CLASS 4650 - [Hellenistic Religions]

(crosslisted)
(also ARKEO 4650, NES 4650)(HB) (CA-AS)

Spring. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

Recommended prerequisite: some background in Classics. Next offered 2015-2016.

C. Barrett.

The turbulent aftermath of Alexander the Great’s conquests reshaped the Mediterranean not only politically, but also socially and culturally. In the multi-ethnic empires of Alexander’s successors, and in cosmopolitan trading centers like Delos and Alexandria, Greek gods shared worshippers - and sometimes exchanged traits, names, and identities - with foreign divinities. However, change coexisted with continuity, and traditional civic cults also remained vital in cities such as Athens. The religious world of the Hellenistic Mediterranean was thus at once highly interconnected and regionally specific, encompassing cults both pan-Mediterranean and local.
This course will take an archaeological approach to the variety of religious practices across the Hellenistic world, investigating the ways in which religious developments both reflected and influenced other aspects of society: political, economic, and cultural. In addition to the primary emphasis on material culture, the course will also examine a range of primary sources (in translation) from the literary to the epigraphic.