Final exam review sheet for CLST 319. December 4, 2015
The final for this course is at the totally vile hour of 8.30am on December 16th in Buchanan A103. I suggest bringing coffee into the exam, if it helps. Please be on time: if you miss this time, you will require much evidence of some terrible crisis to be allowed to take the exam at a later date. The exam will take 2 hours.
The final exam is cumulative and it is expected that you use the material we studied in the first half of the course to illuminate your discussion of Roman battles and campaigns. For example, all those lectures about the pila, logistics, the maniple, the cohort, etc. should come into play in your esssays.
It will consist of four essay questions out of which you will have to answer two; each will be worth the same (50 points) and we will expect these to show logical structure and proper organization, so I advise writing up an outline before starting the paper although this will not be graded. There is no set length for the essays, though they should be substantial and I do not think you can answer any of the questions without writing more than three pages unless you have microscopic handwriting.
There will be no short answer section.
The exam is open book: you may bring in the textbooks assigned for the course; these may have any writing in them that you wish, sticky notes, highlighting, etc. to help you navigate them. You may also bring in 2 pages of (double sided) notes. Given that UBC loves tiny desks and you’ll be tight for space I suspect those 2 pages of notes will be the most useful and easy to consult item you bring in. So spend some time on them.
Because the exam is open book our expectations are higher both in terms of spelling, references, and the level of detail we will expect you to provide. For example, you should give specific dates for battles and wars and not just write ‘the second century BCE’ for the fall of Carthage. We will expect you to refer to particular passages and authors rather than making general allusions to ‘Greek authors’ or ‘sources say’ or even ‘Roman historians talk about.’ Know things like the sizes of maniples and cohorts and cavalry (it matters! it really does!).
Weak answer: some Greek authors talk about details of Roman military structure and the way that the levy was organized; people were called to Rome and then divided into legions.
Better answer, but still not all that precise: Polybius, a Greek historian and friend of the Scipionic family, gives details of the process by which the Romans levied and assembled their legions in the city of Rome and informs us that the levy took place on the Capitoline Hill.
Far better answer: Polybius (6.19) in an account written around c. 160 BCE says that Romans were asked to assemble on the Capitoline Hill and were selected by the military tribunes there; this seems problematic, as Campbell (p. 122) points out, as he does not mention the role of the consuls, for one, and the entire process would have had to have taken days. Logistically speaking, the account he gives is also problematic as he insists that all those eligible assembled there and it is doubtful that there would have been space for all of those who could serve.
Abbreviate references to save time. For example, you can refer to Southern 27 or Campbell #57 rather than writing out a full reference; obviously you should use in text citations rather than footnotes, which would be incredibly unwieldy in these circumstances.
As we have not covered them in class, none of the questions will expect a knowledge of the machinery of siege warfare, Agricola’s campaigns in Britain[1], or Adrianople. We will concentrate on the period from about 300 BCE-200 BCE
Previous essay questions (for information only: actual questions on this exam will be different. Though, honestly, you have to expect at least one question on some aspect of the Punic Wars. I don’t think I’m revealing any secrets there.)
1. The Romans fought three wars against Carthage. Write an essay that discusses these conflicts in terms of their military strategies, significance, battles, and the generals involved. Your answer should cover all three wars but focus most on the First and Second Punic Wars as these were more militarily significant.
2. Although the Roman army was near unbeatable when it fought on its own terms, it also had a number of tactical weaknesses especially when faced with enemies who fought in untraditional ways. Write an essay that discusses the tactical weaknesses of the Roman army and illustrates those weaknesses with specific examples drawn from military engagements and campaigns.
3. Discuss Julius Caesar’s military career and abilities as a general with particular emphasis on his conquest of Gaul, although you may reference his actions during the Civil War. (When discussing the Civil War you should refer to more than Pharsalus.)
4. Rome’s three wars against the slaves were marked both by some spectacular missteps and considerable underestimation of the slave armies. Write an essay that not only discusses these wars in light of their military engagements but also discusses why and how the leaders of these revolts managed to assemble such impressive forces and score victories often against overwhelming odds.
Office hours during the exam period. Tea and cookies will be served to those that need it:
December 10 2-3.
December 14, 11.30-12.30
[1] Though if you did the paper on Boudicca and feel like that information is relevant to answering a question then you should certainly bring that into your discussion.