Monday, 1/22

Introduction: Religion in the Greek World

Wednesday, 1/24

The Character of Greek Religion

Readings

• Simon Price. 1999. Religions of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 1-8 ("Introduction"), 174-6, 178 (App. #3-4, 10). (e-reserve)
• Louise Bruit Zaidman and Pauline Schmitt Pantel. 1997. Religion in the Ancient Greek City, pp. 8-15 ("Some Fundamental Notions"). (e-reserve)
• Xenophon, Anabasis 3.1.4-14 (Perseus), 6.4.7-27 (Perseus)
• R&S pp. 44-6, 59-61, 87-90

Reading Questions

1. What forms of religious worship are represented in today's readings? Where do these acts of worship take place? Who's involved? What seems to be the goal(s) of these acts?
2. Based on today's readings, what would you say are the fundamental principles or features of ancient Greek religion?
3. Did anything you read surprise you?
4. In Xenophon and the inscriptions, religion seems to be largely a matter of practice, having little or nothing to do with morality or ethics. Is it possible to reconcile the impression we get from these sources with the emphasis on justice in Hesiod, Solon, Aeschylus, and the first Plato excerpt?
5. What role, if any, does belief seem to play in Greek religion?

Friday, 1/26 (Add/Drop & Change in Grade Option Deadline)

Sources & Methods

Readings

• Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 8-10 ("The sources for the history of Greek religions...").
• Walter Burkert. 1985. Greek Religion, pp. 4-7 ("The Sources"). (e-reserve)

IN CLASS: Short presentations on sources for Greek religion. (assignment)

Monday, 1/29

The Gods in Myth & Literature: Aphrodite

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 31-45
• R&S pp. 1-5, 21-5, 36, 147-49
• Hymn 5, to Aphrodite
• Consult as needed: Laurel Bowman, ed. The Olympian Gods

Reading Questions

1. If you're not already familiar with the major deities who appear in these excerpts, use the Bowman site to find out how they fit into the divine genealogies given by Homer and Hesiod, and, as Herodotus puts it, what their epithets, offices, crafts, and outward appearances are.
2. How would you describe the character of Aphrodite in the Hymn to Aphrodite? For example, is she omniscient? Omnipresent? Omnipotent? Benevolent? Is she corporeal and anthropomorphic, incorporeal, or something in between? How does she interact with the other gods and human beings?
3. How does the Aphrodite of the hymn — her character, her epithets, her genealogy — compare to the depiction of Aphrodite in the Iliad, the Theogony, and Euripides' Trojan Women?
4. In this hymn, to what extent are the gods like human beings? How are they different? How do gods and humans interact?

Wednesday, 1/31

The Gods in Worship & Theology

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 45-54
• R&S pp. 5-16, 26, 29-32, 38, 51-6, 65

Reading Questions

1. What did Xenophanes and Heraclitus think was wrong with the standard (epic) representations of the Greek gods? Do their criticisms seem fair to you? Why or why not?
2. Do the gods of Homer or the Hymn to Aphrodite seem the same as the Zeus evoked by Aeschylus and the Hymn of the Kouretes or featured as objects of cult in our readings for 1/24? What's going on here?
3. Based on your readings so far, how would you say the Greeks imagined their gods?

Friday, 2/2

Religion and the Polis

Guest Lecturer: Prof. Michael Arnush

Readings

• Michael H. Crawford & David Whitehead. 1983. Archaic and Classical Greece, pp. 27-44 ("The Development of the Polis and Its Values") (e-reserve)
• Homer, Odyssey 2.1-87; 6.1-12; 9.118-28, 260-343 (Fagles trans.) (handout)
• Hesiod, Works & Days 1-40, 248-413, 462-84, 724-828 (Athanassakis trans.) (handout)

Reading Questions

1. What are the societies depicted by Homer and Hesiod like? For example, how cohesive are they? How are they governed? What is their social composition? What are their values? What social or political tensions do these texts reflect?
2. What role does religion play in the formation of these communities? What do these texts portray as correct and/or distinctively Greek religious behavior?
3. Do the rules Hesiod lays down at W&D 724-828, esp. 724-64, make sense to you? What do they mean?!?

