Ancient Rome Final Question
Pick ONE of the options below and answer the questions that follow it.
Option 1: Relief showing Julia Domna crowning Caracalla
Note: The original findspot is unknown (possibly Syria—it is definitely not an official imperial monument but a piece of art in which inhabitants of the provinces commented on events). It is now in a museum in Poland.
(a) Briefly (but accurately) describe or summarize your source (2 points)
(b) State three plausible conclusions that the source allows you to draw (6 points)
(c) For any one of the conclusions you have listed above, discuss how your source allows you to reach that conclusion. Comment on specific details. (5 points)
(d) How does this source relate to what you have learned this semester? Does it support what you have seen previously? Does it contradict it? Does it complicate it? This question is best answered by comparing this new source to one or two specific other bits of material that we have studied in this class (5 points)
(e) Formulate a question to do with this new source. Anything goes: requests for clarification of a certain detail, a broader question about the Romans prompted by this source etc. (2 points)
Option 2: Historia Augusta Lives of Carus, Numerian, Carinus 18
The Historia Augusta is a set of imperial biographies by an unknown author that continues Suetonius’ work
We have now come to the end of the three emperors, Carus, Numerian and Carinus [3 Chaos Emperors], after whom the gods gave us Diocletian and Maximian to be our princes, joining to these great men Galerius and Constantius, the one of whom was born to wipe out the disgrace incurred by Valerian’s capture, the other, to bring again the province of Gaul under the laws of Rome.
Four rulers, indeed, of the world were they, brave, wise, kindly, and wholly generous, all of one mind toward the state, very respectful to the Roman senate, moderate, friends of the people, revered, earnest, and pious, and, in fact, such emperors as we have always desired.
(a) Briefly (but accurately) describe or summarize your source (2 points)
(b) State three plausible conclusions that the source allows you to draw (6 points)
(c) For any one of the conclusions you have listed above, discuss how your source allows you to reach that conclusion. Comment on specific details. (5 points)
(d) How does this source relate to what you have learned this semester? Does it support what you have seen previously? Does it contradict it? Does it complicate it? This question is best answered by comparing this new source to one or two specific other bits of material that we have studied in this class (5 points)
(e) Formulate a question to do with this new source. Anything goes: requests for clarification of a certain detail, a broader question about the Romans prompted by this source etc. (2 points)
Essay (50 points)
Pick ONE of the following options. Your response should be about 1–2 pages in length (double spaced, reasonable font and margins)
In the second half of this course, you saw a lot of coins of Roman emperors (and, occasionally, other members of the imperial family). Coins are the only form of mass media available in the Roman world, so they are enormously important for advertising a ruler’s priorities. But not all famous Romans have coins associated with them. Think of a Roman (note: this means no Hannibal, Cleopatra, Boudica and the like) who you think really needs a fancy new coin. Propose a design and explain why you think this coin would do a good job showcasing this individual.
We have encountered many colorful characters in this course. Not all of their actions and decisions can be fully explained with information that we have in the surviving sources. Imagine that you could go back in time to have dinner with one of the individuals in this course. Who would you pick, what is one question you would ask them and why is this question important for our understanding of Roman history?
Throughout this course, we have encountered many different models of Roman leadership. What do you think makes a good Roman leader? Do you think that the answer to this question changes over time or do the ideals of Roman leadership remain static throughout the approximately 1,000 years of history that we have studied this semester?
