Module CLAS41130: Religious Life in the Roman Near East

Department: Classics and Ancient History

CLAS41130: Religious Life in the Roman Near East

Prerequisites

• Some knowledge of the history of the Roman Empire is preferred, such as a Durham student might have acquired in the modules 'Emperors and Dynasties', 'The Hellenistic World', 'Roman Religion' or 'Roman Syria'.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• In accordance with the general aims of the MA in Classics, to promote self-motivated and self-directed research in Roman imperial history, with a specific focus on social and religious life in the Near East, for students who have received appropriate grounding in their undergraduate studies.

Content

• This module aims to study various aspects of pagan religious life in the Near East (Syria and surrounding countries) in the Late-Hellenistic and Roman Period, through analysis of a variety of source material, such as inscriptions, sculptures, archaeological remains, coinage, as well as literary sources (notably Lucian’s On the Syrian Goddess and Philo of Byblos’ Phoenician History). The module will explore the differences between patterns of worship at places such as Palmyra, Dura-Europos, Hatra, the cities on the Phoenician coast, Baalbek, Hierapolis, the Decapolis cities, and the Nabataean world. Themes to be discussed in individual weeks may include the Levant between Greek culture and Roman power; the impact on religious life by the Roman army; Roman provincial coinage & civic façades of religious life; the religious topography of the different cities; cults in a colonial setting: indigenous and Greek gods in Roman dress or imperial imports?; religious life in the hinterland of individual cities; ‘Parthian art’ versus Hellenism; the role of local royal houses in religious life. The guiding question throughout the module will be to what degree a common religious culture for the Classical Levant can be recognized.

Learning Outcomes

• This module explores to what degree the religious cultures of the various places and regions within the Roman Levant were different from each other, and whether a common Near Eastern religion can be recognized. By the end of this module, students should have acquired a close familiarity with the wide range of relevant source materials, and be able to understand and appreciate the particularities of the various patterns of worship in the Roman Near East.

• Students should develop the analytical skills to deal with multifarious ancient sources, such as epigraphic, sculptural, numismatic and archaeological material, in addition to literary texts. They will also be expected to build on their ability to approach ancient polytheism and to handle sometimes obscure historical documents.

• This module requires well-developed analytical and imaginative skills, and also the ability to produce good written presentations. Students will be expected to improve their hermeneutical and exegetical skills, and these should be applicable to any field with a variety of interdisciplinary source materials.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching will be by fortnightly seminar, centred around student presentations on the topic for the week, and studying in detail a specific set of questions and relevant source materials. This method will contribute to the development of skills related to the articulation of arguments, and it will ensure, through independent research and group discussion, that opportunity is provided for enhancing anyalytical, hermeneutical and imaginative skills. Students will be expected to reflect critically on each other's contributions, to construct their own views of Near Eastern religion in the Roman period, and to discuss these views in a sophisticated manner. The seminars are every two weeks and are two hours long, to allow serious independent research and subsequent significant presentation and discussion.
• Students will be encouraged to attend undergraduate lectures in appropriate subjects where available and an appropriate source of relevant material, in our own Department as well as in Archaeology and/or Theology & Religion.
• Formative assessment will normally be based on a commentary and an essay. Students will also give a short presentation during one of the seminars. Summative assessment will be by one 5,000 word essay, to be submitted at the end of the year. This will help to promote a proficiency in producing clearly written, sophisticated and original interpretations of the relevant source materials. It will also enable students to work within the parameters of proper academic conventions, and in general contributes to research carried out at the appropriate level.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Two formative exercises, normally one commentary and one essay.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University