HIS 101 WEEK 5: CLASSICAL ROME
Reading Assignment for the week:
- Read the appropriate chapters in the
textbook (chapters 5, 6 and 7 in the 7th or 6th ed. of Perry)..
-
Listen to some further information about Classical Rome
as a Realaudio file
or as a wav file. You can also read the information as
a txt file.
Questions to
Consider while studying this week's material:
- How did the very expansion
that made the Roman republic powerful undermine its stability?
- What factors contributed
to the eventual destruction of the Roman empire?
Key Terms to study
while reading the textbook:
- Alexander the Great
- Roman republic
- Roman empire
- Julius Caesar
- Pax Romana
Suggested Websites for further study:
- Rome: Republic to Empire by
Barbara McManus, College of New Rochelle, has some very well-done
web materials on different aspects of Roman history and culture.
- For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a
relevant website for this unit of the course. Send the title of the site, the url and a
brief explanation why you find the information interesting and applicable to
the material being studied this week.
Submit the Article Abstract:
Your assignment this week is the article
abstract, a long paragraph in which you summarize the contents of an
article from a major historical journal. The abstract should concisely
summarize the contents of the article, indicate the author's
thesis and follow the specific abstract style requirements. Please understand
that you are not being asked to evaluate the contents of the article.
The article
that you choose to summarize must be at least ten pages in length and cannot
refer to American history. Some suggested journals for articles
include: American
Historical Review, Journal of European Economic History, Journal of the
History of Ideas, Journal of Modern History, Journal of Social History,
Past and Present, Russian Review and Slavic Review. If
you have any doubts about a selection, please contact me.
You must review the additional
Article Abstract Information that
includes some journal locations (including
online options), sample abstracts and
the required style requirements for this assignment. Please note that your
abstract must include a complete bibliographic citation
at the top left of the page.
This assignment should be sent by e-mail according to the Electronic Submission
Information instructions.
Please remember to consult
Charlie's History Writing Center for
specific information on the writing requirements of this course.
You may also wish to post or respond in the
Blackboard online discussion forum
for this assignment. Please review the instructions for
Using the Blackboard
Discussion Forums, if necessary.
The Article Abstract is worth a maximum of
50 points.
Notes:
In many respects, the ancient Romans created
the foundation of the Western world through the political unity that they
brought to Europe, the Mediterranean and the Near East. Their empire was one of the first, and
largest, supranational (or multinational) political institutions to exist
in the world. The Roman achievement
in practical governance and law, as well as the spread of the Latin language, were passed
on to the "barbarian" successors. But for all of Rome's greatness, it is important
to remember that the Roman Empire was an empire based on military conquest. Once that military
expansion ended, the inexpensive supply of slaves ended. That brought ruin to the Roman
economy and was one of the factors leading to the decline of the empire.
There is no question that Roman pre-eminence
in the West lasted a very long time. Today, however, in these days of rapid
change, it is difficult to imagine how this one city could dominate Europe
and the Mediterranean from the third century bce to the fourth century
ce. And, what is more remarkable, very little actually changed in that
span of eight centuries. The continuity and stability achieved by Rome
was enormous, and much of that continuity was the result of hard work by
Roman citizens and their civic mindset, i.e., their devotion to the state. That
hard work paid off in a comprehensive system of law that remained
intact over the centuries and that provided a solid framework for the society
and economy.
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