Greek and Roman Religions (01:190:326) Spring Semester 2008 Rutgers University MW 8:45-10:05 PM, LOR-020 D/C Instructor Contact Information Prof. Matthew Fox, Dept. of Classics Email: matfox@rci.rutgers.edu Phone: please use email Office: Ruth Adams Building (RAB) 009, Douglass Office Hrs: 3-5 Mon, and Fri afternoon by appt. Course Description To study the religious traditions of ancient Greece and Rome is to study a great many facets of life and society in the ancient Mediterranean world. Religion penetrated daily life, education, politics, and law in ways that can seem foreign to modern American preconceptions. We ll explore the Greek and Roman gods, temples, sanctuaries, and festivals, rituals, initiation rites, prayers, purifications, mystery cults, skepticism and the great religious transformations of late antiquity (Christianity among them). The time spanned is from the Greek Bronze Age (late 2 nd millennium BC) to the later Roman Empire (4-5 th cent. AD). Students will read primary and secondary works, and lectures will include images and discussion of material culture (archaeological sites, artifacts, and artworks). Books: these four volumes are required for the course, and are available at the Rutgers University Bookstore. I ve deliberately chosen the smallest number of affordable books that will provide you with the greatest possible number of good ancient sources presented with quality scholarly discussion. RRS = Warrior, Valerie M. (2002). Roman Religion, A Sourcebook. (Focus Books, 1585100307) RAR = Dowden, Ken. (2001). Religion and the Romans. (Duckworth, ISBN: 1853991805) RAG = Price, Simon. (1999). Religions of the Ancient Greeks. (Cambridge, 0521388678) AMS = Meyer, Marvin (ed.). (1999). The Ancient Mysteries, A Sourcebook (Univ. Penn. Press, 081221692X) Other readings will be made available on the Sakai course website, some in PDF format, some of them from the internet. If you feel you need to print these out to read them, please try to do so from campus locations that allow you to print on both sides of the page in other words, be mindful of your paper (i.e. tree) consumption.
Sakai course website: log on at https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal using your RU ID username and password. You should find this course listed among your courses, with the name Grk & Roman Religion. Since many of the readings will be found there, you should get to know it sooner rather than later. Grading The final grade will be based on the following assignments and tests: Attendance and participation (25%): each class attendance will be taken by a brief, roughly 5-minute writing response to a specific question. I will ask the question at the beginning of class, which will be based on the readings assigned for that period. I will collect these at the end of the writing time and will base attendance on them. They will not be graded or returned (unless you ask for them at the end of the semester) and are designed to get you to think about the readings and to practice expressing your thoughts in written form. Midterm exam (20%): multiple choice, short answer, essay Paper (25%): topics, format, details TBA Final exam (30%): multiple choice, short answer, essay; cumulative but also synthetic (i.e. drawing connections among the different readings and topics). Grading equivalents: 59 or below = F; 60-69 = D; 70-75 = C; 76-79 = C+; 80-85 = B; 86-89 = B+; 90 or above = A Course Schedule with Readings You should complete and be ready to discuss all readings before the lecture for which they are listed. Week 1 (Jan 22-25) Lecture 1 (Wed. 1/23): Introduction: What is religion? What is Greek and Roman religion? Week 2 (Jan 28-Feb 1) Lecture 1 (Mon. 1/28): Deep Tradition: Neolithic and Bronze Age; Minoan and Mycenaean religion, ritual and sacrifice Readings RAG 1-10, RAR 1-11 On Sakai: Hesiod Theogony selection
Homer Iliad book 1 Rene Girard, Violence and the Sacred pp. 1-27 Burton Mack on Walter Burkert s theory of ritual and the hunt (pp. 22-32 in Violent Origins) Pay attention to: conflict & crisis among Achaeans, violence of succession myth, Prometheus and origins of sacrifice, the two theories of sacrifice and ritual Lecture 2 (Wed. 1/30): Gods of the family, house, and city; festivals and calendars Readings RAG 11-46, Appendix #1 (pp. 172-3) On Sakai: Hesiod Works and Days Athenian festival calendar (online, link in Resources) Week 3 (Feb 4-8) Lecture 1 (Mon. 2/4): temples, offerings, priesthoods RAG 47-66, Appendix #2-5, #8-10 (pp. 173-176, 178) Lecture 2 (Wed. 2/6): rites of passage, birth, coming of age, burial RAG 89-107, Appendix #13-14 (pp. 180) Week 4 (Feb 11-15) Lecture 1 (Mon. 2/11): NO CLASS (prior commitment) Lecture 2 (Wed. 2/13): Oracles, religion and interstate politics RAG 67-88, Appendix #11-12 (pp. 178-9) On Sakai: Simon Price Delphi and Divination (pp. 128-154) Week 5 (Feb 18-22) Lecture 1 (Mon. 2/18): Elective cults, the mysteries, Eleusis RAG 108-125 AMS 1-14 Lecture 2 (Wed. 2/20): Possibly NO CLASS (prior commitment) Week 6 (Feb 25-29) Lecture 1 (Mon. 2/25): Eleusis, Demeter & Kore, Andanian Mysteries AMS 15-59
Lecture 2 (Wed. 2/27): Dionysian mysteries, Orphics AMS 63-80, 93-109 On Sakai: Graf and Johnston (2007), Ritual Texts for the Afterlife (selections) Week 7 (Mar 3-7) Lecture 1 (Mon. 3/3): Philosophical criticism, atheism, moral revaluation RAG 126-42 Readings on Sakai: TBA Lecture 2 (Wed. 3/5): Hellenistic developments, Greece meets Rome AMS 113-54 RAG 143-58 Week 8 (Mar 10-14) Lecture 1 (Mon. 3/10): MIDTERM EXAM Lecture 2 (Wed. 3/12): Old Rome, Republican state and family religion RAR 12-30 RRS 1-35 SPRING RECESS: March 15-23 Week 9 (Mar 24-28) Lecture 1 (Mon. 3/24): Roman ritual, sacrifice, religion and just war RRS 37-81 Lecture 2 (Wed. 3/26): The threat of the foreign: the Dionysian conspiracy of 186 B.C. AMS 81-93 RRS 100-107 Week 10 (Mar 31-Apr 4) Lecture 1 (Mon. 3/31): Absorbing the foreign: Roman strategies of accommodation & assimilation RRS 83-97 Lecture 2 (Wed. 4/2): Augustan transformations, religion of empire, Isis RAR 45-64 RRS 108-113
Week 11 (Apr 7-11) Lecture 1 (Mon. 4/7): Magna Mater, Cybele, Isis & Osiris AMS 113-196 Lecture 2 (Wed. 4/9): Cult of Mithras; magic and astrology AMS 199-221 RRS 139-150 Week 12 (Apr 14-18) Lecture 1 (Mon. 4/14): the religious-political spectacle of ludi and munera RRS 115-125 Lecture 2 (Wed. 4/16): cult of divine emperor; Roman skepticism: Epicureans & Stoics RRS 127-38, 151-61 Week 13 (Apr 21-25) Lecture 1 (Mon. 4/21): Judaism, Christianity RRS 163-86 RAR 65-79 Lecture 2 (Wed. 4/23): Christian mysteries AMS 225-53 Week 14 (Apr 28-May 2) Lecture 1 (Mon. 4/28): persecutions and the Christian martyrs RAR 80-90 On Sakai: martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas Lecture 2 (Wed. 4/30): Christianity ascendant, the stigma of paganism RAG 158-71 Readings on Sakai MAY 8: EXAM PERIOD BEGINS