RLB272 The Goddess Magna Mater in the Greco-Roman World

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2010
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Aleš Chalupa, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Dušan Lužný, Dr.
Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Lucie Čelková
Timetable
Mon 13:20–14:55 B11
Prerequisites (in Czech)
Základní znalost dějin antického světa a antických náboženských tradic.
Vzhledem k téměř naprosté neexistenci odborné literatury na dané téma v českém jazyce je rovněž nutná znalost anglického jazyka.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course provides a comprehensive overview of various cults of the Great Mother in different cultural contexts, starting from their beginnings in Asia Minor up to their transmission in the Graeco-Roman world. It concentrates not only on the overview of most important iconographic, mythological or literary sources, but also pays attention to the role which the cult of the Great Mother played in ancient world and to the social structure of her devotees. The course does not avoid, too, the discussion about some methodological problems connected with the study of the Great Mother in antquity.
At the end of the course students will be able:
- to demonstrate the knowledge of the history of the cult of the Great Mother and its fundamental characteristic features
- to critically interpret the most important iconographic and literary sources
- to analyze the roots of many problems confounding the study of the cult of the Great Mother in the antiquity
Syllabus
  • 0. Introduction to the course ; 1. The cult of female deities in the upper paleolithic and neolithic age; 2. The cult of the Great Mother in Asia Minor; 3. The cult of the Great Mother in classical and hellenistic Greece; 4. The cult of the Great Mother in republican Rome; 5. Seminar I.; 6. Mysteries of the Great Mother; 7. The role of the cult of the Great Mother in antiquity; 8. Seminar II.; 9. The cult of the Great Mother in the Roman Empire and late antiquity; 10. Seminar III.; 11. Methodological problems connected withe the Study of the Great Mother in antiquity; 12. Final discussion.
Literature
  • ALVAR, Jaime. Romanising oriental gods : myth, salvation and ethics in the cults of Cybele, Isis and Mithras. Translated by Richard Gordon. Leiden: Brill, 2008, xx, 486. ISBN 9789004132931. info
  • BORGEAUD, Philippe. Mother of the gods : from Cybele to the Virgin Mary. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004, xix, 186. ISBN 080187985X. info
  • ROLLER, Lynn E. In search of god the mother : the cult of Anatolian Cybele. Berkeley: University of California, 1999, xx, 380. ISBN 9780520210240. info
  • MARTIN, Luther H. Helénistická náboženství. Překl. Iva Doležalová a Dalibor Papoušek. 1st ed. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 1997, xx, 161. Religionistika, sv. 4. ISBN 80-210-1702-3. info
  • TURCAN, Robert. The cults of the Roman Empire. Translated by Antonia Nevill. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996, xiii, 399. ISBN 0-631-20047-9. info
  • BURKERT, Walter. Ancient mystery cults. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1987, ix, 181 s. ISBN 0-674-03387-6. info
Teaching methods
Lectures and seminars. In time submission of position papers concerning chosen texts that will be interpreted and analysed at seminars is required.
Assessment methods
1) In time submission of three position papers concerning the seminary reading; 2) Submission of a semestral papers (approximately 20 000 characters, cca. 10 standard pages; the semestral paper must include full bibliography and footnotes); 3) Successful completion of colloquium (defence of the semestral paper and oral examination of the factual and analytical knowledge of fundamental features of the cult of the Great Mother).
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Zápis mimo religionistiku je podmíněn souhlasem vyučujícího.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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