RELS 277 History of the End of the World

This course will survey ancient Mediterranean views about the catastrophic end of the world. We will study how ancient folks--Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Christians--interpreted disease, natural disasters (fires, floods, food shortage), political upheavals, and social unrest as signs of the end of the world.  We will study how they altered their behaviors to anticipate the near end.  And we will study their visions and fantasies of the utopian societies they hoped would emerge after the devastation. At the end of the course, students will conduct a staged research project on a topic of their choice.