Undergraduate Course: From Commodus to Constantine: Collapse, Chaos and Recovery in the Third-Century Roman Empire (LLLE07033)

Course Outline
School	School of History, Classics and Archaeology	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	10	ECTS Credits	5
Summary	A survey of the Roman world between 180 and 325 CE, a time when through internal and external pressures the Augustan system of government, the Principate, collapsed and was eventually replaced by an entirely new form of government, the Dominate.
Course description	1. Introduction - Historical background; survey of sources; reign of Commodus (180-192 CE) 2. Septimius Severus - rise to power and rule (193-211 CE) 3. Later Severan rulers - Caracalla, Elagabalus; Alexander Severus 4. Overview of the Severan period (193-235 CE) - the importance of the women of the dynasty; the militarization of the state 5. The mid-century crisis (i) - barbarian invasions; the threat of Sassanid Persia; persecution of the Christians 6. The mid-century crisis (ii) - breakaway movements such as the Imperium Galliarum (Empire of the Gauls) and the Palmyrene empire of Zenobia and Vaballathus 7. Aurelian, "Restorer of the World" - the restoration of the empire between 270 and 275 CE 8. Diocletian (285-305 CE) - re-configuration of the Roman world; the Tetrarchy 9. Constantine - rise to power, completion of the reforms of Diocletian; foundation of Constantinople 10. Retrospective of the Third Century - examination of continuities and changes.

Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: demonstrate an understanding of the politics, government and society of this key period of Roman history handle challenging primary source material deal critically with primary and secondary source material.

Reading List
Barnes, T. D. (1982), The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine (Cambridge, Mass.) Hekster, O. (2008), Rome and its Empire AD 193-294 (Edinburgh) MacMullen, R. (1976), Roman Government's Response to Crisis (New Haven, CT) MacMullen, R. (1988), Corruption and the Decline of Rome (New Haven, CT and London) Potter, D. S. (2004), The Roman Empire at Bay AD 180-395 (London and New York)