Splash Biography

Perhaps the most studied hundred years in world history, the end of the Roman Republic has gripped scholars of every era not just for its importance but also its memorable participants, like the brilliant and complex Marius and impossibly righteous Cato, and its gripping stories, such as the assassination of Julius Caesar and the nighttime escape from Rome by the future tyrant Sulla.

"The superior man is aware of righteousness, the inferior man is aware of profit." - Confucius With the increasing prominence of China in the world, Chinese philosophy is no longer only of interest to specialists in the West. Confucianism, which has long been the dominant philosophical tradition in China and all of East Asia, sought to make government by justice and righteousness a reality, and this course will examine its principles and trace its development.

How did a backwater state become master of the entire Mediterranean Sea less than one hundred years after first leaving Italy? How did a Roman army of 40,000 smash a Greek army three times its size? How did only 300,000 men keep control of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East for four hundred years? The Roman army was the greatest fighting force of its day, as dominant as the armies of Napoleon or Genghis Khan. This class will show what made the Roman army so effective, examining its weapons, tactics, and organization. By taking it, you will learn how a small Italian city became the greatest empire in the history of Europe.