1. How did the early Republic evolve into a more inclusive representative government? What were the limits of representation?
2. What effect did the expansion of the Republic have on Roman society? What effect did Roman administration have on the conquered societies? What role did slavery play in the expanding Roman state?
3. How did the Republic collapse? What role did civil war play in that collapse?
4. How did the Principate develop under Augustus? How did he camouflage his power? What principles did he seek to realize through his rule and through what policies did he try to do so?
5. What was the Pax Romana? What policies and practices enabled it to flourish? How did women and slaves fare during this period?
6. How did the Empire decline? What role did the army and tribal migrations play in this process? How did Diocletian and Constantine temporarily stem the decline?
7. Who were the leading figures of Republican philosophy and literature? What were their principal themes and concerns? What did they draw from their Greek precursors?
8. Who were the leading writers of Golden Age and Silver Age literature? What were their principal themes and concerns? How did the poetry and prose of Golden Age differ from that of the Silver Age?
9. What were the two stages in the history of Roman law? How did legal theory and practice develop through those stages? How did Greek thought affect that development?
10. How did the mythic-religious world view reassert itself in the Greco-Roman world? What role did Eastern mystery religions play in that process? How did that reassertion affect the development of philosophy?
11. What design and building techniques did the Romans inherit from the Near Eastern, Greek, and Etruscan forebears? How did they apply and improve these techniques in their civic and domestic architecture? How do these building reflect the values and social conditions of the Republic and/or Empire?
12. What are the defining characteristics of Roman portrait and narrative relief sculpture? What are the major examples of these, and what innovations do they involve?
13. What concerns and techniques did Roman painting inherit from its Greek antecedents? How did Roman painters extend those concerns and techniques?
14. What ideas and values did Greco-Roman culture pass on to Western civilization?