Pagan and Christian Martyrs

Catalog description

Under the Roman Empire, martyrdom — dying for one's beliefs — took many different forms among different groups. Some martyrs were members of the imperial power structure, while others were individually unimportant subjects. Nevertheless, all of their deaths had political, philosophical, religious, and personal meanings. Many of them came to be celebrated in some of the world's most compelling literature. In this course we will read and discuss a number of shorter and a few longer examples of martyr literature in Latin and in English translation from the 1st century BCE to the 6th century CE and compare them to one or more modern examples of martyr literature. Evaluation will be based primarily on daily, in-class contribution to translation and discussion. There will also be a mid-term examination and a choice between a final examination or a ten-to-fifteen page paper.