CLST 014. First-Year Seminar: Mystery Religions and the Greek Philosophers

What do ancient mystery religions teach us about spiritual transformation and contact with the divine? What were the secret rites of these religions? How do their mythological themes have universal value? Why are the language and themes of mystery traditions so central to the philosophical thought of Parmenides, Empedocles, and Plato? This seminar will study texts associated with Orphism, Pythagoreanism, the Eleusinian and Dionysian mystery cults, Isis and Osiris, and Presocratic and Platonic philosophy. Readings may include The Homeric Hymn to Demeter; Euripides’ Bacchae; fragments of Parmenides and Empedocles; the Derveni Papyrus; Plato’s Phaedo, Symposium, and Phaedrus; and Apuleius’ Golden Ass. Topics discussed will include cosmology, mystical knowledge/ascent; philosophical method; allegorical interpretation; immortality of the soul; archetypal figures of mother/daughter and rebirth.
Humanities.
Writing course.
1 credit.
Catalog chapter: Classics
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics

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