Undergraduate Course: The Emperor Nero (ANHI10036)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will provide an opportunity to study in detail the reign of the fifth (and perhaps the most notorious) Roman emperor, Nero (AD 54-68), together with a selection of the relevant (mostly literary) sources. |
| Course description |
The course will address the nature and development of the Roman principate; Nero's early life; the history of his reign; his artistic preoccupations; foreign affairs; and the reasons for his failure and fall. Particular emphasis will be placed on the sources, which are exceptionally rich, extending from the philosophy and satire of Nero's tutor Seneca to the visually spectacular coinage and the extensive remains of Nero's Domus Aurea in Rome. Tacitus' Annals together with Suetonius' Life of Nero, the Octavia (of unknown authorship) and the relevant parts of Cassius Dio's Roman History will be studied in English translation, and will be considered from a literary as well as a historical perspective.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 3 courses in Classics related subject matter(at least 2 of which should be in Classical Literature) at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others.
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Reading List
L.F.Ball, The Domus Aurea and the Roman Architectural Revolution (Cambridge, 2003)
E.Buckley and M.T.Dinter (eds), A Companion to the Neronian Age (Chichester, 2013)
E.Champlin, Nero (Cambridge, Mass. and London, 2003)
P.T.Eden, Seneca: Apocolocyntosis (Cambridge, 1984)
M.T.Griffin, Seneca: a Philosopher in Politics (Oxford, 1976)
M.T.Griffin, Nero: the End of a Dynasty (London, 1984)
R.H.Martin, Tacitus (London, 1981)
[Seneca], Octavia, tr. J.G.Fitch, in Seneca: Oedipus, Agamemnon, Thyestes, Hercules on Oeta, Octavia (Cambridge, Mass. and London, 2004)
Suetonius, Nero, tr. C.Edwards, in Suetonius: Lives of the Caesars (Oxford, 2000)
C.H.V.Sutherland and R.A.G.Carson, The Roman Imperial Coinage vol. 1, ed. 2 (London, 1984)
Tacitus, The Annals, tr. A.J.Woodman (Indianapolis, 2004)
B.H.Warmington, Nero: Reality and Legend (London, 1969)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
In order for a student from outwith Classics to be enrolled, contact must be made with a Course Secretary on 50 3580 in order for approval to be obtained. |
| Keywords | Emperor Nero |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Dominic Berry
Tel: (0131 6)50 3590
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Chris Giles
Tel: (0131 6)51 4423
Email: chris.giles@ed.ac.uk |
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