CL 317 / RN 317 Fall 2007
Greek and Roman Religion
Class meets: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11 a.m. – 12:30 pm in CAS 325
Prof. Zsuzsanna Várhelyi
Office: Room 404, STH, 745 Commonwealth Ave. phone: 617-353-4029
Office hours: Tuesdays 9:30 – 11 a.m.; Thursdays: 12:30 – 2 p.m.; and by appointment
Course description
This course explores the religions of ancient Greece and Rome from their earliest beginnings to the end of paganism and the emergence of Christianity. Given that the religions of the Greeks and Romans were so different from ours, we begin by setting some fundamental questions to be answered, such as: what a religion without a major emphasis on faith might be like; whether association with the this-worldly social order must indicate any insincerity in religious terms; and how the religion of a different society can give us unique insights into that culture. While the course follows a broadly chronological outline, individual lectures concentrate on specific themes, such as forms and places of worship, philosophy and religion, death and afterlife, magic and the concept of conversion. We also read two recent scholarly books to immerse in a few projects currently pursued within the field of ancient religious studies. The first, Rober Parker’s Miasma (reissued in 2003), addresses the concepts of pollution and purification in ancient Greek religion, discussing the fear, anxiety and desire for order that went into numerous Greek rituals, such as the ritual expulsion of scapegoats from cities. The second, Roger Beck’s recent The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire (2006), applies the newly fashionable cognitive science of religion to the worship of Mithras, a mystery cult often compared, chronologically and substantially, to Christianity. There are no prerequisites for this course.
Grading system
1. Basic individual activities (30 %)
Attendance 5
Quiz on chronology and map of the ancient Mediterranean 5
Course journal 15
Class participation (questions, discussion) 5
2. Major exams (40 %)
First exam (Greek religion) 20
Second exam (Roman religion) 20
3. Major writing assignments: (30 %)
Book response: Greek religion 15
Book response: Roman religion 15
Discussions with the instructor: You should plan on seeing me once, and in general discuss any questions about the course with me during my office hours or at any other time by appointment.
Attendance/Incomplete policy: You need to attend class to be able to complete this course. Note also the CAS policy on incompletes: this is an extreme option available only in special cases.
Late work: In general, handing in your work late results in a lower grade, unless you can provide written proof of exceptional circumstances that prevented you from completing your work on time.
Plagiarism and cheating: Please read the Academic Conduct Code (in your Student Handbook, also available in CAS 105) and try to understand what qualifies as cheating and plagiarism. Cases of suspected misconduct are automatically referred to the Dean's Office. We shall discuss in class how you can avoid plagiarism and develop a professional writing style of your own.
Textbooks: (To be purchased as soon as possible at Barnes and Noble on Kenmore Square; they are also available on reserve at Mugar Library)
1: D.G. Rice, J.E. Stambaugh, Sources for the Study of Greek Religion. SBL 1979. ISBN: 0891303472. (Abbreviated in syllabus as SSGR)
2: M. Beard, J. North, S. Price, Religions of Rome. Vol.2: Sources. ISBN: 0521456460, Cambridge UP 1998. (Abbreviated in syllabus as RR)
3: Euripides, Bacchae. (tr. S. Esposito), Focus 2000. ISBN: 0941051420.
4: Aristophanes, Clouds. (tr. J. Henderson) Focus 1993. ISBN: 0941051242.
5: Plato, The Last Days of Socrates: Euthyphro, The Apology, Crito, Phaedo. (tr. H. Tredennick) Penguin 1993. ISBN: 014044582X.
6: Apuleius, The Golden Ass. (tr. P.G. Walsh) Oxford UP 1999. ISBN: 0192838881.
7: Parker, R. Miasma. Oxford 2003. ISBN: 0198147422.
8: Beck, R. The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun. Oxford 2006. ISBN: 0199216134.
Schedule of classes: These are the subjects of the day’s class and the readings you need to complete BY the date listed. Please make sure to bring your text of the assigned reading to class, as we shall refer to them frequently.
9/4: Review of course syllabus. A historical introduction to ancient religion.
9/6: How to define religion in the context of the ancient world? How do polytheistic religions work? Possibilities of organization: time, space, function.
Assignment: write into your journal and bring to class a definition of religion to discuss.