Monday, 2/5

Historical Interlude: Archaic & Classical Greece

Readings

• Chester Starr. 1979. The Ancient Greeks, pp. 46-8, 103-24, 141-50. (e-reserve)

Wednesday, 2/7

Religion in the Polis: Sanctuaries

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 1-10
• R&S pp. 123-27
• Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 176-7 (App. #6)
• Temples of Aegium (in Achaea): Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.24.1-4 (Perseus)

Images

• Typical plan of a Greek temple (image)
• Doric & Ionic orders (image)
• Model of early sacred building, possibly Temple of Hera, Perachora, 8th cen. BCE (image)
• Model of Second Temple of Aphaia, Aigina, early 5th cen. BCE (image)
• Temple of Poseidon at Sunium (on Perseus: aerial view; view from SE)
• Athenian Agora, 5th cen. BCE, drawing (image)

Friday, 2/9

Religion in the Polis: Religious personnel

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 10-11
• Bruit Zaidman & Schmitt Pantel, Religion in the Ancient Greek City, pp. 46-54 ("Religious Personnel"). (e-reserve)
• R&S pp. 127-8
• Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks, p. 174-76 (App. #3-5).
• Religious personnel necessary for ideal state: Aristotle, Politics 6.1322b (Perseus)
• Priests of specific cults:
  • priests & priestesses of Demeter Cthonia at Hermione: Pausanias 2.35.4-8 (Perseus)
  • priest of Athena Cranaea at Elateia: Pausanias 10.34.7-8 (Perseus)
  • priestess of Artemis Triclaria at Patrae: Pausanias 7.18.11-19.10 (Perseus)
  • priestess & priest of Artemis Hymnia at Orchomenos: Pausanias 8.13.1 (Perseus)
  • priestess of Broad-Bosomed Earth: Pausanias 7.25.13 (Perseus)
  • priestesses of Demeter at Aegila (in Laconia): Pausanias 4.17.1 (Perseus).
• Exegetai (interpreters/religious advisors): Plato, Euthyphro 4a-e (Perseus); Isaeus 8.39 (Perseus)

Reading Questions

1. How are ancient Greek priests different from modern religious professionals (priests, ministers, rabbis, imams, etc.)? What difference do those differences make?
2. Who could serve as priests in the Greek world? How did a person become a priest? What do you think was the appeal of the priesthoods?
3. Where does religious authority rest in the Greek system?

Monday, 2/12

Religion in the Polis: Sacred Days, Processions, Offerings

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 12-22
• Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 172-3 (App. #1)
• R&S pp. 113-15 (sacrificial calendar of Marathon), 149-53 (dedications)
• Athenian festival calendar (non-specialist site, includes both city-wide festivals and those of individual demes)
• Sacred truce: Spartans prevented from coming to Marathon by Karneia: Herodotus 6.106-7 (Perseus); Argives evade Karneia truce by manipulating calendar: Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War 5.54 (Perseus)
• Votives and Sacrifice (UPenn exhibit)

Wednesday, 2/14

Religion in the Polis: Sacrifice

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 23-29
• Bruit Zaidman & Schmitt Pantel, Religion in the Ancient Greek City, pp. 27-45 ("Rituals"). (e-reserve)
• R&S pp. 107-10, 112-13
• Importance of sacrifice: Lysias 30, Against Nicomachus 18-19 (Perseus)

Images

• Sacrificial scene, wooden plaque, Pitsa c. 540-530 BCE (image)
• Cows being led to sacrifice: Attic red-figure lekythos, c. 530-500 BCE (Perseus catalog; close-up)
• Youth sacrificing at altar: Attic red-figure oinochoe, c. 425 BCE (Perseus catalog; close-up)
• Sacrificial scenes, Attic red-figure krater, Naples, c. 470 BCE (drawing F. Lissarrague) (image)

Friday, 2/16

Myth & Ritual

Readings

• Richard Buxton. 1994. Imaginary Greece: The Contexts of Mythology, pp. 151-65 ("Telling and Acting," "Believing in Myths"). (e-reserve)
• Mikalson, pp. 55-67
• Poseidon, Athena, & Erichthonius/Erectheus: Herodotus, Histories 8.55.1 (Perseus); Euripides, Ion 1-40 (Perseus), 237-74 (Perseus); Pausanias 1.18.2 (Perseus); Apollodorus, Library 3.14 (Perseus).

Reading Questions

1. According to Buxton, what was the relationship between myth, ritual, and belief for the Greeks? Are you convinced? Why or why not?
2. Could Buxton's analysis apply to the myths surrounding the foundation of Athens, or the cult myths summarized by Mikalson?

