Latin 520: Second to one: Tiberius and Tiberian Culture

Winter Quarter 2012

Denny 210

TTh 2:30-4:20 PM

Professor A. M. Gowing

Office: M-24 Denny Hall

Office Hours: M 10-11, and by appointment

Phone: 543-2266 (main office)

e-mail: alain@u.washington.edu

Course website: http://faculty.washington.edu/alain/Lat520-Tiberius/Lat520TiberiusHome.html

Here you will find a copy of this syllabus, a select bibliography (in constant evolution), and links to various texts etc. I will also post here the weekly assignments (see below).

Texts:  We are going to be reading from a variety of texts, some portions of which will be assigned in Latin and some in English. The Latin editions of our readings are very expensive and since we shall only be reading portions of, e.g., Velleius Paterculus and Valerius Maximus, I have not ordered the Latin editions of those. I shall either photocopy the relevant readings or you may find them on the Latin Library (thelatinlibrary.com). The one exception to this is Tacitus: I have ordered the Teuber edition of the Annals by Heubner – this is a text you should own anyway. We must all use the same translations (with the exception of the Phaedrus – we will use photocopies of our readings in this author -- these are all available at the University Bookstore):

A.J. Woodman, trans. Tacitus: the Annals (Hackett 2004).

H.J. Walker, trans. Valerius Maximus. Memorable Deeds And Sayings: A Thousand Tales From Ancient Rome (Hackett 2004).

J.C. Yardley and A. Barrett, edd. and trans. The Roman History: From Romulus And The Foundation Of Rome To The Reign Of The Emperor Tiberius (Hackett 2011).

Reserve: Some books and materials will be on reserve in the seminar room (Denny 210) as well.

Description: ‘Tiberian culture’ almost seems oxymoronic. We readily think in terms of the ‘Age of Augustus’ or even the ‘Age of Nero’. But Tiberius, the second Roman emperor (AD 14-37), gives the impression of having failed (in Conte’s words) to 'organize a program of cultural hegemony’ in quite the same way as his immediate predecessor or eventual successor. In this seminar we shall test this hypothesis by exploring the nature of ‘Tiberian culture’ via history, literature, and material remains. In order to start from a Tiberian perspective, we begin with the Tiberian historian Velleius Paterculus’ brief account of the early part of his reign (Velleius’ narrative terminates with the year AD 29), and then move on to the dominant and much longer narrative written over 70 years later by the Flavian historian Tacitus in Annals 1-6. We will subsequently read representative selections from the moralist-historian Valerius Maximus, the fabulous fabulist Phaedrus, and the epigraphic record. We will also consider various components of the ‘Tiberian building program’ (considering in the process whether there even was such a thing). Class time will be divided between discussion (topics and issues set in advance each week) and some translation. Seminar participants will produce a seminar paper, preliminary work on which will be presented in a 10-15 minute oral report during an in-seminar ‘conference’ held during the last two class meetings and entitled (you guessed it) 'Second to One: Tiberius and Tiberian Culture’.

Requirements: 1) Consistent attendance and preparation (I place a lot of stock in your having things to say!)

2) 10-12 page paper on some aspect of the material we cover, including a brief (10-15 min.) in-class report and abstract on topic of your paper, a la APA. These will be presented in a ‘conference’ held the last two class meetings. Details forthcoming. Paper due March 14.

3) The occasional written translation exercise…one or two in class, one or two outside of class.

General schedule

NB: For each week I will circulate by e-mail and post to our webpage a specific assignment that will indicate what texts are to be read, secondary reading (some required, some optional), and issues to think about. But this is a rough guide to the authors/topics we’ll cover each week:

Week 1: Velleius Paterculus

Weeks 2-4: Tacitus

Weeks 5-6: Valerius Maximus

Week 7: Phaedrus

Week 8: the epigraphic record

Week 9: the Tiberian ‘building’ program

Week 10: a 2-day conference on the topic ‘Second to one: Tiberius and Tiberian Culture’