Julius Caesar: a life

Aims of the course:

1. To describe the life and times of Julius Caesar.
2. To examine the role of the army in Roman politics.
3. To compare a dictatorship with dysfunctional democracy.

Course content overview:

This course will describe the life of ancient Rome's most controversial character and look at some of the issues related to his overthrow of the Roman Republic. It will examine both what drove Caesar to seize power and the social and political conditions which allowed him to do so. 

Schedule (this course is completed entirely online):

Orientation Week: 19-25 February 2024

Teaching Weeks: 26 February-31 March 2024

Feedback Week: 1-7 April 2024

Teach Week 1: Troubled times

• Understanding the Late Republican Roman and Caesar's formative years

Teaching Week 2: Climbing the ladder

• Understanding Late Republican Roman politics
• A look at the main sources for this era
• How to locate history resources on the internet

Teaching Week 3: The Gallic Wars

• A look at the Republican Roman army
• Understanding the formative Roman Empire in strategic, political and economic terms

Teaching Week 4: The Civil War

• A look at why Rome became a military dictatorship
• Understanding 'client kings' 
• A look at the wider idea of how democratic governments can collapse
• Reviewing the Roman army's role in politics

Teaching Week 5: Caesar the dictator

• A look at Caesar's later life
• Examining different approaches to history, and how perceptions of history affect later events

Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours reading material, etc., although this will vary from person to person.

While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material).

Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (discussion boards,etc).

Certificate of Participation

A Certificate of Participation will be awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/assignments for the duration of the course.

What our students say

'Everything about the course: the online lectures, the required and recommended readings, and the online seminars exceeded my expectations.'

'Each time I do one of Maty's courses I am amazed at how it is so much better than I expected.'

'The depth with which we were able to discuss Caesar and those around him made for fascinating discussion.'

'I was very pleased with the course. I liked the packaging into bite-sized chunks of presentation material. The forums and seminars were good for consolidating what one had learned.'

This course is open to everyone, and you don’t need any previous knowledge or experience of the subject to attend.

Our short courses are designed especially for adult learners who want to advance their personal or professional development. They are taught by tutors who are expert in both their subjects and in teaching students of all ages and experiences.

Please note that all teaching is in English. You should have near-native command of the English language in order to get the maximum benefit from the course.