J. Rufus Fears - Famous Romans

Course lectures (30 minutes/lecture)

Taught by: Professor J. Rufus Fears,University of Oklahoma

In this companion course to Famous Greeks inspired this time by the works of Livy, Polybius, Suetonius, and Tacitus as well as the indispensable Plutarch�Professor J. Rufus Fears retells the lives of the statesmen and thinkers who shaped Rome from its rise to world power in the struggle against Carthage to the decline of the Empire after Marcus Aurelius.
From the heroes of the early Republic introduced to you by Professor Fears through an imaginary tour of the Forum as it appeared in 218 B.C. to the Stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius (d. A.D. 180), Professor Fears tells the gripping story of how the Romans won an empire at great cost to their own liberty, and then blazed paths that Western civilization would follow for the next 1,500 years.

You will find Professor Fears amply versed in contemporary archaeology and historical scholarship. He draws on both freely. Yet he remains closest in spirit to the classical authors who are our best sources for this tale: Livy, Polybius, Suetonius, Tacitus, and above all, Plutarch.


This course works well in any format. The DVD and videotape versions contain more than 350 maps, photographs, portraits, and other images to enhance the lectures as visual presentations.


Part I

Lecture 1: Publius Cornelius Scipio

Lecture 2: Hannibal

Lecture 3: Gaius Flaminius

Lecture 4: Quintus Fabius Maximus

Lecture 5: Scipio Africanus the Elder

Lecture 6: Scipio the Younger

Lecture 7: Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus

Lecture 8: Crassus

Lecture 9: Gaius Julius Caesar

Lecture 10: Caesar and Vercingetorix

Lecture 11: Pompey the Great

Lecture 12: Cato the Younger


Part II

Lecture 13: Brutus and the Opposition to Caesar

Lecture 14: Cicero

Lecture 15: Augustus

Lecture 16: Vergil

Lecture 17: Claudius

Lecture 18: Nero

Lecture 19: Trajan

Lecture 20: Hadrian

Lecture 21: Epictetus

Lecture 22: Apuleius

Lecture 23: Plutarch, Suetonius, and Tacitus

Lecture 24: Marcus Aurelius