Short Paper Due (assignment)

Monday, 2/19

Polis Cults & Festivals I: Athena Polias & the Panathenaia

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 68-82
• R&S pp. 117-21
• Athena Polias & the Panathenaia: Pausanias 1.24.5-7 (Perseus), 1.26.5-27.6 (Perseus)

Images

• Athenian Acropolis (plan, reconstruction drawing)
• Columbia University. 2001. The Parthenon Frieze (interactive guide)

Wednesday, 2/21

Polis Cults & Festivals II: Demeter Eleusinia & the Eleusinian Mysteries

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 82-90
• Hymn 2, to Demeter (Hymns, pp. 1-14)
• R&S pp. 184-93

IN CLASS: Mystery cults with Jessica, Jedd, and Joe the Elder (assignment)

Friday, 2/23

Polis Cults & Festivals III: Demeter Thesmophoros & the Thesmophoria

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 144-5
• Aristophanes, Women at the Thesmophoria 349-721, 985-1044, 1224-48 (= Jeffrey Henderson, trans. & ed. 1996. Three Plays by Aristophanes, pp. 89-91 [intro], 109-20, 129-31, 137-38, + 225-30 [notes]) (e-reserve)
• Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 173-4 (App. #2)
• Origin of the Thesmophoria: Herodotus 2.171 (Perseus); obscene joking: Apollodorus 1.5 (Perseus); selection of women to preside at Thesmophoria: Isaeus 8.19-20 (Perseus).

Monday, 2/26

Polis Cults & Festivals IV: Dionysus Cadmeios at Thebes

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 91-99
• Euripides, Bacchae (e-reserve)

Wednesday, 2/28

Cults & Festivals V: Dionysus and Orpheus

Readings

• Burkert, Greek Religion, pp. 293-304 (e-reserve)
• R&S pp. 229-40
• André Laks and Glenn W. Most, ed. Studies on the Derveni Papyrus, pp. 9-22. (e-reserve)

Reading Questions

1. As described by Burkert, what do the rites/mysteries of Dionysus and Orpheus have in common with the forms of Greek religion we've studied so far? What's different?
2. What do you suppose was the appeal of these cults?
3. How do you think these cults fit into the religious life of the Greek poleis?
4. In columns 6 and 20 of the Derveni papyrus, what seems to be the author's attitude toward public rituals and initiations? What does he see as the point of these rituals? Does he approve or disapprove? Should we take col. 20 as a blanket condemnation of initiations, or as a critique of specific types of initiation?
5. The bulk of the papyrus is a commentary on an Orphic cosmogonic poem. Can you make any sense of it? (Don't worry if you can't; this text is very confusing, and remains highly controversial.) How does the author interpret the poem? What seems to be his point?

Friday, 3/2

Panhellenic Cults & Festivals I: Apollo Pythios & the Oracle of Delphi

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 99-111
• Hymn 3, to Apollo (Hymns pp. 14-27)
• R&S pp. 93-101, 104-6
• Delphi & colonization: Herodotus 4.147-58 (Perseus)

Monday, 3/5

Talking to the Gods: Prophecy, Divination, Dreams

Readings

• R&S pp. 47, 110-12, 156-7
• Prophets: Homer, Iliad 1.54-108 (Perseus); Odyssey 2.146-207 (Perseus)
• Divination: Xenophon, Memorabilia 1.1.1-5 (Perseus)
• Dreams: Homer, Odyssey 19.560-70 (Perseus); Xenophon, Cyropaedia 8.7.21 (Perseus)
• Dream interpretation: Georg Luck. 2006. Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds, pp. 353-63 (excerpts from Artemidorus, The Art of Judging Dreams) (e-reserve)
• Dice oracle of Heracles Buraios: Pausanias 7.25.10 (Perseus)

IN CLASS: Dream interpretation with Nick, Jillian, and Jonathan (assignment)

Wednesday, 3/7

Panhellenic Cults & Festivals II: Zeus Olympios of Olympia

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 111-29
• R&S pp. 28-9, 113
• Pindar, Olympian Ode 1 (handout)

IN CLASS: The Olympic games with Curmi, Darnell, and Tiara (assignment)

Friday, 3/9

MIDTERM EXAM

Review sheet (click here to download Adobe Reader)

