Download the PowerPoint on the Late Republic

Resources for your autobiography (all are on reserve at the library, unless on-line):

• Primary Sources:
  • Augustus Caesar (Octavian), Res gestae. Extracts.
  • Cicero, Marcus Tullius : Letters, with his treatises on friendship and old age, translated by E. S. Shuckburgh; and Letters of Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, translated by William Melmoth, revised by F. C. T. Bosanquet; with introductions and notes. New York: P. F. Collier, 1909.
  • Cicero, Marcus Tullius , Selected political speeches of Cicero, translated with an introduction by Michael Grant. London: Penguin ; 1989.
  • Suetonius Tranquillus, C., Lives of the Twelve Caesars, trans. Joseph Gavorse. New York: Modern Library, 1931. 878 S945L
  • Plutarch. Fall of the Roman Republic: Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar, Cicero: Six Lives, trans. Rex Warner.
  • Plutarch. Lives, trans. Bernadotte Perin (Loeb Classical Library, facing page translations), 11 volumes.
  • Plutarch, Lives, on-line: includes: Marc Antony, Julius Caesar, Caius Gracchus, Caius Marius, Cato the Younger, Cicero, Crassus, Pompey, Sylla (Sulla), and Tiberius Gracchus.

   

• Secondary Sources: Primary sources are not complete; you will find the following helpful:
  • Boardman, John, ed. The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 9, The Last Age of the Roman Republic, 146-43 BC.
  • Goldsworthy, Adrian. The complete Roman army. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003.
  • Scullard, H. H. From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 BC to AD 68, Chapters 1-9.
  • Ward, Heichelheim, and Yeo: A History of the Roman People, Part 3, Chapters 14-21.
  • Meier, Christian. Caesar, A Biography. Basic Books, 1982.
    

1.Write a 3-5 page autobiography of your character below, including:

• Dates, familiy, origins
• Your political and familial associations
• Your interests in Roman affairs at home and abroad.
• Your political strategies
• Successes and failures politically and professionally
• What you would like the future to remember about you
• Cite the texts listed above

2. Determine who among the others in your group would be your friends

• Contact them to form alliances or to leave them your political legacies after you have died.
• Be ready to meet with them in class and form political partnerships

Come prepared to role-play on the following questions:

List of Roles:

Romans

• The Gracchi (two brothers, Gaius and Tiberius)
• Gaius Marius
• Cornelius Lucius Sulla
• Lucius Cornelius Cinna (elder)
• Marcus Licinius Crassus
• Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus)
• Julius Caesar
• Marcus Tullius Cicero
• Marcus Antonius (Marc Antony)
• Octavian (later Caesar Augustus)
• Octavia
• Spartacus
• Marcius Porcius Cato
• Lucius Sergius Catiline

Non-Romans

• Jugurtha, king of Numidia
• Mithridates Eupator, king of Pontos
• An Egyptian
• Cleopatra VII Ptolemy, Queen of Egypt

Specifications for Autobiographies:

• Length: 3-5 pages, double-spaced
• Do not cut and paste from the sources: you are presenting yourself
• Upload your papers to 2 different sites for help with grammar and mechanics
• You must use the sources listed and cite them at the end of your paper