CC 302
Lecture 19/20 Images
Lecture 20 Images
Updated 4/13/11
Lecture 20: MITHRAS AND ISIS; FROM THE PRINCIPATE TO THE DOMINATE
From Lecture 19: Another voice about conditions in Rome
Juvenal, Satire 3 (Course Packet 179-189)
I. Mithraism
A. historical development; Zarathustra, Ahura Mazda and Ahriman; dualismB. the myth of Mithras; December 25; Sol
C. Rome and the soldiers; 7 grades of initiation
D. cult; sacramentum, taurobolium ;"baptism"
E. shrines; symbolism: Cautes, Cautopates
F. the revisionist view; VFW rather than religion
G. strengths and weaknesses
II. A goddess for all seasons: Isis, the panthea
Osiris, Set; "Anubis" and the perils of Paulina; gentle companion to Cult of Roman emperor
III. The Dynasty from Africa: the Severi (A.D. 193-235):
A. Septimius Severus (A.D. 193-211)
B.Caracalla and his Edict on Citizenship (A.D. 212)
C.Elagabalus, Julia Domna, Julia Maesa
IV. The Age of the Soldier Emperors (a.k.a. Barracks Period): A.D. 235-284
a. everybody's turn: 26 emperors
b. separatist movements: Gaul; Queen Zenobia of Palmyra
c. more rigid class structure: honestiores, humiliores
V. Restabilization: Diocletian and the Dominate (A.D. 284-305); dominus, dominatrix
a. tetrarchy: 2 Augusti and 2 Caesars
b. streamlining of the empire; provinces and dioceses
c. economics by decree: the Edict on Maximum Prices (A.D. 301)
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