Graduate Education & Roman Military History

[TraderTrey9785]

Hi!

I just joined Romanarmy.com last week after a recommendation from Professor Jonathan Roth @ San Jose State University. I'm currently an undergraduate student at The George Washington University, pursuing a degree in Classical Studies. Dr. Eric Cline, author of two books, Armageddon, and Jerusalem Besieged is one of my professors and is aiding me in the process of finding an adequate graduate program. So far, I haven't had much luck :?

However, I'm confident that something will pop up along the way. I was wondering if any members know of a decent graduate program in Classics or Ancient History that would allow me to specialize my PhD in Roman Britain or Roman Military History? If not a specific program, leading experts or professors in the field would be great as well. So far my list of possible programs and universities includes the University of Pennsylvania, University of Maryland, Duke University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Johns Hopkins, University of Chicago, and Princeton University.

I tend to favor Latin over Greek and would like to specialize in Roman Britain and Post Roman Britain so any suggestions about programs, professors, or career paths would be very helpful. Messages here on Roman Army Talk are fine or e-mail at [email protected] . Thanks, and I look forward to experiencing all that this site and its members have to offer.

Sincerely,
Trey Starnes

[Tarbicus]

Trey, are you limited to the USA? Is this suitable? [url:20yvi8yv]http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/hisar/modules/HS4367/[/url]

[Kate Gilliver]

Thanks for the advert, Jim!
The web link is to my undergraduate course; we have PG courses too that allow students to specialise in ancient military history, and of course PhDs - details here:
www.cardiff.ac.uk/hisar/teach/ancthist/postgrad.html


ps. Cardiff is in Wales which is very damp

Kate

[Tarbicus]

Thanks for the advert, Jim!

You're welcome.

Do you know of any courses in Roman miltary history that doesn't require a degree, and can be done part time at home? Oh, and doesn't need a starting requirement to know latin .... fat chance :?

[TraderTrey9785]

Thank you both for the information. Jim, to answer your question, no I'm not limited to the United States, but speaking strictly in terms of money, I'm not sure if I could afford any university in the UK without assistance. However, it's hard to study Romans when you live in an area the Romans never conquered.

Dr. Gilliver, I responded to your e-mail and I received the one you sent me. Cardiff looks like a solid choice!

[Dan Diffendale]

Trey,
I can put in a few words about Penn, since I got a BA in Classical Studies there this past May. The only member of the faculty with closely-related interests is Cam Grey. Of course, he joined just as I was graduating, so I can't tell you much more, but you can check his site. I know at least one of the grad students in Ancient History is writing on the Roman army, and another thinking about Greek warfare.

Princeton has Brent Shaw, who used to be at Penn and would no doubt be congenial to your interests.

[Kate Gilliver]

Do you know of any courses in Roman miltary history that doesn't require a degree, and can be done part time at home? Oh, and doesn't need a starting requirement to know latin .... fat chance :?

Nope!
When I was doing my PhD I taught A level Ancient History at Camden Working Men's College, including the Roman Britain paper. It was a 3 hour class on monday nights and left me shattered for the next day. But it was some of the most stimulating teaching I've ever done! They don't offer it any more I'm afraid. It would be enormous fun to do a continuing education course (what we used to call extra-mural) on the Roman army, but my employers prefer me to do other things with my evenings (research).

The Hadrianic Society have a Roman army week long course:
www.hadrianicsociety.co.uk/
I don't know anything about it, but it has a load of heavy-weight speakers.

Kate

[qcarr]

Do you know of any courses in Roman miltary history that doesn't require a degree, and can be done part time at home? Oh, and doesn't need a starting requirement to know latin .... fat chance :?

Tarbicus,

I am working on a Master's Degree in History with a concentration in Ancient History at American Public University. It's a great institution, fully accredited, with well-pedigreed professors. You can pursue a degree or take desired classes at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Here is their website: http://www.apu.apus.edu/index.htm

[Viventius]

Hi Tarby,

Couldn't find anything specifically on the Roman Military, though I could have missed something. But if you do a course on Roman archaeolgy, the military will be mentioned at some point!

How about one of Univ of Leicester's courses? http://www.le.ac.uk/archaeology/dl/dl_intro.html

Here's the syllabus for Module 4: Introduction to Classical Archaeology

The Archaeology of Ancient Greece
1 Archaic Greece (1000 to 479 BC)
2 The rise of the Polis
3 Classical Greece (fifth and fourth centuries BC)
4 Athens: a case study
5 Hellenistic archaeology

Rome – from Republic to Empire
6 Introduction: Rome from Republic to Empire
7 Towns of Roman Italy: Rome, pompeii and Ostia
8 Introduction to Romanisation
9 Understanding provincial development
10 The later Roman world

http://www.college-on-the-net.co.uk/ offers archaeology by distance learning, but it seems to be mostly at A level

London used have a wonderful extra mural programme. Don't know if it's still running, but there used to be some super classes, some of them with a heavy Roman emphasis.

Ah yes, Kate, the only time I visited Cardiff it rained - for three days solid
:lol:

[Tarbicus]

Kate, Quinton, Viventius, many thanks for the information! I shall check them all out, but after a brief look it seems there are actually a lot of options after all.

Many thanks again.