HIS 213 The End of the Roman Republic in Past and Present
The Roman Republic with its constitution, its crisis, and its eventual replacement by the Principate of Augustus has served for centuries as fruitful field to study constitutionalism and its discontents. Questions such as the how a republican form of shared governance gets abolished in favor of a more authoritarian form of rule, about the role of individuals vs structural powers, and the role of methods of persuasion in public affairs are crucial for this field. By discussing essential primary and important secondary sources, this course analyzes the final crisis phase of the Republic (from 46 BC onwards), the role of Caesar and the Civil War to the rise of Augustus. Both contemporary observers and later Roman scholars, as well as political philosophers and historians in the Renaissance, the age of Revolutions, and our own times, help to understand this most famous end of a Republic. In addition, this course also serves as an introduction to the history of historiography in a western context, and enables students to further contextualize their own experience and research.
Offered
Every Four Years (Spring)