| Unit name | Rome: Republic to Principate |
|---|---|
| Unit code | CLAS22383 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Morley |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Classics & Ancient History |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The end of the Roman Republic is a crucial test case for understanding how a political system can collapse. This revolution is sometimes understood in purely personal terms, as the result of the reckless ambitions of individual Romans like Pompey and Caesar; sometimes in political terms as the consequence of the weaknesses of the old regime; sometimes, not least by many Roman writers, as the effect of luxury, immorality and the decay of traditional values. However, the political system was not the only aspect of Roman society that had changed by the end of the first century BCE. Rome was no longer a small city-state but a global empire, which transformed not only the resources available to its rulers but even the idea of what it meant to be Roman; the city of Rome had grown to an extraordinary size, creating innumerable problems, while the rest of Italy was increasingly urbanised and integrated into the wider world; the countryside was transformed by the crisis of the traditional peasant class and the influx of slave labour, while trading activities became ever more extensive and important.
