office hours: by appointment
                                e-mail: jmpfund@bgnet.bgsu.edu
                                web-page: http://personal.bgsu.edu/~jmpfund/JMP.html

TEXTS: Jones & Sidwell, The World of Rome (Cambridge)
                        (ISBN: 0521386004)

                Sullivan, J. P. (trans.) Petronius: Satyricon; Seneca: Apocolocyntosis (revised ed: Penguin, 1986)
                        (ISBN: 0140444890)

                Shackleton-Bailey (ed./trans.) Martial: Epigrams, vol. 1 & vol. 3 (Harvard, 1993)
                        (ISBNs: 0674995554, 0674995295)

ON-LINE RESOURCES:

The single most important resource for the study of Roman history on the web is Bill Thayer's Lacus Curtius site. Of special interest to Roman Life students will be  his on-line edition of Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities-- an encyclopedic work with heaps of information on how the Romans lived their lives.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/home*.html

Another great resource at Lacus Curtius: a slew of articles from Platner and Ashby's Topological Dictionary of Ancient Rome.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/home*.html

If you're on campus (or sign in via the remote access server), there are some good resources available through OhioLink.
                    For instance, the Classics section of Oxford Reference Online:
                            on-campus URL:
                            http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/SUBJECT_SEARCH.html?subject=s3

                            off-campus URL (sign in first at the remote access server):
        
                    http://proxy.ohiolink.edu:9099/login?url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/

Also useful in the Internet Ancient History Sourcebook at Fordham University

                              http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook09.html

Another great source, with scads of images that can be searched by keyword, is VRoma:
                            http://www.vroma.org/images/image_search.html

Another rich (and well organized) source of images is Kathryn Andrus-Walck's Roman Art & Architecture:
                            http://harpy.uccs.edu/roman/html/roman.html

More images of Roman (and other ancient) art and archaeology are available at AICT:
                            http://arthist.cla.umn.edu/aict/html/ancient.html

Numerous images of Greek and Roman archaeological sites can be found at Leo Curran's site, Maecenas:
                            http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/Maecenas/index.html

The Ancient Library has put on-line a useful edition of Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/

Affiliated with the Ancient Library is the Theoi Project, a copiously illustrated and scholarly guide to Greek mythology.
 http://www.theoi.com

Tufts University's Perseus Project: Texts, Translations, Images
           www.perseus.tufts.edu/art&arch.html
Carlos Parada's Greek Mythology Link: Images and summaries
           http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/index.html


RESOURCES IN ROME FOR THE STUDY OF THE ANCIENT CITY:

                              Uncountable. You can get started at the URL below:

http://www.romaexplorer.it/roma/arte_roma/musei.htm


GRADING
:


Daily quizzes, discussion

Midterm (objective + 3 pp. essay)

Participation

Final Examination (objective + 3 pp. essay

20%

30%

20%
 
30%

THE FINE PRINT:
 

No makeups given due to absence without prior arrangement with the instructor.
No one can pass the course without passing the final examination.
No incompletes issued except for pressing reasons and by prior arrangement with the instructor.
The BGSU Student Conduct Code applies to students in the ASA Italy program.
"'Mouse' is a syllable. A syllable does not eat cheese. Therefore a mouse does not eat cheese."--Seneca
The instructor reserves the right to recognize significant improvement (or decline) in student performance in awarding the final grade.
The maximum amount of extra credit which may count towards the final grade = 5% of the total course points.
The syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor; changes will be announced in class.


SCHEDULE

Week
Reading Assignment
Other

Mon. Intro to Rome

Wed. Jones & Sidwell Ch. 1-2

Rome at the End of the Republic.
Imperial Building Programs
Wed.: Visit the Forum Romanum
II 
Mon. Jones & Sidwell Ch. 3
Petronius pp. 37-107

Wed. Jones & Sidwell Ch. 4
Petronius pp. 107-179
Houses of the Upper Classes (domus).
Houses of most people (insula).
Fri: Visit Ostia.
III 
Wed. Jones & Sidwell Ch. 5
Seneca, Apocolocyntosis

Fri. Jones & Sidwell Ch. 6
Martial "On the Spectacles" & Book I
Roman Baths: Technology
Roman Baths: Social Aspects
Fri: Visit Thermae Antoninianae
IV 
Mon. Midterm Exam

Wed. Jones & Sidwell Ch. 7
Martial  II & III

Entertainment: the Circus
Entertainment: the Amphitheater
Fri: Visit Colosseum, Circus Maximus


Wed. Jones & Sidwell Ch. 8

Martial  IV & V

Fri. Jones & Sidwell Ch. 9
Martial XI & XII

Entertainment: Tragedy
Entertainment: Comedy
Entertainment: Mime, Farce, etc.
Fri: Visit Pompeii

VI 

Mon. Jones & Sidwell Ch. 10
Martial XIII & XIV

Wed. Final Exam

Pressures on Urban Civilization at the End of the Empire.



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