Read:
SSGR pp. 107-110: The ceremony (of sacrifice), sacrificial procedure
SSGR pp. 110-111: Sacrifice and augury
SSGR pp. 113-115: A calendar of sacrifices from Marathon
SSGR p. 117:A festival to Apollo at Delos
SSGR pp. 124-125: Sanctuary regulations
SSGR pp. 126-129: Assessments and contributions to a cult, duties of a priest, the purchase of a priesthood
I. Greek religion
9/11: The Greek gods as a reflection of the complex variety of human experience: the Homeric view.
Assignment: Write into your journal adjectives to describe the gods’ behavior in Homer. In what way can humans relate to them?
Read:
SSGR pp. 1-20: The divine world of Homer.
SSGR p. 112: The swearing of oaths.
SSGR pp. 147-149: Prayers (only the passages from Homer)
SSGR p. 154: Epiphanies.
SSGR pp. 217-221: Views of death (those from Homer)
SSGR pp. 231-237: Polygnotus’ picture of the underworld.
SSGR pp. 247-248: The nature of the soul: ghosts (only the passage from Homer)
9/13: Connecting gods and men: origin myths and hierarchies
Assignment: Think about why religions are interested in the creation of the divine and human worlds. Write into your journal a list of principal events in the creation of the divine world in Hesiod
Read:
SSGR pp. 21-25: The Theogony of Hesiod
SSGR pp. 25-30: Zeus
SSGR pp. 39-41: The Orphic cosmogony
SSGR pp. 51-52: The ranks of the gods
SSGR pp. 53-63: The mythical heroes
SSGR pp. 65-68: Men who became heroes and gods
SSGR p. 131: The world of nature spirits
SSGR pp. 154-155: The Muses inspire Hesiod
SSGR pp. 229-231: The Orphic view of afterlife
9/18: There will be a chronology and map quiz at the start of this class session.
Society and individuals: public order and personal concerns
Assignment: Answer in your journal: how do Greek gods supposedly shape the lives of individuals in general? What happens if one behaves contrary to these rules?
Read:
SSGR pp. 87-91: Ethics: justice and the gods
SSGR pp. 93-106: Delphic piety
SSGR pp. 149-156: Personal piety (excluding superstition)
9/20: Health, death and afterlife
Assignment: Answer in your journal: What kind of concerns can you discover in ancient Greek epitaphs?
Read:
SSGR pp. 69-80: The cult of Asclepius
SSGR pp. 221-229: Death
SSGR pp. 240-245: Epitaphs
Robert Parker, Miasma pp. 32-73.
9/25: Book discussion class: Rober Parker, Miasma
First book response due.
9/27: Athens: religion in the life of the city
Assignment: identify the locations mentioned in the text on the map of Attica available on our courseinfo site.
Read:
SSGR pp. 81-85: Local heroes: the Salaminioi
SSGR pp. 117-121: The Panathenaic festival
SSGR pp. 123-124: The founding of the cult of Pan in Athens
SSGR pp. 125-126: The lease of a shrine
SSGR pp. 139-146: Family religion
SSGR pp. 169-170: The mysteries at Phyla
10/2: Athens: limited access and the religious secrets of the Eleusinian mysteries
Assignment: before doing the assigned reading, identify your sense of what is so mysterious about the Eleusinian mysteries. Are you finding any of that in the evidence you read?
Read:
SSGR pp. 171-193: Eleusis
SSGR pp. 211-216: The mysteries of the Kabeiroi at Samothrace (for comparison)
10/4: Athens: limited excess and the religious ‘madness’ of the Dionysia
Assignment: write into your journal an outline/summary of the tragedy.
Read:
SSGR pp. 195-209: The cults of Dionysus
Euripides, Bacchae
10/9: no class, Boston University is on Monday schedule
10/11: The conflict of traditional religion and philosophy in Athens: defining piety
Assignment: write into your journal an outline/summary of the comedy.
Read:
SSGR pp. 31-38: Criticism of the traditional theology
SSGR pp. 156-159: Superstition and the excesses of religiosity
SSGR p. 161:The Orphic way of life
SSGR p. 163-164: The Pythagorean way of life
Aristophanes, Clouds
10/16: Workshop class: The case of Socrates: the charge of impiety.
Assignment: write into your journal a definition of what seems to constitute the charge of impiety in the case of Socrates in the Apology.
Read:
SSGR pp. 43-50: The search for a rational theology: Plato and Aristotle
SSGR pp. 165-167: Platonic mysticism
SSGR pp. 237-240: Plato on the afterlife
Plato, Apology
10/18: Magic, the supernatural and religion in ancient Greece; Review for exam
Assignment: write into your journal a short definition of magic and of superstition as you understand these terms.
