Age of Nero
HIST 3923H-001 / CLST 4003H-001 / HIST 7373
Fall 2018
Engraved Gemstone with Nero depicted as the god Apollo
Instructor: Dr. Charles E. Muntz
Time: MWF 11:50-12:40pm
Place: 412 Old Main
Dr. Muntz's Office: 407 Old Main
Office Hours: M 1:30-2:30, Th 10-11, and by appointment
Phone: (479) 575-5891
Email: cmuntz@uark.edu
Workload
Short Paper: A 1600 word paper analyzing Tacitus's and Suetonius's accounts of the death of Britannicus and what they show about the historians and how they understand Nero, due September 17. Assignment here.
Long Paper: A 3500 word research paper (4000 word for graduate students) on a topic related to Nero, due December 10 by 12 pm. Students should meet with the professor in the second half of October to discuss topics and go over bibliography. At the end of the semester students will give a 10 minute oral presentation on their papers. See below for general books on Nero and the authors of the period, and this link for general resources for doing research on the classical world.
Class Reports: Each student will give two ten minute oral reports. These will be on pieces of modern scholarship relevant to the Age of Nero and the texts we are reading. Following the class, the student should type up a brief summary of the report and any relevant issues that come up in the discussion afterwards and send it via email to the rest of class and the instructor. You can find suggestions for reading articles here.
Class Participation: Since this is a colloquium, most of the class will be devoted to discussion of the primary sources. Questions based on the primary sources to get things started can be found here, but feel free to raise other issues or questions on your own. Be prepared to support your answers with specific passages from the texts! Grading policies for discussions can be found here.
Attendance: Regular attendance is important. I will allow each student to miss two classes without penalty to cover things like illness and religious observances. Please email me in advance if you are going to miss class. For each absence after the first two, unless there is a serious problem, I will lower the final participation grade by 10 points. If you do have to miss a class, make sure you meet with another student to find out what you missed!
Grade Breakdown:
Short Paper: 15%
Class Report 1: 10%
Class Report 2: 10%
Long Paper: 40%
Class Discussion: 25%
Reading Materials
Required Texts:
Davie, John. Seneca: Dialogues and Essays. Oxford, ISBN 0199552401
Fantham, Elaine. Seneca: Selected Letters. Oxford, ISBN 0199533210
Fox, Matthew. Lucan: Civil War. Pengiun, ISBN 0143106236.
Healy, John F. Pliny the Elder: Natural History, a Selection. Penguin, ISBN 0140444130.
Sullivan, J. P. The Satyricon and The Apocolocyntosis of the Divine Claudius. Penguin, ISBN 0140444890.
Wilson, Emily. Seneca: Six Tragedies. Oxford, ISBN 0192807064.
Woodman, A. J., trans. Tacitus: The Annals. Hackett, ISBN 0872205584
Other texts will be made available via links under the Daily Topics
Books on Reserve in Mullins (under HIST 3923H-001):
Barrett, Anthony. Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire
Buckley, Emma and Martin Dintner, ed. A Companion to the Neronian Age
Champlin, Edward. Nero.
Griffin, Miriam. Nero: End of a Dynasty
Griffin, Miriam. Seneca: A Philosopher in Politics.
Harrison, S. J., ed. Oxford Readings in the Roman Novel
Reference Books available online (you will need to be on campus or log in to access these):
The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Nero
The Cambridge Companion to Seneca
The Cambridge Companion to Tacitus
The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics
Griffin, Miriam. Nero: The End of a Dynasty
Champlin, Edward. Nero
More general research tools can be found here
List of online journals at the U of A
Super resource if you need to look up a person or topic (much better than Wikipedia or other web sources):
The Oxford Classical Dictionary
Policies
Academic Integrity: As a core part of its mission, the University of Arkansas provides students with the opportunity to further their educational goals through programs of study and research in an environment that promotes freedom of inquiry and academic responsibility. Accomplishing this mission is only possible when intellectual honesty and individual integrity prevail.
Each University of Arkansas student is required to be familiar with and abide by the University’s ‘Academic Integrity Policy’ which may be found at http://provost.uark.edu/. Students with questions about how these policies apply to a particular course or assignment should immediately contact their instructor.
Equal Access: University of Arkansas Academic Policy Series 1520.10 requires that students with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact me privately at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through the Center for Educational Access (contact 479-575-3104 or visit http://cea.uark.edu for more information on registration procedures).
Inclement Weather: Classes will be held unless the University cancels them.
Miscellaneous: Please turn off and put away all cell phones and any other non-course related items and finish any food you might be eating before coming into class. Drinks are acceptable. Please remain seated during class - if you need to use the lavatory, do so before or after class.
