Courses:

Help support MIT OpenCourseWare by shopping at Amazon.com! MIT OpenCourseWare offers direct links to Amazon.com to purchase the books cited in this course. Click on the Amazon logo to the left of any citation and purchase the book from Amazon.com, and MIT OpenCourseWare will receive up to 10% of all purchases you make. Your support will enable MIT to continue offering open access to MIT courses.

Wherever possible, the book citations below reflect the specific editions used in the course.

Suetonius. The Lives of the Caesars. Translated by C. Edwards. Oxford, UK; New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000, 2001. ISBN: 9780192832719.

Tacitus. The Annals of Imperial Rome. Translated by M. Grant. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1971, 1956. ISBN: 9780140440607.

Champlin, E. Nero. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780674011922.

Zanker, P. The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1988, 1990. ISBN: 9780472081240.

Readings

LEC #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction: Studying Roman Emperors
2	The Emperors and Their Empire	The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Entries for: 'Rome (history)', 'senate', 'praetorians', 'Augustus', and 'Nero'. Zanker. pp. 1-31.
3	Suetonius' Augustus	Suetonius. Augustus. pp. 43-97. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Entry for: 'Suetonius'.
4	Tacitus and Tacitus' Augustus	Tacitus. Annals. 1.1-15, and 12.1-13.58. pp. 31-42, and 252-312. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Entry for: 'Tacitus'.
5	Tacitus' Nero	Tacitus. Annals. 14.1-16.35. pp. 312-397.
6	Suetonius' Nero	Suetonius. Nero. pp. 195-227. Champlin. pp. 36-52.
7	Reading the Written Emperor	Barton, T. "The inventio of Nero: Suetonius." In Reflections of Nero: culture, history, and representation. Edited by Jas Elsner, and Jamie Masters. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1994, pp. 48-63. ISBN: 9780807821435. Syme, Ronald, ed. "The political opinions of Tacitus." In Ten Studies in Tacitus. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1970, pp. 119-40. ISBN: 9780198143581.
8	Warring images: Octavian, Antony, and Actium	Zanker. pp. 33-77.
9	Inventing Augustus	Zanker. pp. 78-100. Brunt, P. A., and J. M. Moore, eds.  Res Gestae Divi Augusti: The Achievements of the Divine Augustus. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1969. ISBN: 9780198317722.
10	Shaping Roman Values	Zanker. pp. 101-166.
11	Golden Prosperity	Zanker. pp. 167-192. The Aeneid of Virgil. Translated by Allen Mandelbaum. New York, NY: Bantam Press, 1981. 1.223-304, 6.679-end, 8.597-end, pp. 9-11, 161-168, 218-222. ISBN: 9780553210415.
12	Making Augustan History	Zanker. pp. 192-238.
13	Nero Makes a Spectacle of Himself	Champlin. pp. 53-83.
14	Neronian Myth-making	Champlin. pp. 84-144.
15	Nero Behaving Badly	Champlin. pp. 145-177.
16	Nero's Rome	Champlin. pp. 178-209.
17	Making a Military Mockery	Champlin. pp. 210-234.
18	Making Imperial History	Jenkins, Keith. Re-thinking History. New York, NY: Routledge, 1991, pp. 6-32. ISBN: 9780415067782. Evans, Richard. In Defense of History. 2nd ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2000, pp. 75-102. ISBN: 9780393319590.
19	The Reel Nero: Viewing of Quo Vadis? (1951)	Wyke, Maria. "Nero: Spectacles of Persecution and Excess." In Projecting the Past: Ancient Rome, Cinema, and History. New York, NY: Routledge, 1997, pp. 110-46. ISBN: 9780415906142.
20	Nero's Christian Afterlife	Champlin. pp. 1-35.
21	Mussolini's Augustus	Raaflaub, K. A., and M. Toher. "Editors' Preface." In Between Republic and Empire: Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993, pp. xi-xxi. ISBN: 9780520084476. Scott, K. "Mussolini and the Roman Empire." The Classical Journal 27 (1931-2): 645-657. Aicher, P. 'Mussolini's Forum and the myth of Augustan Rome.' The Classical Bulletin 76, no. 2 (2000): 117-139.
22	Syme's Augustus	Syme, Ronald. The Roman Revolution. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1939, 2002. pp. vii-xi, 1-9, 149-161, 459-475, and 509-524. ISBN: 9780192803207. Galsterer, H. "A Man, a Book, and a Method: Sir Ronald Syme's Roman Revolution After Fifty Years." In Between Republic and Empire: Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate. Edited by K. A. Raaflaub, and M. Toher. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993, pp. 1-20. ISBN: 9780520084476.
23	Presentation and Discussion of Final Paper Topics	Reading for final paper.
24	Presentation and Discussion of Final Paper Topics (cont.)	Reading for final paper.
25	Viewing of I, Claudius (1976)	Joshel, Sandra. "I Claudius: Projection and Imperial Soap Opera." In Imperial Projections: Ancient Rome in Modern Popular Culture. Edited by Sandra Joshel, Margaret Malamud, and Donald McGuire. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001, pp. 119-61. ISBN: 9780801867422. I, Claudius. Robert Wise, 1976.
26	Conclusion: Whose Emperors?