Antiquity and Roman Studies

The Political Institutions of Rome (60 hours; 9 cfu)
Unit A (20 hours / 3 CFU): The Political Institutions of the Roman World (Held by Dr. M. Bellomo)
Unit B (20 hours / 3 CFU): Augustus' Res Gestae and the Documents of the Administration of the Empire (corresponding to Unit B of Latin epigraphy)
Unit C (20 hours /3 CFU): Magistrates' Fasti and the Roman Calendar (corresponding to Unit C of Latin Epigraphy)
The course is organized into three Units. Unit A will be devoted to the study of the political institutions of Rome. Special attention will be paid to the competence and prerogatives of magistrates, of the popular assemblies and of the senate in the Republican age. Eventually, an excursus on Augustus' prerogatives will serve as an introduction to Unit B.
Unit B will be primarily devoted to the study of a selections of excerpts from Augustus' Res Gestae. This major document will also allow, among other things, to provide an introduction to the major administrative developments which appeared during the Augustan age. In this respect, special emphasis will be put on documents mirroring the administrative reforms which were implemented by Augustus with regard to different areas of Roman public administration (the curatorships of the aqueducts, of the roads, of Tiber and its shores, of public buildings; the praefectura Urbis, annonae and vigilum).
Unit C will delve into a specific class of epigraphical documents, the magistrates' Fasti and the calendars of the Augustan-Tiberian age. We will especially focus on the events and festivities which were introduced during the early Imperial period.