If you’ve ever wondered about how the small village of Rome came to dominate the entire Mediterranean sea and grow into Europe’s first millionaire city, or if you’re drawn to the drama of the dying years of the Roman Republic, then A History of Rome from Romulus to Sulla is the course for you. Over 10 weeks we will be looking at the rise and fall of the Roman Republic, focusing on significant turning points and contrasting the written word with alternative sources, hard archaeological evidence and modern historical analysis. Kindly check the table below for specific dates of lessons. All lessons will be online via Zoom running from 6pm till 7:30pm on the indicated days.

The course fee is €100 (€80 for registered MCA members) payable via bank transfer, Revolut, PayPal or BOV Mobile. To register for the course or to ask for more information, kindly email the MCA on [email protected].

15 October 2024 In this introductory lecture, we will be looking at the history of Rome in a general overview, focusing on the main debates on periodisation and how alternative views of looking at the period can help or hinder our understanding of Roman history. We will also look at our major sources for the Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic and analyse our approach to them.
22 October 2024 Our second lecture will be devoted to looking at the archaeological for the very early days of the Roman settlement and how these support or contradict the myths that the Romans themselves told each other about the founding of their own city. We will also cast a very quick glance to the stories of the Roman Kingdom.
29 October 2024 We will then progress to the third lecture in which we will be primarily concerned with looking at the stories of the Seven Kings of Rome as represented by much later Romans in their historiographies and then contemplating what we know of the very early stages of the Roman Republic.
5 November 2024 In the fourth lecture we will be looking at Rome's political, military and economic development in the 4th century BC, paying particular attention to how these strands of development fed and constrained each other. We will also consider how Rome's expanding empire effected Rome's social fabric.
19 November 2024 Lecture 5 is devoted to the rise of Nobiles culture and how this conditioned and contributed to the creation of the so-called "Third Republic." We will also consider the Cursus Honorum and the more standard features of Roman society at this time.
26 November 2024 The sixth of our ten lessons together will feature on the military exploits and expansion of the so-called Third Republic, analysing how this initiated a self-reinforcing vicious cycle of expansion and exploitation. We will also look at how the Romans became gradually accustomed to their role as rulers of the known world and what methods they adopted to administer their new massive empire.  
3 December 2024 The seventh lecture will look at the consequences of this massive imperial growth on Roman society and the emergence of a new "Fourth Republic". We will focus especially on the new emergent elite that came to the forefront due to the new political opportunities afforded by a growing empire.
17 December 2024 Our eighth lecture together will bring us to the outbreak of what has been called the Hundred Years of Violence, leading gradually to the end of the Roman Republic. We will be focusing significantly on the story of the Brothers Gracchi, seeking to understand how their politics and the violence which accompanied their careers were symptomatic of much broader issued lying under the calm surface of nominally civil Roman politics.
7 January 2024 The deterioration of Republican politics in Rome led to the development of "Big Man Politics" and the first of these is the focus of our ninth lecture. In this penultimate session we will be focusing on the career and reforms of Gaius Marius, and noting how they unintentionally sowed the seeds of the Roman Republic's seemingly inevitable demise.
21 January 2024 Our last lesson together will finally bring us to the first of Rome's many terrible civil wars. We will look at what caused the great struggle between Marius and Sulla, and how the latter's efforts to save the Republic may have doomed it.