Read:
SSGR pp. 248-255: Ghosts
SSGR pp. 156-159: Superstition and the excesses of religiosity
Handout (available in class on 10/16 and online)
10/23: First examination.
The Hellenistic period as a transitional phase between Greek and Roman religion.
II. Roman religion
10/25: Imagining the beginnings of Roman religion
Assignment: mark in your journal the supposed dates discussed in the readings on a chronological chart.
Read: (all RR readings refer to section numbers)
RR #1.1-#1.2: Before the gods?; King Numa’s reforms
RR #1.3: The archaic triad: Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus
RR #1.4b and #1.5: Rome and the Latins
RR #1.6: Religion and the Roman gens (family)
RR #2.8a: Romulus – founder into god
RR #4.8: The pomerium, the sacred boundary of the city
RR #4.11: The grove of Albunea and its oracle
RR #6.4: Sacrifice without animals
RR #10.1a: Diana on the Aventine Hill
10/30: Imagining the Roman gods; Relations with the gods: Roman priests
Assignment: Answer in your journal: in what way and for what purposes did Roman priests communicate with the gods?
Read:
RR #1.4a: Ritual of the ‘fetiales’
RR #2.1: Gods in human form
RR #2.2-#2.3: Deities of different types; The deification of abstract ideas
RR #2.5: Interpretations of the goddess Vesta
RR #4.5: The grove of the Arval Brothers
RR #5.4-5.5a: The Salii and their rituals; Scrupulous observance
RR #5.5d: Changes in the fetial ritual for declaring war
RR #6.1-6.2: The stages of sacrifice; a record of sacrifice
RR #7.1-7.3: Some early prophets; public auspices; prodigies
RR #8.1: The earliest Roman priesthoods
RR #8.3: The administrative business of the priestly colleges;
RR #8.4: The Vestal Virgins
RR #13.1: Roman piety?
11/1: Rome in its ‘multicultural’ context: the “Greek” and “Etruscan” in Roman religion
Workshop: the sacrifice of Gauls and Greeks at Rome (cf. RR 6.6b)
Assignment: Answer in your journal: can you find anything unusual about how Romans responded to religious practices associated with other ancient cultures?
Read:
RR #1.7-#1.9: Greeks and Greek influence in Rome; the arrival of the Sibylline Books; Etruscan Rome and the Capitoline Triad
RR #2.6-#2.7: The incorporation of new deities; Magna Mater (Cybele) and her cult
RR #2.9: Rome and ‘barbarian’ deities
RR #5.5b-c: The first lectisternium; goddesses at the banquet
RR #5.6a-b: Ceremonies of Magna Mater
RR #5.8a: The ceremony of triumph
RR #6.5-6.6a-b: The season of the ‘Sacred Spring’; Humansacrifice
RR #7.4: The haruspices
RR #7.5a: Sibylline Oracles
RR #10.2: Colonies of Rome
RR #10.4: Roman religious authority outside Rome
11/6: Society and individuals: public order and personal concerns
Assignment: List in your journal ways in which Roman society marked proper and improper religious practices.
Read:
RR #3.1: The calendar and religious celebrations
RR #3.2: The republican calendar: Antium
RR #3.3: The calendar of Rome: the month of April
RR #4.1: The Roman temple-building
RR #4.4: The Roman templum
RR #4.7: Religious space and the Roman Forum
RR #4.12-#4.13: Religion of the home: the household shrine; The house-tomb and its rituals
RR #5.1-#5.3: The Parilia; the Lupercalia; the Saturnalia
RR #5.7a: The procession at the Roman Games
RR #6.3: Private sacrifice
RR #13.4: Satirizing women’s religion
11/8: Challenges to the Republican order; philosophy and religion in Rome.
Assignment: List in your journal the challenges Roman religious order faced in the late Republican period.
Read:
RR #2.4: Roman debate on the character of the gods
RR #4.9: Sanctuaries of Latium
RR #7.5c: The Marcian songs (212 BC)
RR #8.2: Priests and politics in the Roman Republic
RR #9.1-#9.2a-b: Late Republican dynasts; Emperor worship (selected parts only)
RR #9.3a: Aristocratic funerals
RR #11.1: Burning of the books of Numa
RR #11.9: Regulation of clubs and associations
RR #12.1: The cult of Bacchus
RR #13.2-#13.3: Roman philosophical critique; Cicero’s ideal Roman religion
RR #13.5: Philosophy and religion as a way of life
11/13: Finding Roman religion ‘again’: the religious transformation under Augustus
Assignment: Anwer in your journal: In what ways did Augustus’ reforms respond to the sense of religious crisis in the late Republic?
