After the Ides of March:
History, Agency, and Chance in a Classroom Game

Carl A. Anderson (Michigan State University)
and T. Keith Dix (University of Georgia)

This paper will describe “Beware the Ides of March: Rome in 44 BCE,” an historical game under development as part of the Reacting to the Past series.  Reacting to the Past is a pioneering education pedagogy consisting of elaborate historical games, in which students lead each other in explorations of great texts in the history of ideas.  Created by Mark Carnes, Professor of History at Barnard College, and first offered at Barnard in the fall of 1995, Reacting won the 2004 Theodore Hesburgh Award for pedagogical innovation.  Fifty colleges and universities are now offering Reacting classes.

The setting of this game is Rome in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Julius Caesar; most of the action takes place in meetings of the Senate.  Students are divided into two principal factions, “Caesarians” (the larger faction in the game, since Caesar had “packed” the Senate) and “Republicans,” and are assigned roles (detailed descriptions of that faction's goals and possible strategies).  Students meet in the Senate to deal with threats to order in the city and in the empire.  Probable debates in the Senate fall under four headings: public order, Caesar's powers, foreign policy, and government.  In order to speak effectively and to advance the interests of their faction, students must grapple with contemporary critiques of Roman politics and government, including Cicero’s de re publica and selected orations.

This paper will also review the pedagogical approach of Reacting to the Past, describe various curricular applications for the Rome game, and suggest how it might be adapted to fit the curricular goals of individual instructors.