Monday, 3/12 - Friday 3/16

SPRING BREAK

Monday, 3/19

Polis Religion & the Individual: Religion in the Oikos and Village

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 133-47, 156-7
• R&S pp. 139-40, 143-46, 201-6
• Family cults: Isaeus 2.46 (Perseus)
• Men & women in the Oschophoria (Athens): Plutarch, Life of Theseus 23.2-3 (Perseus)

Wednesday, 3/21

Polis Religion & the Individual: Rites of Passage

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 148-56
• R&S pp. 63, 140-43
• Rituals of transition: Greek Anthology bk. 6, selections (link to document) (click here to download Adobe Reader)
• Pre-marriage rituals: Troezen: Pausanias 2.32.1 (Perseus); Megara: Pausanias 1.43.4 (Perseus); Delos: Herodotus 4.34 (Perseus)
• Marriage: Isaeus 3.76 (Perseus), 8.18 (Perseus)
• Apatouria: Herotodus 1.147 (Perseus)
• Ephebic oath: Lycurgus, Against Leocrates 76 (Perseus)

IN CLASS: Getting married with Julia, Simone, and Joe the Younger (assignment)

Friday, 3/23

Polis Religion and the Individual: Healing

Readings

• Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 108-12. (e-reserve)
• R&S pp. 69-80
• Emma J. Edelstein and Ludwig Edelstein, ed. 1945. Asclepius 423 (= IG IV², 1, nos. 121-2, 2nd half of 4th cen. BCE), pp. 229-37. (e-reserve)

Images

• Asclepius: marble (on VRoma), Roman bronze (Perseus catalog)
• Epidaurus: aerial (Perseus catalog), plan of sanctuary of Asclepius (Perseus catalog)
• Votive offerings to Asclepius: Corinth (image 1; image 2)

Reading Questions

1. Where does the cult of Asclepius fit among the forms of Greek religion we've surveyed so far? What's the same? Does anything seem different to you?
2. Based on your readings, what kind of people sought healing at the shrines of Asclepius?
3. Based on your readings, how did Asclepius heal his worshippers?

Topic Statement Due by 5PM (assignment)

Monday, 3/26

Polis Religion & the Individual: Death & Burial

Readings

• Bruit Zaidman & Schmitt Pantel, Religion in the Ancient Greek City, pp. 72-78 (e-reserve)
• R&S pp. 217-19, 223-29, 240-45
• Funerals: Isaeus 2.36 (Perseus), 4.19 (Perseus)
• UPenn exhibit: Death, The Greek Cemetery, Burial, and Grave Markers
• Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks, p. 180 (App. #13-14)

Images

• Archaic funeral scenes (prothesis, ekphora, & burial): Dipylon vase, Athens c. 750 BCE (image)

Wednesday, 3/28

Polis Religion & the Individual: The Afterlife

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 191-96
• R&S pp. 219-22, 229-40, 247-52

Reading Questions

1. Suppose someone asked you what the Greeks believed about death and the afterlife. (This happens to me all the time!) How would you answer?
2. Is it possible to reconcile the wide variety of views about the afterlife reflected in today's (and Monday's) readings? If so, how? If not, how do we make sense of all this diversity?

Friday, 3/30

Magic & Religion: What Is Magic?

Readings

• H.S. Versnel. 1991. "Some Reflections on the Relationship Magic-Religion." Numen 38: 177-97. (on JSTOR)
• Luck, Arcana Mundi #1-2, 4-5, 19, 28 = pp. 93-100, 102-4, 131-33, 142-46. (e-reserve)

Reading Questions

1. Why does the author of On the Sacred Disease regard the "charlatans'" methods of diagnosis and treatment as magic rather than science or religion?
2. How does Apollonius of Tyana defend himself against the charge of using magic or divination? What's the difference between what he does and (what he would consider) magic?
3. In your view, what's the difference between magic and religion? (Are they different?) Do you agree with Versnel? Why or why not?
4. Based on your readings, what did ancient Greeks think was the difference between magic and religion?

Monday, 4/2

Magic & Religion: The Practice of Magic

Readings

• Luck, Arcana Mundi #6, 18, 20-27 = pp. 104-8, 129-31, 134-42. (e-reserve)
• John G. Gager. 1992. Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World, pp. 116-32. (e-reserve)
• Browse the excellent University of Michigan Traditions of Magic exhibit and bring your favorite item to class.

