The Pagan World
Ancient Religions Before Christianity
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The Pagan World
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Narrated by:
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Hans-Friedrich Mueller
About this listen
In The Pagan World: Ancient Religions Before Christianity, you will meet the fascinating, ancient polytheistic peoples of the Mediterranean and beyond, their many gods and goddesses, and their public and private worship practices, as you come to appreciate the foundational role religion played in their lives. Professor Hans-Friedrich Mueller, of Union College in Schenectady, New York, makes this ancient world come alive in 24 lectures with captivating stories of intrigue, artifacts, illustrations, and detailed descriptions from primary sources of intriguing personalities.
In the ancient Mediterranean area, religion was not separate from daily life. To the contrary, religion was daily life. The many dozen gods of this ancient world were everywhere, with spirits inhabiting every crack and crevice of life. These polytheists believed they had a strict contract with their deities: If they took care of their gods, their gods would take care of them (or at least not harm them). Consequently, they built extraordinary temples to honor their deities, brought food and wine to them, sacrificed animals for them, and held sacred meals with their gods. In fact, they followed numerous rules and regulations that circumscribed almost all aspects of life both inside and outside the home - anything and everything to keep the gods happy. Consequently, the religious practices of the ancient Mediterranean make a wonderful lens through which to develop a deeper understanding of their world.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Nathan J
- 21-04-23
Wonderful and very entertaining
The presenter has a unique style, I have listened to many Great Courses but this is outright the most entertaining one to date. I would love to go for a pint of three with Hans, such an engaging presentation of the material it was like a well informed friend sharing a passion with humour and true erudition.
Unusually I haven't looked at the supplementary material yet, just listened as pure entertainment, it has genuine laugh out loud moments. He may be marmite, but I found his humour really infectious "its complicated" being a great summary of so much stuff. I will undoubtedly replay this, if only to hear the ire in his voice whenever mentioning the British Museum.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Brian Howard
- 07-02-21
interesting and cute
I'ts not a indepth delve into pagan religion in antiquity but it is a charming one. I enjoyed listening.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Kindle Customer
- 26-05-20
Educational and entertaining.
I thoroughly enjoyed this course. The material was really interesting and the presentation was great.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Ash Palmer
- 27-10-23
Profound Overview of Pre-Christian Myth & Ritual
A fascinating and entertaining lecture series spanning the most important aspects and evolution of pre-Christian thought, mythology, and religious practices from ancient Mesopotamia, ancient India, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and ancient Rome, culminating in the fall of the Roman Empire after the rise of subversive resurrection deity cults, most prominently the outlaw occultism of the Dionysus and Jesus cults.
RE: "WHAT ABOUT THE VIKINGS?"
I've seen many reviews complaining about the lack of Germanic mythology discussed here. This is because the series covers source material from ancient religions BEFORE Christianity. The source material for Germanic paganism containing popular composite gods such as Odin and Thor, were written over 1000 YEARS AFTER Christianity by Christians. A lecture series on post-Christian paganism would be interesting though, tracing the path from 13th century Icelandic Christian mysticism, to modern Ásatrú's blend of New Age Occultism, Theosophy, Ariosophy, Thelema, Satanism, the Lord of the Rings, and Vikings TV show.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Dawn Nair-Bartlett
- 16-01-21
Eye-opener on History
History made extremely interesting to listen to. The Lecturer brought into focus hidden facts about Roman politics, paganism and Christianity and how they are still evident in todays 'modern' society.
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- KC
- 18-01-23
Very interesting
The lecturer's style takes a bit of getting used to, however the lectures are interesting and full of information.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Simonmmm
- 18-01-21
WARNING! NOT a history of the pagan world
This is a great lecture, well written, and well narrated, however the title is misleading. It is not the pagan world, but ONLY MEDITERRANEAN PAGANISM explored, and primarily pre-christian pagans of Rome, not even the wider empire.
No local deities, no lesser known gods, no exploration of pan or other pre-greco-roman religions.
Nevertheless, I especially liked the attitude of the lecturer, he was honest about his biases and reminded you what were opinions, and gave the sources for facts. (Other great courses lecturers can't help pushing their own agendas.)
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11 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-05-21
very Interesting
Great listening, and narration. I learnt a lot
and would recommend this book. 5 stars.
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- Saralexis
- 03-04-23
Enjoyable
The course is mainly focussed on Ancient Greece and Rome, so if you’ve heard Great Courses lectures about those then a lot of it will be familiar- but it is interesting to approach it from the point of view of religion rather than politics.
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- bumf
- 27-11-22
Really interesting
Loved the overview of lots of different traditions and the more detailed delve into religious practices than just the mythology.
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