The Fall of Rome

The course is broken down into 10 units over 10 weeks, each requiring approximately 10 hours of study time. The following topics are covered:

Unit 1: Sources and Context

• Source material
• Assembling our written sources
• Geography
• The Omnishambles of 235-285
• The challenges facing Rome in 285

Unit 2: Diocletian and the Dominate – The Empire strikes back (276–305)

• The restoration of order: Principate to Dominate – The Tetrarchy
• Reorganising the Roman Empire
• Reorganising the Roman army
• Reorganising the Roman government
• The urban environment
• Internal and external threats: The Great Persecution
• Taking stock

Unit 3: Christianity ascendant: Constantine the Great (305-337)

• From Eboracum to the Pons Milvius (305-312)
• Constantine’s vision
•  The Arch of Constantine
• Constantine’s Christian Empire
• Constantine’s Pagan Empire
• Beata Tranquilitas, Baptism and death
• Further exploration / building your library
• First assessed assignment

Unit 4: Constantine’s heirs and Julian the Apostate (337 – 364)

• Constantine’s heirs
• Christians V Pagans; Christians V Christians
• Ammianus Marcellinus
• The reign of Constantius II (337-361) – Challenging times
• Julian the Apostate
• Christianity reborn: Taking stock

Unit 5: The East/West divide (364 – 395)

• The decisive East/West split in the Roman Empire
• From the ‘Barbarian Conspiracy’ to the Battle of Adrianople
• The reign of Theodosius I ‘The Great’
• Magnus Maximus
• Roman Christianity
• Taking stock: An irrevocable split and the death of Paganism?

Unit 6: The northern barbarians – Goths, Huns et al.

• The multi-layered nature of ethnic identity
• Roman attitudes towards barbarians
• Barbarian attitudes towards Romans
• The Goths
• The Huns
• Defining the barbarian; defining the Roman

Unit 7: The Sack of Rome (395 – 411)

• A divided Empire with child Emperors (395)
•  Alaric and Stilicho
• The death of the Gladiators
• The Roman withdrawal from Britain
• Alaric’s Sack of Rome (410) and death (411)
• Ramifications (historical and psychological) of Alaric’s Sack of Rome
• Further study / building your library
• Second assessed assignment

Unit 8: Roman Empresses; Barbarian kings (411 – 450)

• The situation at the death of Alaric
• Power struggles in Spain, Gaul, Britain, Italy and Africa
• The Eastern court of Theodosius II: Political, religious and dynastic intrigue
• Religion and the law
• Communications, trade and the land
• Imperial women

Unit 9: The end of Rome in the West (450 – 476)

• Rome’s defences in the late Empire
• The survival of the Empire in the East
• Attila the Hun
• Endgame: The fall/transformation of Rome in the West
• Romulus Augustulus: The last Emperorof the West
• Drawing conclusions

Unit 10: Epilogue: ‘Fall’ or ‘Transformation’ – how, why, and indeed, did Rome fall?

• Consolidation / revision
• Evidence
• The (210) causes of the Fall of the Roman Empire
• Fall or transformation?
• Good thing / bad thing?
• The Fall of Rome and the 21st Century
• Further exploration / building your library
• Course conclusion

We strongly recommend that you try to find a little time each week to engage in the online conversations (at times that are convenient to you) as the forums are an integral, and very rewarding, part of the course and the online learning experience.

Course aims

Course Aim:
This course aims to explore the history and culture of Ancient Rome throughout the last two centuries of the Empire in the West.

Course objectives:

• Gain a knowledge of a crucial era in the history of imperial Rome.
• Examine, understand and assess that history in its social and cultural context.
• Develop skills of historical, literary and artistic observation and analysis with further applications in study, work and leisure, and provide an interesting, enjoyable and relevant course of study.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course you will have gained the following understanding:

• The general outline of the history and culture of Imperial Rome in the two centuries prior to the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in AD 476, gained through a variety of types of literary, artistic and archaeological evidence.
• The nature of archaeological and historical evidence and the problems of interpretation.
• The historical context of Roman and ‘barbarian’ civilisation studied through their literature, art and architecture.

Level and demands

This course is open to all and no prior knowledge is required.

This course is offered at FHEQ level 4 (first year undergraduate level) and you will be expected to engage in independent study in preparation for your assignments. Our 10-week Short Online Courses come with an expected total commitment of 100 study hours.

English Language Requirements

We do not insist that applicants hold an English language certification, but we warn that they may be at a disadvantage if their language skills are not of a comparable level to those qualifications listed on our website. If you are confident in your proficiency, please feel free to enrol. For more information regarding English language requirements, please see here.

IT requirements

This course is delivered online; to participate you must be familiar with using a computer for purposes such as sending email and searching the Internet. You will also need regular access to the Internet and a computer meeting our recommended minimum computer specification.

Teaching methods

• Guided reading of texts
• Group discussions of particular issues
• Questions to be answered in personal folders

Assessment methods

You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first 500 words are due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.

DR Dominic Dalglish

Credit Application Transfer Scheme (CATS) points 

Coursework is an integral part of all online courses and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework. All those enrolled on an online courses are registered for credit and will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard.

See more information on CATS points

Digital credentials

All students who pass their final assignment will be eligible for a digital Certificate of Completion. Upon successful completion, you will receive a link to download a University of Oxford digital certificate. Information on how to access this digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended. You will be able to download your certificate or share it on social media if you choose to do so. 

Please note that assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail. 

Fees

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, or are a care-leaver in the UK, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Concessionary fees for short courses

Textbooks

To participate in the course you will need to have regular access to the Internet and you will need to buy the following textbooks:

• Christie, N., The Fall of the Western Roman Empire: An Archaeological and Historical Perspective (2011). Bloomsbury, London, New York.
• Goldsworthy, A., The Fall of the West: The Slow Death of the Roman Superpower (2009). Weidenfield & Nicolson, London.
• Kershaw, S. P., A Brief History of the Roman Empire (2013). Robinson, London.

Please ensure you can access copies of any required textbooks before enrolling on a course. While cancellations are uncommon, courses may not run if enrolment is too low. The Department accepts no responsibility for books bought in anticipation of a course running.

Module code: O26P512AHV

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