Democracy and Republicanism in the Ancient World

Catalog description

This course examines the rise and fall of the Athenian Democracy and the Roman Republic, placing particular emphasis on understanding the social, political, and cultural attitudes and developments that contributed to the development and collapse of these types of government. Because both types of government conveyed substantial political power and responsibility to the citizenry as a whole, the course takes a broad interdisciplinary approach to understand the views and experiences of the people who lived under these governments. Focusing on ancient sources, the course seeks to understand how ancient Greeks and Romans described and conceived of their types of government, and how they understood the erosion and collapse of those governments. The course uses a wide range of evidence, including architecture, art, drama, history, literature, and philosophy.