Kathleen Cruz
Lecture/Discussion TR 9:00 -10:20AM TLC 03211
Gladiators fighting for their lives in a Roman arena. Mummies buried in elaborate tombs. Bodies frozen in place by a volcanic explosion. Some of the most common images of the ancient Mediterranean are of the dying or the dead. But what did the living people associated with those images think about death itself, and how did they encounter it in their own lives? What did they think death was, and did they believe in an afterlife? Was there a “good death” or only a bad one? How did they care for their dead, and how did they honor their memory? In what ways did they encounter the dead in the landscape around them in cemeteries (and even in the streets)?
In this course, we’ll explore the many ways in which the dead and dying played a significant role in various societies of the ancient Mediterranean, including those of Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. Along the way, we’ll examine how death was understood in philosophy and medicine, as well as the striking presence the dying and dead possessed in social life, art, and literature; we’ll also work to explore how these ideas compare and contrast with our own relationship with the dead. In closing, we’ll consider how modernity has treated the bodies of the ancient dead and incorporated them, often in unexpected ways, into the world in which we ourselves live.