HIST 208

This course examines the early history of ancient Rome and its domination of the ancient Mediterranean world, chronologically spanning the foundation of Rome in 753 BCE to the end of the Republic at the Battle of Actium in 30BCE. Two overarching questions will shape our investigation: what internal and external factors allowed Rome to extend its empire first over Italy and then over the Mediterranean basin? Why did the government of Rome by the SPQR - the senate and people of Rome - the system called the Republic- ultimately fail and fall to civil war and a monarchy established by Julius Caesar and his successors? Seeking answers to these questions will entail the exploration not only of events and actors in Roman history but also the underlying political and social factors that shaped Rome: Rome’s political system; its ideas about family; aristocratic competition; economy, agriculture and slavery; the roman army and society; the city of Rome and urban violence; the nature of Roman imperialism.