Ancient Western Civilization

This course examines the great civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome.  The first half traces the arc of Greek democracy and culture through the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars; the second picks up with the rise and fall of Roman power, from the mythic and historical accounts of Rome’s early days all the way to St. Augustine’s reflections in The City of God on Rome’s fall and the conflict between Christians and pagans in Roman society.

The influence of the personalities, events, and ideas of this era is difficult to overstate, and the study of ancient Greece and Rome is vital to any genuine understanding of the movement and progress of History in the West.  This course will enable the student to:

• Observe the timelessness of human relations & the similarities of man’s responses to the conditions in which he finds himself across time periods
• Discover the similarities & differences between ancient Greek & Christian ideas of virtue
• Trace the cause & effect of political developments in the ancient world &, by extension, the modern world
• Identify the periods of ancient history & major characters of the period
• Become familiar with the geography of the ancient world & the seeds of modern geopolitical conflicts
• Relate modern historical situations & documents to their ancient antecedents

Students taking this course for Kolbe Core (K) credit will have four papers, a mid-term, and final exam each semester.  Additionally, core students should expect to have daily reading and minor weekly written assignments or quizzes.

Assignment due-dates and grades are established by the parent.  Optionally, a student may be enrolled in the Self-Paced Plus© grading assistance program to receive grading assistance from a Kolbe Academy faculty or staff member on designated assignments in the course.  In this case, parents will still submit final grades to Kolbe for the course, but may choose to incorporate the graded assignments into the student’s overall grade or use the Kolbe-graded assignments to assist in arriving at the student’s final grade.

• The Histories, Herodotus, translated by Aubrey De Sélincourt
• The History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides, translated by Rex Warner
• Makers of Rome, Plutarch, translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert
• The History of Rome from Its Foundations: The Early History of Rome, Livy, translated by Aubrey De Sélincourt
• The History of Rome from Its Foundations: The War with Hannibal, Livy, translated by Aubrey De Sélincourt
• The Annals of Imperial Rome, Tacitus, translated by Michael Grant
• MLA Handbook Eighth Edition

Optional physical copies available for purchase for the following under the Ancient Western Civilization “Optional Material” section in the Kolbe Bookstore (digital copies are provided with the self-paced course):

• The Histories Study Guide, Kolbe Academy Publishing
• The History of the Peloponnesian War Study Guide, Kolbe Academy Publishing
• Plutarch’s Roman Lives Study Guide Student Book, Kolbe Academy Publishing
• Early History of Rome Study Guide Student Book, Kolbe Academy Publishing
• The War with Hannibal Study Guide Student Book, Kolbe Academy Publishing
• The Annals of Imperial Rome Study Guide Student Book, Kolbe Academy Publishing
• Christ the King, Lord of History, TAN Books
• Classics Conference: The Complete Set  (This flash drive contains both the Greek and Roman audio files assigned in the course plan.  The audio files are already provided as part of the self-paced course, but if you would like a copy to keep and reuse, you may purchase it.  The Greek and Roman sets may also be purchased separately.)

Self-Paced Plus Assignment List:

*We developed a rubric to assist in grading the paper assignments.  Each paper assignment will have the rubric available for the student in the course.