Ancient Religion

4 credits · Undergraduate

The ancient Mediterranean world was a world full of gods: from the poems of Homer to the small towns of the Roman empire, we can find people constantly interacting with and thinking about the gods. Myth, ritual, oracles, mystery cults, magic, philosophy: these were all ways that Greeks and Romans engaged with the divine. War, peace, health, sickness, hope, fear: these were some of the reasons for these engagements. This course explores the polytheism of ancient Greece and Rome (c.800 BCE to c.200 CE), with close attention to both the ancient literary evidence and the archaeological material from the period. We will seek to understand both the long-term continuities and the important changes in religious life during Mediterranean antiquity.