Death and Dying in Late Antiquity

Catalog description

Death, in antiquity as in the present era, sat at the intersection of a wide range of discourses. Medical doctors, for example, sought to avert it, jurists to mitigate its impact upon family relations and the flow of capital, philosophers and theologians to prescribe approaches to it, and bishops and other religious professionals to create rituals by which to assist the departed's transition into the afterlife and to channel the grief of her surviving loved ones. This seminar aims to locate death at the intersection of material and literary culture, liturgical practice and economic impact upon ancient Christian communities.