HSTAM 313 — The Roman Empire
Winter 2026
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:30–5:20 (SAV 260)
Professor Letteney (letteney@uw.edu)
Office Hours: TBA (and by appointment), Smith 116B
HISTAM313 is a survey of the Roman Empire, beginning with colonial expansion in the second and first centuries BCE and ending with the profound changes in governance, religion, and regional connectivity that coincide with the birth of a “New Rome” at Constantinople in the fourth century CE. Along the way, we will discuss historical themes that broaden our understanding of “The Roman Empire” beyond emperors, politics, and monuments — topics like religion, conquest, environment, army, enslavement and incarceration, and the ancient economy.
The function of this class is not primarily to teach you a chronological narrative about the Roman Empire — many wonderful books are available which do just that. Rather, our class aims to teach you how to extract historical data from a wide variety of ancient sources: from novels to speeches to coins and even to archaeological excavations. To that end, each session will comprise two parts: I will lecture for the first hour and fifteen minutes of class (or thereabouts) followed by a five to ten minute break. After the break we will reconvene for an a primary source workshop, in which we read and interpret ancient material together.
Grading
- Response papers (4): 40%
- Map Exercise: 5%
- Object Autobiography: 5%
- Reading quizzes (10): 30%
- Final exam: 20%
Grades will be converted the UW Standard Grading System. (4.0 scale) using this scale.
Response Papers
At the beginning of the quarter you will write one discussion post responding to an ancient novel. Throughout the rest of the quarter you will write four more response essays of 300–400 words (more is okay, fewer is not), submitted on Canvas before class time on the following Tuesday. Prompts will ask you to think historically about a primary text and relate it to another reading or topic already covered in our course. The aim is for you to read closely and analyze, and as such the best essays will include short quotations from primary and secondary sources, and direct engagement with those sources. (Note: direct quotations are not included in your word-count.)
Response papers are formal pieces of writing, and as such should include proper citations, along with proper spelling and grammar. You can assume that your reader knows the background of the material that you're engaging and the prompt to which you are responding. As such, you don't need to include an extended introduction — often a single sentence orienting your reader is more than enough, before you move directly into the argument that your response paper makes and the evidence that you use to support it. Citations may be in any standard format, and you needn't include a works cited page — the important thing is simply to make crystal clear where your information comes from. You may use outside sources of information, but you must cite each source that you used in preparing your paper.
Topics will be announced at the beginning of each week and essays will be assessed on a √– (75), √ (87), √+ (100) scale. A √ signals that you have adequately completed the assignment — you have read and thought about the material assigned, and adequately answered the questions posed. A √+ indicates that you have done above average work, and usually indicates that you have gone above and beyond in discussing that source among other sources that we have discussed in their historical context. A √– indicates that you have not satisfactorily answered the questions asked, or that you have engaged in only a cursory or superficial way with the material.
You'll notice that there are five essay prompts on the syllabus: you are allowed to take one response essay “off,” at your own discretion. If you complete more than five, I will simply drop the lowest scoring essay from your final grade.
Reading quizzes
This is not a hard class. The largest proportion of work is simply to read in preparation for our sessions. I am available during class and office hours to answer specific questions about the assigned readings, but we will never ‘go over’ the reading in class and lectures will not cover the same material. Rather, the selected readings serve as background, case studies, and primary materials which inform the lecture. I expect that when you arrive in class, you have read and taken notes on the assigned materials.
Put differently, simply reading the words on the page is not enough. You need to read actively, and the best way to do this is to keep running notes as you work your way through the preparatory material. For primary sources, I recommend taking a moment after every page to write down what is happening in the reading, and how it relates to themes or topics covered in other readings or lectures. For secondary sources, I recommend keeping a running list of 1) what each page or set of pages is arguing and 2) what evidence the author uses to make their case. Keep track, also, of names, authors, and evidence that is mentioned multiple times in the reading. Are there three pages discussing Tacitus or sculptural reliefs on the Ara Pacis? Jot that down, including who Tacitus is, what the Ara Pacis is, and how it relates to other topics/people/events discussed in the reading. Quizzes will not ask you about anything that is only mentioned once in the reading. On the other hand, if a particular topic is central to the reading, it is likely to come up in the quiz. Your notes don't need to be extensive — often a single sentence will do. The simple act of attempting to summarize what you’re reading in real time is effective in helping you to read closer, and to remember better what you’re reading and why it matters to the study of ancient Rome. Further useful reading strategies are available here.
Because careful reading represents such a large portion of the work for this class, 30% of the grade that you earn results directly from it. Ten times throughout the quarter there will be a short quiz based on the reading assigned for the day, often at the beginning of class, but not always. The task will be easy and will not take more than 5 minutes — if you read everything and did your best to understand, you should not have any trouble earning full points. Your lowest quiz score is dropped automatically. Missed quizzes cannot be made up without a DRS accommodations agreement. Your post on the first day, responding to Apuleius' Metamorphoses, counts as the first reading quiz (for eleven total).
Finally, if you are not prepared for a quiz and do not receive a grade with which you are happy, you may turn in detailed reading notes within a week of receiving your quiz grade for a maximum score of 70. Reading notes should be uploaded to Canvas, under Assignments > "Quiz [the appropriate quiz number]" Reading notes should demonstrate clear and substantial engagement with every part of the assigned reading, including page numbers indicating what part of the text is under analysis.
Final exam
Your final exam will build on skills that you hone while writing your response papers throughout the quarter. It will be administered in our lecture room on Thursday, March 19 from 4:30 – 6:20 PM.
Late Work
There is a lot of slack already built into the class — your lowest response paper and two lowest quiz grades automatically drop. Late work will be accepted at full credit only in accordance with a signed DRS accommodations agreement. Response essays and extra credit assignments submitted after the deadline forfeit one grade-step (from check plus to check, for instance, or a check minus to no credit). After the submission deadline, final papers and map exercises forfeit 5 points for every 24-hour period.
Click here to see general policies for every course in the Department of History.
Auditors, please read these guidelines for your participation in our class
Generative AI
Unless explicitly allowed, there is no legitimate use for Generative AI in this class. Use of any Generative AI (ChatGPT, Grammarly, etc) to aid in a written assignment is strictly prohibited and will be reported to the Community Standards & Student Conduct. For an explanation of why using Generative AI in this class is unacceptable, and of what we lose by ceding basic cognitive tasks to LLMs instead of engaging in the work of learning historical method, see Dr. Anastasia Berg's opinion essay in the New York Times from October 29th, 2025.
Office Hours
Office hours are an opportunity for you to talk with me one-on-one (or in a group) about anything related to the class. Was a reading not clear? Is something about the course not working? Do you have a question about how you can improve your response grade? Did I mention something in a lecture that you’d like to hear more about? Did you see an interesting on the internet that you’d like to share with me? Come to office hours! I will be in my office (Smith 116B) on Wednesdays from 2:30–3:30 PM, available and eager to talk about whatever you’d like.
Email Etiquette
Emails are tricky, and you may not have experience writing emails of the type that professors expect. An email is a formal, written communication that is professional in tone (remember that your professors are at work when they interact with you). It can take some time to get a hang of this type of communication. Here are some tips that will serve you throughout your career at UW:
- Include a salutation and address faculty by their professional title (i.e. “Dear Professor Letteney”)
- Keep your message succinct and clear as to what you are requesting — you don't need to apologize for making a request or asking for clarification. Professors are here to teach you, and when something isn't clear, we are here to fix that as best we can.
- Sign with your full name
- Wait 48 hours for a response (longer for weekends and holidays). Please do not expect an email response outside of regular working hours (8:00am-5:00pm)