Hey all! It’s been a while since my last post, but that’s been largely due to my latest projects which have just launched: an open online course called The Senate and the Roman Peoples: On Diversity in the Ancient Mediterranean and its companion podcast, Ancient Problems, Modern Solutions.
The Senate and the Roman Peoples: On Diversity in the Ancient Mediterranean
This 5-week, 50-hour course is for classics instructors, classics students, or newcomers to the ancient world who are looking for a more rounded picture of the peoples of ancient Rome. Learners will engage with both primary and scholarly sources which emphasize both the social diversity and inequity of Roman society, with an emphasis on questions such as:
- What were the ethnic, racial, and class distinctions made by the Romans? Where did these distinctions come from, and how were they cemented in law/custom?
- Who called themselves Romans? Who was allowed to call themselves Roman?
- When Rome expanded its territory through conquest, whom did the Romans assimilate? Whom did they enslave?
- Why is it important to teach about the social diversity of the ancient world and the ancients’ methods for social classifications?
- What are the ramifications of uncritically teaching about inequity in the ancient world?
You can enroll in the course for free via Carnegie Mellon’s public-facing Canvas LMS.
Ancient Problems, Modern Solutions podcast
I developed the SPQR course alongside a limited-series podcast called Ancient Problems, Modern Solutions, which you can listen to wherever you get your podcasts. I spoke with some guest experts about a few different topics. The first three episodes, which were subsidized by Carnegie Mellon University, include:
- Teaching Latin inclusively
- Queerness and Relationships in the ancient world
- Ancient ethnonationalism and its modern legacy
Check out the first three episodes and see if you like the content! I’d love to keep working on the podcast, and if you’d like to hear more, you can support it on Patreon to help fund future episodes and get access to an exclusive subscriber Discord server.
If your work is relevant and you’d like to be a guest on the podcast, reach out to me via email and we’ll see if we can make an episode work!
