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Three strands · thirty modules · the Open University A229 model reimagined · convened by Plato Simulacrum, Cicero Simulacrum, and Pliny the Younger Simulacrum
A three-strand programme on the Greek and Roman worlds, modelled on the Open University’s A229 Exploring the Classical World module but reimagined to use the Universitas’s particular strengths. Where A229 organises its Greek block around Homer and the Athenian dramatists (texts whose authors we have not yet built into faculty), this programme organises its Greek strand around what the Greeks did most distinctively and what we have richly: historiography, philosophy, oratory, and science. The Roman strands stay close to A229’s structure but go deeper, drawing on the Universitas’s colossal Roman literary faculty — every module led by its author, including the four charioteer simulacra for the Circus Maximus, where A229 has none.
The Greek World strand reads ten Greek voices from Strabo’s geography of the Mediterranean to Polybius’s analysis of the rising Roman power. Convened by Plato Simulacrum, with Strabo, Herodotus, Thucydides (on Pericles’s Funeral Speech), Aristotle, the four Athenian orators in conversation (Antiphon, Lysias, Isocrates, Demosthenes), Theophrastus, the Greek scientists (Archimedes, Aristarchus of Samos, Hipparchus, Eratosthenes), the Hellenistic philosophical schools (Epicurus, Chrysippus, Plutarch), and Polybius leading their own modules.
The Roman Republic strand reads the Republic from inside through ten Republican voices, convened by Cicero Simulacrum. The chronological arc runs from the Greek encounter (Polybius, Livius Andronicus) through Republican comedy (Plautus, Terence), the institutional Republic (Cicero on the constitution and on his own letters), the late-Republic crises (Sallust on Catiline, Catullus’s lyric voice, Caesar’s Gallic War), the antiquarian tradition (Varro), Republican biography (Cornelius Nepos), and the transition to Principate (Augustus’s Res Gestae, Velleius Paterculus).
The Roman Empire strand reads the Empire as it was actually lived in the first and second centuries CE, convened by Pliny the Younger Simulacrum. The strand covers the city of Rome (Vitruvius), the daily texture of senatorial life (Pliny’s Letters), historical method (Tacitus, Suetonius), Roman slavery (Pliny and Apuleius together), family life and the tombstone evidence (Pliny, the Laudatio Turiae, Sulpicia), mass entertainment (the four charioteer simulacra and Martial), urban daily life (Martial’s Epigrams), the Greek-Latin imperial culture (Apuleius), and Stoic Rome (Seneca, Marcus Aurelius).
The three strands are independently enrolable. A student interested only in Greek thought may take only Strand 1; a student interested only in Imperial-period social history may take only Strand 3. The full sequence in chronological order produces a layered understanding of the classical world that few undergraduate Classics modules now offer — read in the voices of the people who made it.
Plato Simulacrum convenes · led by Strabo, Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristotle, the four Athenian orators, Theophrastus, the Greek scientists, the Hellenistic philosophers, and Polybius
Ten Greek voices from the Persian Wars to the Roman conquest. Strabo on the geography that frames everything; Herodotus on the Greek encounter with the East; Thucydides on the Peloponnesian War (and on Pericles’s Funeral Speech); Plato’s Republic with the Cave allegory; Aristotle on the polis and on nature; the four Athenian orators in conversation; Theophrastus’s Characters; Greek science with Archimedes, Aristarchus, Hipparchus, and Eratosthenes; the Hellenistic schools on how to live (Epicurus, Chrysippus, Plutarch); Polybius’s analysis of Rome from outside — the bridge to Strand 2.
Open strand →Cicero Simulacrum convenes · led by Polybius, Livius Andronicus, Plautus, Terence, Cicero, Sallust, Catullus, Caesar, Varro, Cornelius Nepos, Augustus and Velleius
The Roman Republic from inside, in the voices of its great writers. Polybius and Livius Andronicus on early Rome and the Greek encounter; Plautus and Terence on Republican comedy; Cicero on the institutions, on the law-courts, and in his own letters; Sallust on Catiline; Catullus’s lyric voice; Caesar on the Gallic War; Varro the antiquarian; Cornelius Nepos on biography; Augustus’s Res Gestae and Velleius’s friendly history of the transition to Principate.
Open strand →Pliny the Younger Simulacrum convenes · led by Vitruvius, Pliny himself, Tacitus, Suetonius, Apuleius, Martial, the four charioteer simulacra, Sulpicia, the Laudatio Turiae woman, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius
The Roman Empire as it was lived in the first and second centuries CE. Vitruvius on the built city; Pliny the Younger’s Letters on senatorial daily life and on slavery; Tacitus on imperial rule; Suetonius’s Twelve Caesars; Roman slavery through Pliny and Apuleius; family life through the tombstones, the Laudatio Turiae, and Sulpicia; mass entertainment with four charioteer simulacra and Martial; Martial’s urban epigrams; Apuleius’s Greek-Latin Metamorphoses; Stoic Rome with Seneca and Marcus Aurelius.
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