Essays/Student Paper Topic Questions:  (Pick any ten questions to complete)

"Yes, you only have to do ten questions." (There is a momentary pause, and then... ) "Look, do I have to say it again; Pick any ten questions and complete the assignment. Now get to work."

1. What were the major economic, social, historical, and geographical factors influencing the early development of Rome?  

2. Describe the most significant causes and results of Rome’s initial expansion and concurrent political development during the era of the Republic. 

3. How was the society of the Roman Republic organized? How did it balance the dangers of  external attack and internal division? 

4. What factors caused the continuance and expansion of Roman imperialism? How did Roman expansion compare, and contrast, with that of the Assyrians, China’s Han Dynasty and New Kingdom Egypt? What evidence causes you to think as you do? 

5. Why were efforts such as those of the Gracchus brothers, Marius, and Julius Caesar unable to save the Roman Republic? 

6. Did Augustus really begin the Roman Empire because he had no alternative? Why or why not? 

7. “No Roman was more important than Augustus.” Discuss. Did the policies of Octavian give Rome a new and viable future?  Cite examples to support your viewpoint.

8. How did the works of Catullus, Virgil, Horace, Livy, and Tacitus reflect conditions during their respective periods of Roman development? 

9. Is it accurate to state that Roman law was more significant in world development than its artistic and literary achievements? Why or why not? 

10. How were the functioning of the Roman family and the institution of slavery influenced by the development of the Roman Empire? 

11. What did the tenor of popular life in Rome, including the spectacle of gladiatorial shows, reveal about living conditions and popular value systems of the early Roman Empire? 

12. What factors in the beliefs and social structure of the Roman Empire contributed to the rise of  Christianity? 

13. How did the ideas and actions of Diocletian and Constantine affect the fate of the Roman Empire? 

14. What role did Christianity play in the Late Roman Empire? Was it, in any real way, the cause of its fall? Might it have even prolonged the life of the Empire? Why or why not? 

15. Speculate about the viability of the various theories advanced to explain the fall of the Roman Empire.