Women, Men, Gods, Goddesses:

Religious Diversity and Conflict

in the Roman Empire

Gary Reger

Mentor: Alexandra Hoffmann

Meeting: MW 8.30-9.45 am in Seabury 23A

When you think of the religion of the Roman empire you probably think about Jupiter or Zeus and the traditional gods of the mythology you may have studied in high school. But the historical Roman empire was a fervent kettle of religious diversity – traditional "pagans", cults of the emperors, Jews of many varieties, Christians, and even more exotic beliefs like Manichaeism, Mandaeism, and Zoroastrianism. Religious practices ranged from worship in ways any contemporary would recognize through animal sacrifice, divination, and magical ceremonies to asceticism. Contrary to many preconceptions about the Roman world, women often played central and powerful roles in religious practice, and sometimes even offered spiritual leadership. Through reading of a wide variety of primary sources, including the Bible, ancient treatises, and newly discovered letters and documents, we will explore some of the extraordinary variety of religious experience in the Roman empire between about 100 and 500 CE.

Books and Reading Available in the

Trinity College Bookstore

Assignments

1. Summer reading. Simon Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). Due: September 1.

2. Reference resources activity (September 6). See further below. Due: September 11.

3. Reading. Everyone is expected to have done all the assigned reading before class.

4. Participation in discussion. Everyone is expected to make substantive contributions to our discussions in every class.

5. Participation in a debate. On October 11 we will have two debates, one on the relationship between the communities of Qumran in Israel and the Dead Sea Scrolls; the other on the role of women in the cult of Isis. Students will be divided into two groups, one for each debate. Using assigned readings and additional research, they will choose sides on the issue, present the evidence and arguments, and debate the issue.

6. Short papers. Two short (3-4 pp) papers on the reading and discussion will be due over the course of the semester. Papers should be read in draft by Alex, revised, and turned in to me with the draft. More details will be presented in class. Papers will be due on Mondays. Specific assignments for each student will be made early in the semester.

7. Research paper. A research paper of 12-15 pp on a topic selected by each student in consultation with Alex and me will be due at the end of the semester. The paper will be developed on the following schedule: (1) Meet with Alex the week of October 9 to talk about possible topics; (2) Meet with me the week of October 16 to finalize your topic; (3) Turn in thesis statement and bibliography to Alex on November 1; (4) Statement and bibliography returned with comments by November 8; (5) Draft of paper to Alex by November 20; (6) Paper returned by Alex after Thanksgiving break; (7) Oral presentation of paper on December 11; (8) Final version of paper due by December 13.

Course Schedule

NB: M = Monday; W = Wednesday; F = Friday; R = on reserve in the Library; BB = Black Board

September 1 (F), 10.15-1.00: First meeting. We will discuss the summer reading -- Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks -- and look ahead to the rest of the semester. Students will sign up for advising meetings with me in the afternoon in Seabury 405.

September 6 (W): I will be out of town at a conference. Please meet in the regular classroom  with the Alexandra Hoffmann. Alex will go over a chronology and geography exercise and then lead you in the activity detailed below:

    Activity: Alexandra will take you to the Library and show you how to use several important reference works for the ancient Mediterranean world, including: The Oxford Classical Dictionary, third edition (Reference: DE5 O9 2003), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Reference: DF521 O93), the Anchor Bible Dictionary (Reference: BS440 A54 1992), L'Annee philologique (Reference: Z7016 M35A), and the Encyclopedia of Islam (Reference: DS37 E523). She will hand out assignments afterwards which will require you to look things up in these reference works. Instructions appear on the assignment sheets. These assignments are due in printed form on September 11!

September 11-13 (M-W) -- What Is a Literary Genre? Some Genres in Greek and Latin Literature

    Reading: Suetonius, Life of Vespasian (biography) (M); Xenophon of Ephesos (fiction), in Anthology of Ancient Greek Popular Literature, pp. 3-49 (M and W); Herodian, Book I (history) (W) (BB)

September 18-20 (M-W) -- The Social World of the Roman Empire

    Reading: Peter Garnsey and Richard Saller, The Roman Empire, pp. 1-40, 107-159, 178-195 (M); Apuleius, The Golden Ass (W)

September 25-27 (M-W) -- Two Pagan Cults: Examples of Varieties of Worship

    Reading: Inscriptions about emperor worship (BB); Aelius Aristides on Asklepios (BB)

October 2-4 (M-W) -- Judaism in and out of the Roman Empire

    Reading: 1 Maccabees (Study Bible, pp. 1645-1690) (M);  Josephus, The Jewish War 2.119-166 (BB) (W)

October 9 (M): No class -- Trinity Days

October 11 (W) -- Two Debates

    Debate 1: Did the Qumran Community Write the Dead Sea Scrolls?

        Reading: Jodi Magness, The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), pp. 1-46, 118-209 (R); Yizhar Hirschfeld, Qumran in Context. Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence (Peabody. Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004), pp. 29-48, 211-241 (R).

    Debate 2: How Female-Centric Was the Greco-Roman Cult of Isis?

        Reading: Plutarch, "On Isis and Osiris," Moralia 351C-384C (BB); Ross Shepard Kraemer, Her Share of the Blessings (New York-Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 71-79 (chapter 6); J. Gwyn Griffiths, "Xenophon of Ephesus on Isis and Alexandria," in Hommages a Maarten J. Vermaseren, eds. Margreet B. de Boer and T. A. Edridge (Leiden: Brill, 1978) 1, pp. 409-439 (BB)

October 16-18 (M-W) -- Two Gospels

    Reading: Mark (Study Bible, pp. 1915-1952) (M); Gospel of Thomas (Ehrman, Lost Scriptures, pp. 19-28) (W)

October 23-25 (M-W) -- The Problem of Women in Early Christianity

    Readings: 1 Timothy (Study Bible, pp. 2229-2237) (M); Acts of Paul and Thecla (Ehrman, Lost Scriptures, pp. 109-121; also in Anthology of Ancient Greek Popular  Literature, pp. 50-63) (W)

October 30-November 1 (M-W) -- Asceticism

    Reading: Philo, On the Contemplative Life (M) BB); Life of Simeon the Stylite (W) (BB)

November 6-8 (M-W) --  Magic

    Reading: Acts of Peter (M) (Ehrman, Lost Scriptures, pp. 135-153); selections from the Greek Magical Papyri (W) (BB)

November 13-15 (M-W) -- The Religion of Mani

    Reading: Manichaean Texts, pp. 1-45 (editors' introduction), 46-108 (the Cologne Mani Codex and supplementary sources), 176-230 (chapter on "Teachings") (M); Documents from Kellis and background materials (W) (BB)

November 20 (M) -- Hermes Trismegistos

    Reading: Poimandres and other texts (M) (BB)

November 22 (W): No class -- Thanksgiving Vacation

November 27-29 (M-W) -- The New Prophecy

    Reading: The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas (M) (BB); additional reading TBA (W)

December 4-6 (M-W) -- Apocalypse Now

    Reading: War Scroll (BB); Apocalypse of John (Study Bible, pp. 2307-2337) (M); Apocalypse of Peter (Ehrman, Lost Scriptures, pp. 280-287) (W)

December 11 (M) -- Paper Presentations (app. 5 minutes each)

Final Paper Due: December 13