Images

• Curse tablet (image)

Reading Questions

1. Based on your readings, how did ancient magic work? What was it used for?
2. How does the real-life practice of ancient magic — as represented by the spells and artifacts in Luck, Gager, and the UM exhibit — compare to how magic is depicted in Greek literature (e.g. Circe, Medea, Simaetha)?
3. Do you see any similarities between Greek magic and the other forms of Greek religion we've studied so far?

IN CLASS: Love magic with Patrick, Zoe, and Caroline (assignment)

Wednesday, 4/4

Religion & Philosophy

Readings

• Burkert, Greek Religion, pp. 305-37 ("Philosophical Religion") (e-reserve)

Reading Questions

1. What relation (if any) do you think there was between philosophical approaches to religion and actual Greek religious practice?
2. In your opinion, which of the philosophical approaches to religion surveyed by Burkert is the most important? Why?

Friday, 4/6 (Withdrawal Deadline)

The Limits of the Acceptable: Impiety, Superstition, Innovation, Atheism

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 181-90
• R&S pp. 157-59, 198-99
• Since Perseus is offline, please read this impiety handout, which covers the same material. (click here to download Adobe Reader)

Reading Questions

1. How does Theophrastus define 'superstition'? Is that how you would define the word? According to Theophrastus, what's wrong with superstition? How (if at all) would the state have addressed this problem?
2. What is Demosthenes criticizing his rival Aeschines for in the excerpt from On the Crown? What's the problem with his behavior? How (if at all) would the state have responded?
3. What was the problem in the case of Alcibiades' alleged mutilation of the herms and parody of the Eleusinian mysteries? Why did people see these episodes as part of a political plot? How did the state respond?
4. What was the problem with Socrates? How accurate do you think the accusations against him were? How did the state respond?
5. Do these cases of impiety or inappropriate religious activity have anything in common? What about magic?
6. In the classical Greek world, what forms of religious belief or behavior were intolerable? Does anything about this surprise you?

Monday, 4/9

Religion in the Hellenistic World: Overview

Readings

• Mikalson, pp. 198-218
• M.M. Austin, ed. 1981. The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest, #48, 121-22, 128, 192, 197-98, 210 (= pp. 93-94, 213-14, 222-23, 314-15, 341-43). (e-reserve)
• Stanley M. Burstein, ed. 1985. The Hellenistic Age from the Battle of Ipsos to the Death of Kleopatra VII, #60, 62, 82 (= pp. 82, 84-85, 105-6). (e-reserve)

Reading Questions

1. What similarities do you see between the religious acts and attitudes reflected in today's primary readings and the forms of Greek religion we've studied so far?
2. What seems different?

Wednesday, 4/11

Religion in the Hellenistic World: Ruler Cult

Readings

• Angelos Chaniotis. 2003. "The Divinity of Hellenistic Rulers," in A. Erskine, ed. A Companion to the Hellenistic World, pp. 431-45. (e-reserve)
• R&S pp. 65-8
• Austin, The Hellenistic World, # 11, 32, 38, 66, 183, 204, 222 (= pp. 22-25, 59-60, 67-68, 126-27, 303-4, 333-34, 366-68). (e-reserve)
• Burstein, The Hellenistic Age, #7, 33, 73, 92-93 (= pp. 8-9, 43-45, 98-99, 117-19). (e-reserve)

Reading Questions

1. How could it make sense for the Greeks to worship human beings as gods, either before or after death?
2. What kind of gods were the Hellenistic kings (and benefactors), anyway?
3. Based on your readings, what were the benefits of ruler cult for the Hellenistic kings (and queens)?
4. What do you think were the benefits for the cities?

Friday, 4/13

Religion in the Hellenistic World: Isis & Serapis

Readings

• Austin, The Hellenistic World, #261 (= pp. 438-40). (e-reserve)
• Burstein, The Hellenistic Age, #102, 112 (= pp. 130-31, 146-48). (e-reserve)
• Apuleius, The Golden Ass bk. 11 (e-reserve).

Monday, 4/16

Religion in the Hellenistic World: Jews & Greeks

Readings

• Erich S. Gruen. 2003. "Jews and Greeks," in A. Erskine, ed. A Companion to the Hellenistic World, pp. 264-79. (e-reserve)
• 2 Maccabees 3-7 (RSV trans.) (link)
• Austin, The Hellenistic World, #166-68, 172, 262 (= pp. 274-80, 283-84, 440-42). (e-reserve)
• Burstein, The Hellenistic Age, #42-44 (= pp. 56-59). (e-reserve)

Suggested reading order: Austin #166-7, 2 Macc. 3-7, Austin #168, Burstein #42-44, Austin #172, 262.

