This discussion group, now in its 19th year, is Clemson OLLI’s longest running offering. Participants spend the first portion of class watching a video lecture, which leads to the lively discussion that follows. Videos are available to registrants anytime; each discussion is freestanding. Owing to the wide interests within the group, digressions are frequent. This term’s topic is, “The Rise of Rome.” The Roman Republic is one of the most breathtaking civilizations in world history. Between roughly 500 B.C.E. to the turn of the millennium, a modest city-state developed an innovative system of government and expanded into far-flung territories. This powerful civilization inspired America's founding fathers, gifted us a blueprint for amazing engineering innovations, left a vital trove of myths, and has inspired the human imagination for 2,000 years. How did Rome become so powerful? This mystery has vexed historians for centuries. Today, removed as we are from the Roman Republic, historians also wonder what it was like to be a Roman citizen in that amazing era. Beyond the familiar names of Romulus, Caesar, Octavian, Brutus, and Mark Antony, what was life like for the ordinary people?

Video lectures feature Gregory S. Aldrete, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay.