CLAS 295 - Topics in Classical Civilization

Credits: 3 credits in Fall or Winter; 4 credits in Spring
Planned Offering: Offered when interest is expressed and departmental resources permit.

Selected subject areas in classical civilization. The topic selected varies from year to year. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.

Spring 2015 topic:

CLAS 295: Money is Power: Control, Destruction, and Revolution in the First 1000 Years of Coinage (4). This course explores the revolutionary effect of coinage in the first 1,000 years of its existence and the transformative role it played in the ancient Greek and Roman world. We explore how historical events are reflected in coinage and how coinage itself acted upon individuals, rulers, states, and societies. By understanding the rapid rise of coinage as well as the wide array of ancient experiments, both successful and unsuccessful, in controlling and using it, we gain unique insight into the importance of money in our own society. (HU) Elliott. Spring 2015

Fall 2014 topic:

CLAS 295-01: The Might of Rome: How the Empire Thrived and the Republic Died (3). The end of the Roman Republic and the establishment of autocracy under the emperors is a crucial test case for understanding how a political system can collapse. In this course, we study the historical, political, economic, and cultural consequences of the death of the Roman republic and its consolidation as an empire. Key themes include the tension of running an empire abroad and yet holding to a republic in Rome; the intersection between the constitutional crisis in Rome and key changes in other sectors of Roman society; and the legacy of the end of the Roman Republic, and its effects upon modern debates in the Era of Abolition, the British Empire and the ascendancy of American dominance from the mid-20th century onward. (HU) Elliott.