Daily Topics and Readings
August 20: Introduction
August 22: Out with the old, in with the new
Seneca: Apocolocyntosis (in the same book as Petronius, pg. 221ff)
August 24: Lecture: The Ancient Historians on Nero
Tacitus: Annals, Book 12
August 27: Tacitus, Agrippina, and Young Nero
Tacitus: Annals, Books 13-14.19
James Mabry - Oral Report - The Rhetoric of Suppressed Speech
August 29: Lecture: Nero's Foreign Policy and Hellenism
Tacitus: Annals, Books 14.20-15.32
August 31: The Conspiracy of Piso and the Death of Thrasea
Tacitus: Annals, Book 15.33-16.35
Jack Meckfessel - Oral Report - The Myth of the Neronian Persecution
September 3: Labor Day
September 5: Suetonius's Nero
Cole Wood - Oral Report - The Inventio of Nero in Suetonius
September 7: Introduction to the Satyricon
Petronius: Satyricon, Puteoli
September 10: The Millionaire's Dinner Party
Petronius: Satyricon, Dinner with Trilmachio
Jeffrey Rogers - Oral Report - Grasping the Panglion: Sensuous Ambiguity in Roman Dining
September 12: Sex and Scandal
Petronius: Satyricon, Eumolpus
Kaitlyn Fitzgerald - Oral Report - Seductions of Art: Encolpius and Eumolpus in a Neronian Picture Gallery
September 14: Poets, Frauds, and Legacy Hunters
Petronius: Satyricon, The Road to Croton and Croton
Nina Andersen - Oral Report - The Sexual Episodes in the Satyricon
September 17: Lecture: Introduction to Seneca and Stoicism / Paper 1 Due
September 19: Seneca's Essays & Dialogues
Seneca: On Providence, On Anger, Book 3
September 21: The Stoic Way of Life
Seneca: On the Happy Life, On the Shortness of Life
Dakota DeMaris - Roman Historical Exempla in Seneca
September 24: Seneca and Nero
Seneca: On Mercy
Michael Cannon - Seneca on Monarchy
September 26: Introduction to Lucan and the Civil War
Lucan: Civil War, Books 1 & 2
September 28: Caesar v. Pompey
Lucan: Civil War, Books 3 & 4
Kate Rideout - Laying it on with a Trowel
October 1: Lecture: Art in the Age of Nero
Lucan: Civil War, Books 5 & 6
Aaron Morris - Lucan and the History of the Civil War
October 3: Pharsalus
Lucan: Civil War, Books 7 & 8
Erin Bartels - The Angry Gods: Lucan's Theodicy
October 5: Lucan's Cato
Lucan: Civil War, Books 9 & 10
Adam Leonard - Lucan's Poetic Geographies
October 8: Mid-semester summing up
Finish up Lucan
William Mabry - Pompey's Head and the Body Politic
October 10: Introduction to Seneca's Letters
Seneca: Letters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 14, 16, 18, 19, 21
October 12:Seneca's Letters
Seneca: Letters 24, 26, 27, 28, 31, 33, 36, 41, 44, 47, 51, 53, 54, 55, 57-63
October 15: Fall Break
October 17: Lecture: Neronian Architecture
Seneca: Letters 65, 68, 70, 73, 77, 78, 79, 82, 86
Cole Wood - Dinner at Seneca's Table: The Philosophy of Food
October 19: Seneca's Letters
Seneca: Letters 87, 88, 90, 91, 97, 110, 118, 124
Jack Meckfessel - The Best a Man Can Get: Grooming Scipio in Seneca Epistle 86
October 22: Lecture: Neronian Science and all the other stray authors we're reading
Seneca: Natural Questions, Book 6: On Earthquakes (in the Dialogues and Essays volume)
Pliny the Elder: Natural History: Preface; Book II - Astronomy
October 24: Neronian Science
Pliny the Elder: Natural History: Book VII - Man; Book X - Birds; Book XV - Olive Trees; Book XXVI - Diseases and their Remedies
Kaitlyn - Poison: Nature's Argument for the Roman Empire
October 26: Neronian Science
Pliny the Elder: Natural History: Book XXX - Magic; Book XXXV - Painting, Sculpture, Architecture; Book XXXVII - Precious Stones
Nina - Pliny's Brassiere
October 29: Neronian Satire
Adam - Faking it in Nero's Orgasmatron: Persius I and the Death of Criticism
October 31: Neronian Pastoral
Calpurnius Siculus: Eclogue 1, Eclogue 2, Eclogue 3, Eclogue 4, Eclogue 5, Eclogue 6, Eclogue 7
Einsiedeln Eclogue 1, Eclogue 2
Michael - Calpurnius Siculus: The Ultimate Imperial Toady?
November 2: Neronian Didactic
Columella: De Re Rustica Prologue - Book 1
November 5: Lecture: Introduction to Neronian Tragedy
Seneca: Phaedra
November 7: Neronian Tragedy
Seneca: Oedipus
November 9: Neronian Tragedy
Seneca: Medea
November 12: Neronian Tragedy
Seneca: Trojan Women
November 14: Neronian Tragedy
Seneca: Hercules Furens
November 16: Neronian Tragedy
Seneca: Thyestes
November 19: Class Canceled - Dr. Muntz has to fly to Houston for a meeting
November 21: Thanksgiving
November 23: Thanksgiving
November 26: Reception: Shakespeare and Seneca
Shakespeare: Macbeth
November 28: Reception: Quo Vadis? Nero on Film
November 30: Final Paper Presentations
December 3: Final Paper Presentations
December 5: Final Paper Presentations
December 10: Final Paper due by 12 pm