Richard Flynn :: no comment

Euripides’ Hippolytus and Seneca’s Phaedra

Friday 11 January 2008 #

What has changed between Euripides’ Hippolytus and Seneca’s Phaedra? How different is the dramatic technique of the poets? And what strikes you as distinctive in their thematic preoccupations?

Paper:

Ancient & French Classical Tragedy

Due:

20 March 2008 Complete!

Christianity, diffusion and opposition

Sunday 10 June 2007 #

1. Trace and explain the main causes of the rise of Christianity between the Pauline period and the conversion of Constantine. Why did people become Christians?
2. What did Graeco-Roman polytheists make of the new sect? How soon was it distinguished from Judaism?
3. Why were Christians persecuted? Did the Church Fathers exaggerate the extent and frequency of persecutions? Was Christianity incompatible with e.g. loyalty to the emperor, or with military service?
4. Why did some Christians persecute others? How did belief turn into heresy?

Paper:

Religions of the Greek & Roman World

Due:

12 June 2007 Complete!

Early Christianity

Sunday 10 June 2007 #

1. Was there an early 'Christianity', or where there early 'Christianities'? What other Gospel traditions existed early on beside the Synoptic Gospels? What distinguished these Gospels from the 'Synoptic' ones?
2. How different was 'early Christianity' from contemporary Judaism? Would it be right to call 'early Christianity' an offshoot or a dialect of Judaism?
3. How was Christianity organized? What were the consequencs of Christianization on existing family and social structures in the eastern Mediterranean? Did Christians stand out in the period of the Acts, or were they inconspicuous?

Paper:

Religions of the Greek & Roman World

Due:

5 June 2007 Complete!

Rome and the Jews

Friday 25 May 2007 #

1. Outline briefly the main Romano-Jewish relations under the empire. How did Romans and Jews view each other?
2. How valid is a distinction between 'Romans' and 'Jews'?
3. How far were Jews integrated into the Roman empire? What were the sticking points? Were they social, political, or religious?
4. How successful were Jewish apologists in this period?

Paper:

Religions of the Greek & Roman World

Due:

29 May 2007 Complete!

Mithraism

Friday 18 May 2007 #

1. What were the origins of Mithraism? Explain its tenets. Why were Mithraea located where they were? Can we explain the iconography of the cult?
2. What did Mithraism offer worshippers? How quickly did it become popular; were there problems?
3. Should we classify Mithraism as an oriental or a military cult? Or neither?

Paper:

Religions of the Greek & Roman World

Due:

22 May 2007 Complete!

Isis and Sarapis

Wednesday 2 May 2007 #

1. What are the salient features of the cult of Isis? And of Sarapis?Why were they associated?
2. Why was Isis popular in Rome and Italy? Were there any problems of integration?
3. Why do the Metamorphoses of Apuleius turn into a work of Isaian devotion? How genuine is it? What can we learn from the work about Isis?
4. Did the worship of Isis introduce a new dimension to Roman religion?
5. Why did some people in the Roman world decide to dedicate themselves to the worship of Isis? Was this 'elective' worship exclusive of other forms of cult?

Paper:

Religions of the Greek & Roman World

Due:

8 May 2007 Complete!

Ruler Cult, with special reference to Augustus

Wednesday 25 April 2007 #

1. To what extent was it a government-organized affair? Consider issues like the regular use of formulae of refusal, offically sponsored calendars, prohibition on the cult of governors, etc.
2. Is it hopeless for us to try to understand the feelings involved?
3. What difference did it make that the emperor was also pontifex maximus?

Paper:

Religions of the Greek & Roman World

Due:

1 May 2007 Complete!

Women’s Religion

Friday 20 April 2007 #

1. Can we—should we—try to write a special history of women's religion? Is it true to say that there were more rituals of transition (rites de passage) for women than for men? How might religion have framed sexual politics in the Roman Empire?
2. What sorts of deities did women worship, how, and why? Distinguish between the public and private spheres. What aspects of religion or cult life were largely or exclusively female?
3. What was the attraction of the cult of Isis (and other initiatory cults) for women?
4. What rôles did women play in Christianity, and in Christianization? Was their Christian rôle to do with more than renunciation of the pleasures of the flesh?

Paper:

Religions of the Greek & Roman World

Due:

24 April 2007 Complete!

Myths and Hierarchies

Wednesday 7 March 2007 #

1. What did the Greeks and Romans think they were doing when they told stories about the gods, and put them into hierarchies?
2. If there is a function to these myths, why are they all so different?
3. Where do myths come from? Who starts them? Who tells them? Does it matter?
4. Did myths evolve? Or were they static over time?

Paper:

Religions of the Greek & Roman World

Due:

9 March 2007 Complete!

Short Courtly Narratives

Monday 5 March 2007 #

“To what extent can we describe medieval French courtly narratives as realistic?”

Paper:

Medieval French

Due:

7 March 2007 Complete!

Ovid’s Fasti and the Roman Calendar

Tuesday 27 February 2007 #

1. Trace briefly the origin and development of the Roman Calendar up to the Augustan period.
2. How do Ovid’s Fasti, especially that for April, compare with the ‘religious’ calendar? How can the differences be explained?
3. Do Ovid's Fasti tell us more about Augustan poetics or about Augustan religious ideology? Why do you think the Fasti were written?
4. Can we argue that the Fasti deserve respect as a serious source for Augustan religion?

Paper:

Religions of the Greek & Roman World

Due:

2 March 2007 Complete!

Joinville, La Vie de Saint Louis

Monday 19 February 2007 #

Based on Zink’s definitions of ‘autobiograpy’ and ‘mémoire’, what do you think Joinville’s book is?

Paper:

Medieval French

Due:

21 February 2007 Complete!

The Nature of Polytheism

Sunday 11 February 2007 #

1. What is a god? What distinguished a god from a non-god? How would an inhabitant of the Roman Empire recognize a god if he met one? (Briefly) Was the Emperor a god or not?
2. Were there categories between those of human and divine? Were the distinctions clear-cut?
3. What were the gods like? What did they do? How many of them were there? What is syncretism, why is it important?

Paper:

Religions of the Greek & Roman World

Due:

16 February 2007 Complete!

Varro, Agriculture, Linguistics, and Rome

Saturday 3 February 2007 #

“Find out more about Varro's life and literary output and consider what is at issue in the narrative frame for De Re Rustica I, its setting, its preoccupation with etymology as well as agriculture.”

Paper:

Latin Core

Due:

9 February 2007 Complete!

La Vie de Saint Alexis

Saturday 3 February 2007 #

“We cannot consider the Vie de Saint Alexis to be literally true.” How justified is this statement?

Paper:

Medieval French

Due:

7 February 2007 Complete!

Propertius IV

Saturday 20 January 2007 #

“What is the significance of the parade of Roman women presented in Book IV of the Elegies? How do they relate to the other female types seen in the texts you have read? And how important is it to consider the Augustan context of Propertius’ work?”

Paper:

Latin Core

Due:

26 January 2007 Complete!

The Tristan Legends

Saturday 20 January 2007 #

“To describe the Tristan story as ‘courtly’ would be to invoke a contradiction in terms.” Discuss.

Paper:

Medieval French

Due:

24 January 2007 Complete!

Propertius IV

Tuesday 16 January 2007 #

Why does Propertius dub himself the Roman Callimachus and what are the uses of Callimacheanism in Book IV of the Elegies? How contradictory is the relationship between Callimachean impulses in IV.1A and IV.1B?

Paper:

Latin Core

Due:

19 January 2007 Complete!