From Alexander to Augustus: Leadership in the Ancient World

Module overview

Alexander, Sulla, Julius Caesar, and Augustus are names which epitomise leadership and authority both in the ancient world and in more recent periods of history. In this module, you will learn about the political systems under which men (and, much more rarely, women) like these emerged as leaders and about how they transformed the worlds in which they lived. We shall scrutinise how leaders both good and bad managed to manipulate ancient political systems to their own advantage; we shall come to understand the qualities and attributes Hellenistic and Roman leaders needed to be successful; and we shall compare models of leadership in the ancient world with the ideals we prize in our leaders today.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

appreciate the range of problems involved in the interpretation of complex, ambiguous, conflicting and often incomplete material from the ancient world
recognize and assess different leadership styles in the ancient world
identify and understand how these leaders changed the world in which they lived

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

Modes of political leadership in the last century of the Roman Republic
Leadership under Alexander and his immediate successors
The political changes brought about by Augustus as the first Roman emperor

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

locate and effectively synthesize textual, visual and material culture sources to develop cogent arguments
critically and empathetically analyse primary sources, addressing questions of genre, content, perspective and purpose
utilise and develop your time-management skills
research historical questions and communicate your findings in written essays
sustain a reasoned line of argument in the face of others, to listen, to engage in sustained debate, and to amend views as necessary in the light of evidence and argument

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures Seminars Workshops Individual tutorials

Study time
Type	Hours
Lecture	11
Seminar	11
Workshops	11
Wider reading or practice	44
Preparation for scheduled sessions	130
Completion of assessment task	90
Total study time	297

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Anson, E.M., (2013). Alexander the Great: Themes and Issues. London: Bloomsbury.

Nathan Rosenstein and Robert Morstein-Marx (eds.) (2006). A Companion to the Roman Republic. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Carney, E. and D. Ogden, eds., (2010). Philip II and Alexander the Great. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Shipley, G. (2000). The Greek World after Alexander 323-30 BC.. London - New York: Routledge.

Steel, Catherine (2013). The end of the Roman Republic, 146-44BC: conquest and crisis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Errington, M. (2008). A History of the Hellenistic World, 323-30 BC.. London: Blackwell Publishing.

Bosworth, A.B., (1988). Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

K. Galinsky (ed.). Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	50%
Oral Assessment	50%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Resubmit assessments	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	50%
Oral Assessment	50%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External