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In 17 BCE the emperor Augustus staged the Secular Games, a centennial celebration of Rome and a showpiece of his new regime. The event combined theatre and chariot-racing with religious ritual in honor of the protecting deities of the city. The poet Horace composed a hymn for the occasion, invoking Roman history and legend. In this course we will explore these methods for defining what it meant to be Roman. One looks back to the past, creating an image of Romanitas (the essence of the Roman) through the reshaping of history and legend. In this connection we will read Virgil's Aeneid and Horace's Odes. The other is acted out in the present through ceremony and spectacle. We will examine select state ceremonies and also the three great spectacula, of the theatre, the circus, and the arena, which communicated aspects of what it meant to be Roman throughout the Roman world.
COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: NONE Grading Mode: Student Option
Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-30-2006
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459