"The Making of a “Bad” Emperor: Tyrants & Hedonists"

Previous participation and previous knowledge not required.

Five days after the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States, Jonathan Jones wrote “To understand Trump, we should look to the tyrants of ancient Rome.” Professors Roberta Mazza (University of Manchester) and Katherine Blouin (University of Toronto) were some of the earliest voices to problematize and rebuke Jones’ take for its lack of nuance, and perpetuation of elite White perspectives on the ancient world. While we will focus primarily on texts from Suetonius, Seneca, Tacitus, Herodian, and the Scriptores Historiae Augustae, these will be supplemented with key inscriptions that might help us account for more diverse perspectives on the “tyrants of ancient Rome” and their rules. This reading group will consider questions like: What exactly do the ancient sources say about the so-called “bad” emperors? What qualities made them “bad” and what does this reveal about contemporary social…