Read:
RR #3.3b-#3.4: Calendar from Praeneste; calendar from Cumae
RR #4.2: The temple of Mars Ultor and the Forum of Augustus
RR #4.3: Altars and the Augustan Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) at Rome
RR #5.7b: The Saecular Games
RR #6.1a: Small frieze from the Augustan Ara Pacis
RR #7.8a: Augustus and his astrologer
RR #7.9a: A dream of imperial power
RR #9.2b: Representations of power
RR #10.3: Republican relations with foreign powers
11/15: Emperor worship in Rome
Assignment: Define in your journal, however tentatively, emperor worship from a theological perspective.
Read: RR 5.8b; 6.2; 8.5-8.6; 9.2c-9.3; 10.1b; 10.2; 10.4-10.6.
RR #2.8b-#2.8d: Becoming a god
RR #3.5: A military calendar from Dura Europus
RR #4.10: The forum at Pompeii
RR #5.8b: The triumph of Tiberius
RR #6.2: A record of sacrifice
RR #8.5: The emperor as priest
RR #8.6: Priests of the imperial cult
RR #9.2c: Claudius as god
RR #9.3b: Imperial apotheosis
RR #10.1b: Altar dedication from Narbo Martius
RR #10.5: Emperor-worship in the provinces
RR #10.6a: Outside reactions to the worship of the emperor
11/20: The Roman Empire: an age of anxiety? Mithras, Magna Mater and Jupiter Dolichenus
Assignment: Answer in your journal: how do different religions address general human concerns and anxieties?
Read:
RR #4.6: The cult centres of Mithras
RR #6.7: The taurobolium in the rituals of Magna Mater
RR #7.3b: Pliny on portents
RR #7.6-7.7: Prophecy in the Roman Empire; magical divination
RR #7.8b: Augustine as an addict of astrology
RR #7.9b-c: Dreams
RR #8.7: Priests of Magna Mater
RR #9.4-#9.6: Gods and mortals; sickness and trouble; death
RR #11.2a-b: The law on poisoning and magic
RR #11.3-11.7: The fraudulent claims of the magic; love magic; curse tablets; magic and revelation; regulations about divination
RR #12.2: Regulations of a society of Diana and Antinous
RR #12.3: Jupiter Dolichenus
RR #12.5: The mysteries of Mithras
11/22: no class, Thanksgiving holiday.
11/27: Second book discussion class: Roger Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun.
Second book response due.
11/29: Isis
Assignment: Write into your journal an outline/summary of the Golden Ass.
Read:
RR #5.6c-d: A procession of Isis; sacred objects of the Isiac cult
RR #8.8: The caring priest of Isis
RR #12.4: Isis
Apuleius, The Golden Ass, bks. 1, 3-6, 11. (make sure to get to book 11)
12/4: Yahweh and Jesus in the Roman Empire
Assignment: Answer in your journal: in what way do you think the Roman Empire helped and in what way it hindered the development of Christianity?
Read:
RR #2.10: One god: pagans, Jews and Christians
RR #4.14: Jewish synagogues in the Roman Empire
RR #4.15: The architecture of Christianity
RR #6.6c: Accusations of human sacrifice
RR #6.8: Conflict and opposition
RR #7.5b: Later prophecy in the Sibylline tradition
RR #10.6b: The Jewish view
RR #11.8: The Jews
RR #11.10-#11.11: A trial for foreign superstitio; responses to the Christians
RR #12.6-#12.7: The Jews; the Christians
12/6: How does an Empire “convert” to Christianity?
Assignment: Answer in your journal: what kinds of explanations can you think of for the success of Christianity in the Roman Empire?
Read:
RR #3.6-#3.7: The calendar of the martyrs of Rome; calendar from Campania
RR #8.9-#8.10: Priesthoods of the later Roman aristocracy; pagan priesthood under attack
RR #11.12-#11.14: Ruling against the Manicheans; Constantine and the Church; Theodosius’ ban on sacrifices
RR #13.6-#13.9: Religion and Empire; a traditionalist description of Rome; Christianity as the real religion of Rome; The old and the new cities of god
12/11: Final class: conclusions. The changing sense of ‘religion’ in antiquity and beyond. Mutual evaluation. Review for second exam.
Journals are due.