Instructor Interview
In the pages linked below, Prof. William Broadhead describes various aspects of how he teaches 21H.336 The Making of a Roman Emperor:
- How the Course Has Evolved
- Why Augustus and Nero?
- Texts as Subjective Rhetoric
- The Museum Artifact Video Project
- Rome in TV and Movies
Curriculum Information
Prerequisites
None
Requirements Satisfied
General Institute Requirement (GIR) in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences: Humanities (HASS-H)
Offered
Occasionally
Assessment and Grading
Students’ grades were based on the following activities:
- 20% Quizzes
- 20% Class participation
- 20% Two short papers
- 20% Video project
- 20% Final paper
Student Information
Enrollment
12 students
Student Background
Two seniors; five juniors; four sophomores and one first-year student. Four of the students had previously taken at least one other ancient history class with Prof. Broadhead at MIT. About half were already or have since become History or Ancient and Medieval Studies Concentrators or Minors. Most of the others were studying Roman history for the first time. The composition of the class for this subject has been fairly consistent over the years.
How Student Time Was Spent
During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:
Lectures
- Met twice per week for 1.5 hours per session; 26 sessions total; mandatory attendance.
Out of Class
- Outside of class, students studied for quizzes, wrote two short analytical response papers and a longer final paper, and completed a video project focusing on a historic artifact.
