Topography of Ancient Rome

Rome was founded towards the end of the 7th century BC and evolved progressively into the most important city in the Mediterranean and the capital of the Roman empire. In the course of the semester we shall follow this evolution via the monuments of the city, from the beginnings and the Etruscan presence to the centuries of the Republic and of the Empire down to the period of the Tetrarchy (4th cent. A.C.)

Objectives

The basic goal of this course is to introduce the students to the monumental topography of ancient Rome from the 10th cent. B.C. to the 4th cent. A.C.

Prerequisites

No prior knowledge is required.

Syllabus

1. Prehistoric and archaic Rome (10th-6th cent. B.C.) 2. The early and middle Republican periods (5th to late 2nd cent. B.C.) 3. The late Republican period and Julius Caesar (1st cent. B.C.) 4. Octavian Augustus and the foundation of the imperium (31 B.C. – 14 A.C.) 5. The Julio-Claudian dynasty (14-68 A.C.) 6. The Flavian dynasty (68-96 A.C.) 7. From Nerva to Hadrian (96-138 A.C.) 8. The Antonines and the Severans (138-235 A.C.) 9. The decades of crisis (235-284), Diocletian (284-305), Maxentius and Constantine the Great (306-337). Rome after the founding of Constantinople.