Reading Questions

1. Based on today's readings, what differences in theology, practice, or role in social and political life do you see between ancient Judaism and the other forms of Greek religion we've studied so far? Do you see any similarities?
2. How do the treatment of the Jews by the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kings compare to the interaction of the kings with other cities and regions in the Hellenistic world?

Wednesday, 4/18

Religion in the Hellenistic world: Greeks & Jews

Readings

• Shaye J.D. Cohen. 1989. "Crossing the Boundary and Becoming a Jew." Harvard Theological Review 82: 13-33. (JSTOR)
• Helena, Queen of Adiabene, converts to Judaism: Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 20.17-53, 92-96, in Ross S. Kraemer, ed. 2004. Women's Religions in the Greco-Roman World, pp. 292-96. (handout)

Reading Questions

1. What does the Cohen article add to your understanding of the religious practice and everyday lives of Jews in the Greco-Roman world? Did anything you read surprise you?
2. In the story of the conversion of Helena and Izates of Adiabene, what's involved in converting to Judaism? What difficulties do potential converts face? What seems to be the attraction?
3. Based on these readings and what you know about Greek culture and religion(s), what do you think non-Jewish Greeks (and Romans) might have found appealing about Jews and Judaism? What might have disturbed them?

Final Paper Sample Due by 5PM (assignment)

Friday, 4/20

Parilia

CLASS CANCELLED. Everyone invited to prestigious undergraduate conference at Hamilton College!

Monday, 4/23

Greek Religion under Rome: Overview

Readings

• Susan E. Alcock. 1993. Graecia Capta, pp. 8-17 ("A Little History of Roman Greece"), 172-80, 200-14 ("The sacred landscape"). (e-reserve)
• Austin, The Hellenistic World, #157 (= pp. 261-62). (e-reserve)
• Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 177-8, 180-82 (App. #7, 15)
• Naphtali Lewis and Meyer Reinhold, ed. 1990. Roman Civilization, 3rd ed., I.80, 137, 147; II.16 (= pp. I.209-10, 373-75, 403-9; II.58-61) (e-reserve)

Reading Questions

1. What continuities do you see between Greek religion(s) in the Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods? What's different in the Roman period?
2. How do the religious actions of Roman governors and emperors in the Greek world compare with the treatment of Greek religion by the Hellenistic kings?

Wednesday, 4/25

Greek Religion under Rome: Ruler Cult II

Readings

• Alcock, Graecia Capta, pp. 180-99 ("Centralized Cults").
• Plutarch, Life of Flamininus 16.3-4 (Lacus Curtius)
• Lewis & Reinhold, I.207; II.3, 7, 162 (= I.620-25, 627; II.9, 24-26, 520-30)

Friday, 4/27

Greek Religion under Rome: Christians & Pagans

Readings

• Acts of the Apostles 8-28, in Bart D. Ehrman, ed. 2004. The New Testament and Other Early Christian Writings, pp. 153-76. (e-reserve)
• Justin Martyr, First Apology (excerpts), in Bart D. Ehrman, ed. 1999. After the New Testament, pp. 57-65. (e-reserve)

Reading Questions

1. What picture of Greek religion in the 1st-2nd cen. CE do you get from Acts and Justin Martyr? How accurate is this picture?
2. Based on these sources, how does early Christianity compare to the other forms of Greek religion we've studied so far? What important differences do you see? Do you see any similarities?
3. Based on these readings and what you know about Greek culture and religion(s), what do you think non-Jewish Greeks (and Romans) might have found appealing about Christianity? What might have disturbed them?

Monday, 4/30

Greek Religion under Rome: Change and Continuity

Readings

• Lucian, The Passing of Peregrinus (e-reserve)

Reading Questions

1. Compare the reflection of Greek religion in the story of Peregrinus to the religious systems of Classical Greece with which we began. What continuities do you see? What's new or different?
2. What picture of early Christianity do you get from Peregrinus? How does this compare to what you read in Acts and Justin Martyr?

Wednesday, 5/2

Final Project Due by 5PM (assignment)

Thursday, 5/10

FINAL EXAM

6-9PM, Tisch 301

Review sheet (click here to download Adobe Reader)

 

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