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Greece and Rome: An Integrated History of the Ancient Mediterranean

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Overview

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Integrated approaches to teaching Greek and Roman history are a rarity in academia. Most scholars are historians of either Greek or Roman history and perform research solely in that specific field, an approach that author and award-winning Professor Robert Garland of Colgate University considers questionable.

In these 36 passionate lectures, he provides an impressive and rare opportunity to understand the two dominant cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world in relation to one another - a relationship that has virtually no parallel in world history. He shows you how these two very different cultures intersected, coincided, and at times, collided.

You'll discover the extraordinary culture that we call Greco-Roman: a unique fusion of civilizations that encompasses statecraft, mythology, language, philosophy, fine arts, architecture, science, and much else. In this unique integrated historical approach, you'll see how Greece and Rome's relationship resembled a marriage: two distinct personalities competing in some areas, sharing in others, and sometimes creating a new synthesis of the two civilizations. And you'll consider their more substantive cultural differences, including religion, their views of foreigners, and their ways of thinking. Finally, you'll come away with an appreciation of how this material affects us today.

Syllabus

  • Who Were the Greeks? Who Were the Romans?
  • Trade and Travel in the Mediterranean
  • Democratic or Republican
  • Law and Order
  • Less than Fully Human
  • Close Encounters, 750–272 BCE
  • The Velvet Glove, 272–190 BCE
  • How the Two Polytheisms (Almost) Merged
  • The Iron Fist, 190–146 BCE
  • The Last Hellenistic Dynasts, 146–31 BCE
  • Why the Greeks Lost, Why the Romans Won
  • Philhellenism and Hellenophobia
  • The Two Languages
  • Leisure and Entertainment
  • Sex and Sexuality
  • Death and the Afterlife
  • From Mystery Religion to Ruler Cult
  • Greek Cities under Roman Rule
  • Greeks in Rome, Romans in Greece
  • The Hellenism of Augustus
  • Art, Looting, and Reproductions
  • Architecture, Sacred and Secular
  • Science and Technology
  • Disease, Medical Care, and Physicians
  • The Greek Epic and Its Roman Echo
  • Tragedy and Comedy
  • Love Poetry, Satire, History, the Novel
  • Greek Influences on Roman Education
  • Greek Philosophy and Its Roman Advocates
  • Hellenomania from Nero to Hadrian
  • Jews, Greeks, and Romans
  • Christianity's Debt to Greece and Rome
  • The Apotheosis of Athens
  • The Decline of the West
  • The Survival of the East
  • The Enduring Duo

Taught by

Robert Garland

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