CLST 277-16-016: The World of Late Antiquity

Final Exam Study Guide

Literary Texts under Consideration since the Midterm (see also Schedule of Reading Assignments and Topics and Midterm Study Guide)

Julian Letter to the Senate and People of Athens (handout) Misopogon (handout) Claudius Mamertinus, Speech of Thanks to the Emperor Julian Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire, Selections: Julian Augustus, Bk. 22.1-23.1 On the Road to Adrianople, Bk. 31.2-4 John Chrysostom, selections from Homily on St. Babylas Augustine, Confessions, Bk. 1-9

Selected inscriptions about the Roman senatorial aristocracy (handout) Symmachus Selected letters (handout) Relatio 3 on the Altar of Victory Ambrose Letter 18 on the Altar of Victory Letters LI, LVII, LXI: to Theodosius about Thessalonica, to Eugenius about support for paganism, to Theodosius about his victory over Eugenius Zosimus, New History, Selection: Theodosius in 394 Various emperors, selected laws concerning religion Theodosian Code 16.1.2 Theodosian Code, varia Claudian Panegyric on the Consulate of Probinus and Olybrius (handout) The War with Gildo (handout)

Project texts

Julian, Oration in Praise of Eusebia

Claudian, Panegyric for the Sixth Consulate of Honorius

Important Themes
Consider readings from before and after the midterm examination, and consider also how the themes flagged in the Midterm Study Guide appear in works we have read since the midterm; see also Study Questions I, and Study Questions II.

• What do our literary sources have to say about these issues?
• Think of key passages, and be prepared to explain what points they are making, how they go about making them, and what they illustrate about the author or work.
• Also be prepared to compare and contrast what different works say about related topics.
  • Relationships between emperor and populace
  • Relationships between emperors, including emperors other emperors regard as usurpers
  • Relationships between emperor and religious institutions
  • Relationships of religion(s) and religious institutions with the community
  • How religion or philosophy is involved in individual experience
  • Family relationships, at citizen and imperial levels
  • Social networking
  • "Roman values": conceptions of identity and history, how they are evoked, why
  • Techniques of telling a story, and how the reader is involved

Facts (see also Midterm Study Guide): be able briefly to identify

• the authors of our literary texts (who they were, what they wrote, brief context)
• major characters in our texts (who they were, brief context)
• the emperors and major usurpers from Julian to Arcadius and Honorius (who they were, brief significance)
• some other significant members of imperial families: Eusebia, Helena, Constantia daughter of Constantius, Theodosius the general, Flaccilla, Stilicho, Serena (who they were, brief context)
• imperial adventus (what the ceremony marked, what it involved)
• temple of Apollo at Daphne (where that is, why it mattered, to whom)
• Altar of Victory (what it was, where it was, why it mattered, to whom)
• Battle of Adrianople (where it was, brief context, why it mattered)
• Massacre of Thessalonica (what happened, why, what resulted)
• Battle at the Frigidus (where it was, brief context, why it mattered)
• Manichaeanism (basic principles, why it mattered)

Essay questions

• You will be asked to write one essay as part of the exam, your choice between two questions I will select from the following list.
• Back up your points with concrete, specific evidence from our literary texts.
• Be sure to explain clearly how your evidence supports your arguments.
• Organize your essay as a whole, so your arguments build up your conclusions logically and persuasively.

  • Mamertinus and Claudian both present heroic portraits of emperors (Julian on the one hand, Theodosius and Honorius on the other): compare and contrast their techniques for making their emperors look good. What aspects of imperial personae do they play up? To what effects? How do the authors' praises of emperors in each instance relate to the immediate circumstances in which they wrote, and to possible political messages of their praise -- what audience(s) does each work address, and how does the particular emphases of the praise address concerns that audience might be expected to have? Which author seems more effective?

  • "It is not possible that the son of these tears should be lost." Analyze Augustine's Confessions from the perspective of his relationship with Monica. Why does he choose to tell the story of his commitment to Christianity from his birth to her death? How much, and in what ways, is Augustine's story also, and deeply, Monica's story? Consider not only what Augustine tells us about Monica's actions and intentions in relationship to him, but also her biography and her own experiences of Christian faith.

  • How did Ambrose define the role of a bishop, within the Christian community of Milan and within the empire as a whole? In what matters did he act? With what goals? How effectively? Consider the evidence of Ambrose's activities Augustine relates in his Confessions and Symmachus's letters to Ambrose, as well as the evidence of Ambrose's own letters we have read. How did Ambrose relate to the members of his congregation? How did his being a bishop affect his activities in secular society? How did he play his role and authority as a bishop in his relationships with emperors?

  • Compare and contrast the personification of Rome as she appears in Symmachus's and Ambrose's letters about the Altar of Victory and in Claudian's panegyric for Probinus and Olybrius and epic on the revolt of Gildo. Analyze the techniques the writers use to personify her. What elements of the personification remain constant? How does the personification call up feelings about the city and its traditions, and a Roman citizen's self-identification: why is this personification a good literary device for a writer to use? Also analyze how the figure of Rome changes in order to serve the writer's immediate purposes: what is different, and in what ways and how well do the changes support the writer's overall goals? Is any one of these examples the "true" Rome?