IDS 271 VISUALIZING THE ANCIENT WORLD IN FILM AND TELEVISION

How can we recreate the past? Do the choices we make matter? What do our visions of the past say about our present moment? In this course, students will investigate these questions and more with regard to the ancient Roman world. We will take as our starting point the i HBO series ROME, which follows (and dramatizes) the lives of characters both historical and fictional through the city’s transition from the late Republic to the Principate during the lives of Caesar and then Augustus. The series will be a springboard for student research into the world of ancient Rome and its intriguing inhabitants; much of our time will be spent learning how to work with primary sources and scholarship in the discipline of Classics. Our topics of exploration will include history, cultural life, architecture, sex, gender, oratory, philosophy, slavery, military life, ethics, ethnicity, literature, and other areas of interest. Counts toward Civilization or Expression requirement. Counts toward the Classical Studies minor