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One-On-One Ancient Roman History Tutorial (Part 3)

In this 7-week class the student will delve into major ideas, personalities and events of the Middle Roman Republic from the Impact of Roman Advance in Campania (327 BCE) to the End of the Second Samnitan War (304 BCE).

Spyridon (Spiros) Loumakis

Average rating:

4.9

Number of reviews:

(774)

What's included

7 live meetings

7 in-class hours

Class Experience

(A) Required Experience: 

This is a one-on-one tutorial addressed to students who have no (or basic) prior knowledge of Roman History, but a genuine passion for learning ancient History.

(B) Teaching style and student's interaction:

The learning process of this class is based on a combination of a power-point presentation, a lecture that asks students to participate, class dialogue, questions based on the ongoing lecture, and new ideas based on the participants. There is not one universal solution to teach. Rather I combine techniques to achieve the maximum of my strengths and of my students. Having taught so far young kids, teenagers, University students and mature learners, I know that teachers need to approach students with understanding. After all, such a small class has the advantage of making the combined technique of ppt presentation-lecture-dialogue feasible and efficient. Thanks to Zoom, engaging students and interacting with them is always possible. 

(C) Topics to be covered, and class structure: 

1st day: Capture of Neapolis in Campania (327/6 BCE) - The career of the plebeian Quintus Publilius Philo

2nd  day: First phase of the Second Samnite War (326-320 BCE) - Lex Poetelia Papiria (326 BCE) - Lucius Papirius Cursor and the Battle of the Caudine Forks (321 BCE)

3rd and 4th day:  Second Phase of the Second Samnite War (319-304 BCE) - Battle of Lake Vadimo against the Etruscans (310 BCE) - a New Rise of Aristocratic Families - Appius Claudius Caecus and Via Appia (312 BCE) - Temple of Concordia (304 BCE)

5th and 6th day: Archaeology of Archaic Rome

7th day: The Umbrian World Part 1

(D) This one-on-one tutorial may be continued, upon request, with a Fourth Part related to the wider picture of Roman History in the western Meditternean Sea (Umbrians, Etruscans, Carthaginians, Syracusans, and the Greek colonies in the West)

Learning Goals

In this tutorial the student 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 student and me, we will discuss together in class not just about events and personnalities of ancient Roman history, but also about major Roman monuments, Roman art, Roman religion, Roman society, and classical Latin texts in English translation, so as to understand ancient 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.

Other Details

Parental Guidance

In the ancient Roman art gods are depicted often (but not always) naked. This being said, any artistic reproduction in ancient art should be expected to show nude gods. I try to use as less as possible, but it is not always within my hands since this is the nature of the ancient Roman art itself. Since, it is an art that comes from an era where there were no photographs, or videos, the art is found only on painted vases, wall paintings and sculpture. Nudity was never meant to provoke, but to tell to the ancient viewer that gods are not mortal humans and, thus, they do not need clothes. As you may very well understand, I cannot change the history of art, nor my preference as teacher of mythology to show students the original art from ancient times.

External Resources

Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.

Sources

Throughout the class and in the form of homework, the student will discuss in class under my guidance and read at home before class illuminating sources by major authors that servive in the Latin and Greek language (Plutarch, Diodorus Siculus, Dio Cassius, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Polybius, Livy). 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 which I personally use and recommend, is Perseus Digital Library (section Collections/Texts), under the auspices of Tufts University, available here: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collections In addition, 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 the student through these peculiar sub-fields of history, in order to be abe to "read" them and complete their knowledge. The goal is to apprehend the bigger picture of ancient history in the eastern Mediterranean, and open the mind of modern learners by including aspects of the Roman, Etruscan, Italian (Samnite, Lucanian, Campanian, Umbrian, Latin), Celtic, Carthaginian and Greek culture and civilization. Some of them did not left behind but a few literary traces. With my scientific knowledge and University training of the ancient civilizations I will guide the student through the traces ancient people left in architecture and art. Finally, the class is not only based on my 20-years of experience in the scientific study of this era, but also on a long list of modern sources, of which a small sample is the following one: The Rise of Rome: From the Iron Age to the Punic Wars by Kathryn Lomas (Harvard University Press, 2018) A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War by Gary Forsythe (University of California Press, 2006) Livy: Reconstructing Early Rome by Gary B. Miles (Cornell University Press, 1997) The Early Roman Expansion into Italy: Elite Negotiation and Family Agendas by Nicola Terrenato (Cambridge University Press, 2020) State, Society and Popular Leaders in Mid-Republican Rome 241-167 B.C. by Rachel Feig Vishnia (Routledge, 2011) Hannibal's Dynasty: Power and Politics in the Western Mediterranean, 247-183 BC by Dexter Hoyos (Routledge, 2005) A Companion to the Punic Wars, edited by Dexter Hoyos (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015) Rome and the Mediterranean 290 to 146 BC: The Imperial Republic by Nathan Rosenstein (Edinburgh University Press, 2012) Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700 by Kenneth W Harl (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996) Roman Art (5th Edition) by Nancy H. Ramage and Andrew Ramage (Pearson publ. 2008) The Architecture of Roman Temples: The Republic to the Middle Empire by John W. Stamper (Cambridge University Press, 2008) Architecture and Politics in Republican Rome by Penelope J. E. Davies (Cambridge University Press, 2020)

Spyridon (Spiros) Loumakis

Joined March, 2020

4.9

774reviews

Profile

Teacher expertise and credentials

I have a B.A. and M.A. in Ancient Greek and Roman History and Archaeology, as well as a second 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.