LFU:online

Critical analysis of historical sources and reconstructions based on them; writing of a short paper; development of analytical perspectives and own critical points of view.

Civil wars have, at all time, been among the most serious catastrophes that can befall a community. The reason for this is the fact that social disintegration is an inevitable aspect of civil strife. Although earthquakes, floods, crop failure and epidemics may also claim countless victims, the usual strategies employed to tackle the different contingencies in such situations do not, as a rule, challenge the internal cohesion of the community affected. This kind of coping mechanism, however, cannot deal with internal violence. Instead, such bloodshed actually tends to strengthen the divisions and enmities that were its root cause. In this way, they are a stronger and more direct threat to the cohesion and thus the foundations of a particular society than natural disasters or external attacks. Throughout antiquity, civil strife has been an astonishingly frequent phenomenon. The class will take a look at the “staseis” in Greek cities as well as at the civil wars during the last decades of the Roman Republic and the countless usurpations during the Early and Late Empire, focusing on a close reading of the sources and asking what they tell us about the societies affected by theses crises.

Combination of lecture, reading tasks and exercises.

Regular attendance and participation in the discussion, kick-off speech, essay (ca. 4 pages).

• H. Börm – M. Mattheis – J. Wienand (Hgg.), Civil War in Ancient Greece and Rome, Stuttgart 2016
• K. Christ, Krise und Untergang der römischen Republik, Darmstadt 2002
• E. Flaig, Den Kaiser herausfordern, Frankfurt 1992
• H.-J. Gehrke, Stasis, München 1985
• J. Szidat, Usurpator tanti nominis, Stuttgart 2010

Online registration required. Limited number of participants!

Instructor: PD Dr. Henning Börm (University of Konstanz)