Latin 463: Tacitus' Agricola
TTh, 2:30-4:20pm
Instructor: Prof. Ray Lahiri (ralahiri@uw.edu)
Course Description:
“Where they make a desert, they call it peace.” With these words, voiced by the Caledonian leader Calgacus, the ancient Roman historian Tacitus articulated one of the most famous critiques of Roman imperialism. But the hero of the story is not the bold, doomed Calgacus, but the modest, ill-fated Agricola–the historian’s father-in-law and a model for how to be a good Roman under a bad emperor.
In this edition of Latin 463, we will explore Tacitus’ Agricola, a miniature masterwork of Latin literature and the first historical work of the writer who would go on to be Rome’s most famous historian. Topics explored will include how the Romans wrote about non-Romans (ethnography); how they conquered them (imperialism); and how they wondered if the system of values that had brought them world empire no longer worked in the political and social system that their empire had produced in Rome (critique).