In this class students will be able to appreciate the beauty and importance of the study of history. Having studied myself history at a graduate and postgraduate level, and trained in archaeological excavations, ancient languages (Greek, Latin), and the use of various aspects of ancient material culture (art, architecture, coins etc), I want to bring this full picture to my classes. 

The students will discuss in class under my guidance about major Roman monuments, Roman art, the Roman gods, Roman society, and classical Latin texts in English translation, so as to understand Roman history in its entirety. The epistemological approach according to which History means facts based on reliable primary sources, remains still relevant for me, if not necessary today.
 
Ancient History means also appreciating ancient cultures, respecting them, learning from their mistakes, and admiring them for their accompishments. History can be also used as a point of reference or a measure of comparison between an ancient pre-modern society and our contemporary post-modern world. 

For students who are taking Roman History classes at their school, this class can be used as a supplementary class to refresh their memory, strengthen their knowledge, advance their understading and sharpen their critical thinking.   

I have a B.A. and M.A. in Ancient Greek and Roman History and Archaeology, as well as an M.A. in History and Philosophy of Religions. I have excavated in ancient Greek sites, I speak Latin and ancient Greek and I am currently finishing my PhD. 

1 - 2 hours per week outside of class
Homework
Frequency: included
Feedback: included
Details: Homework, designed to take no more than an hour in total per week, will be assigned in three forms: 

(a) Before some of the eighteen meetings students will be asked to study a Source Sheet which will contain primary sources from ancient Roman authors in English translation, related to each class, and able to stir up class discussion. This source sheet will be distributed in advance as part of class preparation (each Source Sheet will be uploaded a few days in advance).
 
(b) Two optional quizzes: a mid-term quiz based on Julius Caesar and a final quiz based on Octavian Augustus.

(c) An optional essay on the great orator Cicero, whose work will be used in the class lectures extensively.
Assessment
Frequency: included
Details: I do not believe that a letter grade is meaningful for an on-going class on ancient history at OutSchool. However, as I often do with my one-time classes, which are always small classes (up to 7 students), I communicate with the parents and the children directly, providing my personal comments, private feedback and an informal assessment.
Grading
Frequency: included
Details: 

This class is the sequence of “Roman Republic: From Its Birth to the Rise of Dictators (Ca. 509-79 BCE)”. Students are advised (but not obliged) to have taken this class in advance, unless they are already strong students of history.

Throughout the class and in the form of homework, students will discuss in class under my guidance and read at home before class illuminating chapters in important sources by major authors that servive in the Greek and the Latin language (Plutarch, Cassius Dio, Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny the Elder). They are all provided by me in English translations by the excellent series of Oxford World's Classics and/or Penguin Classics. 

A great online source is Perseus Digital Library (section Collections/Texts), under the auspices of Tufts University, available here: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collections 

In addition, literature, archaeology, art, architecture, epigraphy and numismatics will be used, whenever relevant, to enlighten aspects of ancient Roman history that are not so apparent in the classical historical accounts listed above. My background in all these fields will guide students through these peculiar sub-fields of history, in order to be abe to "read" them.

Finally, the class is based on my 20-years of experience in the scientific study of this era, as well as in a long list of modern sources, of which a small sample is the following one:

Julius Caesar. The Life and Times of the People's Dictator by L. Canfora (University of California Press, 2007)
Julius Caesar's Battle for Gaul. New Archaeological Perspectives ed by A.P. Fitzpatrick and C. Haselgrove (Oxbow Books, 2019)
A Companion to Julius Caesar ed by M. Griffin (Wiley-Blackwell Ltd, 2015)
The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus ed Karl Galinsky
From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome 133 BC to AD 68 by H.H. Scullard
The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy by Walter Scheidel 
Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700 by Kenneth W Harl
The Romans: From Village to Empire by Mary Boatwright, Daniel Gargola, et al.