(Duiker 127-134; Brians: 90-94, 104-106)
* Map Quiz on map 5.3 in Duiker, p. 132
Questions about Duiker:
What leader’s life and death helped set the stage for the death of the Roman Republic? *What were some of the achievements of Augustus? What building created for Hadrian is one of the grandest surviving in Rome?
Questions about Lucretius:
The Nature of Things:*What sorts of fears is Lucretius trying to get people to overcome? Why does he insist that everything happens according to natural laws?
Questions about Horace:” We All Must Die:”
*What typically Roman philosophical attitude is Horace trying to teach in this poem? Explain one of the symbols associated with death in this poem.
Question about “Epitaph from the tomb of a Roman wife:”
*What seem to have been the qualities Romans prized in women?
Questions about Marcus Aurelius: The Meditations: What arguments does Aurelius offer to help people accept death? How persuasive do you find them? *Explain. How does this philosophy emphasize the independence of the individual? Does this emphasis on the individual result in selfishness? What theme does Aurelius share with the poem by Horace?
Lecture Outline:
Lucretius: The Nature of Things
Rationalism
Horace: “We All Must Die”
Stoicism
Imperialism
Relationship of Rome to its colonies
Engineering & Architecture
Outstanding accomplishments
Pompeii
Illustration of a typical Roman city, its destruction
Supplementary materials::
- Roman Portraits in Ancient Egypt
- Etruscan art in the Vatican Museum
- French paintings of Roman historical subjects
- Tacitus: Annals (History of Ancient Rome)
- Lucretius: On the Nature of Things
- The Life of Julius Caesar, by Plutarch
- De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors
- Cicero home page
- Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
- Ancient Roman Dishes (recipes)
- Subterranean Rome