The Pagan World: Ancient Religions Before Christianity

The Pagan World - Ancient Religion before Christianity (The Great Courses)

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I liked this lecture series, but I found it something of a slog until Professor Mueller got to the sections on Caesar.

This course is a dive into the religious praxis of a broad swathe of history and territory. Mueller covers Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, Greece and Rome. The focus is on the nitty-gritty of religious practices - auspices, sacrifices, temples, etc. Some of this is technical, which creates the “slog” aspect of the course.

On the other hand, the course redeemed itself for me in the section on Rome. After a discussion of priesthoods, auspices and auguries, we turn to Julius Caesar whose success involved harnessing his position as pontifex maxima to his political ambitions by deifying himself. This religious revolution brought stability to Rome for a long period of its subsequent history. Eventually, this paradigm was replaced by another religious revolution on the part of Constantine in the adoption of Christianity.

I enjoyed Professor Mueller's deliberate, baritone delivery. It was clear and understandable. I also enjoyed his corny jokes as both a relief from tedium and a way of remembering various points of the lecture.