Welcome to Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World!

[For Phil’s other websites or courses, please navigate using the main menu at the top.]

*In Progress* (so far over 240 posts)

The purpose of this website is to collect, organize, and make public resources for the reconstruction of ethnic relations and ethnographic culture in the ancient Mediterranean and near eastern worlds. Please use the accordion-style arrows and categories in the right sidebar to navigate the site.

“Ethnographic culture,” as we intend it, moves beyond the idea of “ethnography” (literally “representing peoples” or “writing about peoples”) as a Greek and Roman literary genre describing non-Greek and non-Roman peoples (“barbarians”). Instead, ethnographic culture refers to the ways in which the imagination, classification, and description of “other peoples” actively played out in large-scale and small-scale ways across societies – especially in conquest and colonization, but also in local social interactions, and in connection with diasporic communities of immigrants. Judeans (Jews) and Jesus adherents (Christians) were very much a part of this larger sphere of ethnic encounters, so they have a place here too (see especially categories 1 and 5).

This website then combines literary, epigraphic, and visual data in order to aid students and researchers in a fuller understanding of ethnographic culture. It also facilitates the reconstruction of minoritized ethnic groups spread across time  (from the fifth century BCE to the sixth century CE) and geography (across the Mediterranean and near east).

There are times when the organization of material mimics or uses terms from the ancient material. This is not to naturalize those categories or terms, but rather to more clearly demonstrate the categories with which ancient writers were working.

Highlighted contributors: > Daniel Mitchell > Maia Kotrosits > James Adam Redfield (coming soon)

Who did it?: This website reflects the ongoing work of Maia Kotrosits and Phil Harland (along with voluntary scholarly contributors) supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) under the rubric of “Ethnicity, Diaspora, and Ethnographic Culture in the Greco-Roman World.” Many thanks to the Research Assistants from York University who have helped with inputting or checking translations: Amy House, Victoria Muccilli, Daniel Mitchell, and Rosalie Reis.

Who are those guys shaking hands at the top?: Aglibol and Malakbel. The monument is from Rome and is a dedication to the Palmyrene gods Aglibol (Moon) and Malakbel (Sun) by Iahari son of Haliphi from Palmyra in Syria (IGUR I 119-120; 236 CE). The inscription is bilingual, in both Greek and Palmyrene. That is not a giant asparagus in the middle. (Currently in the basement of the Capitoline museum in Rome; photo by Harland).

What about the people traveling in the wagon? This is a depiction of a family of northern peoples (Sarmatians or Dacians) pictured as nomads by the creators of “Trajan’s trophy” (link to discussion; photo by Cristian Chirita, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0).

Indians: Ktesias on “Indian Matters” via Photios, Pliny the Elder, and Aelian (early fourth century BCE)

Indians, Ethiopians and others: Pliny the Elder on “unbelievable” peoples (first century CE)

Assyrians, Medes and Persians: Ktesias on “Persian Matters” via Diodoros and Photios (early fourth century BCE)

Scythians and Ethiopians: Agatharchides and Diodoros theorize about the effects of climate (second-first centuries CE)

Ethiopians: Agatharchides and Diodoros on lifestyles and diets in the extreme south (second-first centuries BCE)

Thracians, Getians, Paionians, and others: Herodotos (mid-fifth century BCE)

Judean diasporas: Differing perspectives on violent clashes between Judeans and Greeks in Libya and Egypt under Trajan, ca. 115-117 CE (second-fourth centuries CE)

Babylonian diasporas: Josephos and others on legends of migration from Babel (first-second centuries CE)

Judean diasporas: Josephos on conflicts in Babylonia, ca. 40-66 CE (late first century CE)

Ichthyophagians: Nearchos and Agatharchides on “Fish-eaters” around the Arabian Sea (fourth-first centuries BCE)

Baktrians, Sogdianians, and some “completely barbarous” eastern peoples: Strabo (early first century CE)

Parthians: Strabo on Scythian origins and military success (early first century CE)

Parthians: Trogus on the origins and developments of an empire (first century BCE)

Daans, Kadousians, Hyrkanians, and Sakians: Strabo on peoples east of the Caspian Sea (first century CE)

Itureans among Arabians: Strabo and Josephos on a supposed bandit-people (first century CE)

Germans and Sarmatians: Josephos on impulsive and violent northerners (late first century CE)

Idumeans: Josephos on the Edomites’ origins and relations with Judeans (late first century CE)

Idumean diasporas: Inscriptions and papyri (second century BCE-third century CE)

Judean diasporas: Josephos on tensions with Greeks in Syria, the Decapolis, and Alexandria ca. 59-66 CE (late first century CE)

Indian wisdom: Josephos integrates Indians into Eleazar’s Masada speech (late first century CE)

Kimmerians and Kolchians: Herodotos (mid-fifth century BCE)

Samaritans: Josephos on Chuthean origins and relations with Judeans over centuries (late first century CE)

Indian wisdom: Naked philosophers and wise diviners in the Alexander Romance (fourth century CE and earlier)

Egyptian wisdom: King Nektanebos the astrologer and diviner in the Alexander Romance (fourth century CE and earlier)

Babylonian and Persian wisdom: Kleitarchos on Chaldeans and Magians (late fourth-third centuries BCE)

Greeks and barbarians: Eratosthenes challenges the dichotomy (third century BCE)

Egyptians: Achilles Tatius and Dio Cassius on cannibalistic cowherds (second-third century CE)

Greeks and barbarians: Dionysios theorizes the blurry lines (late first century BCE)

Iberians, Albanians and others of the Caucasus area: Strabo (early first century CE)

Babylonians and Assyrians: Herodotos on legendary queens and outstanding customs (mid-fifth century BCE)

Judean diasporas: Philo on conflicts with Greeks at Alexandria and on rebellious Egyptians (mid-first century CE)

Saracens: Pseudo-Nilus on barbarian bandits in the Sinai desert (early fifth century CE)

Romans: Dionysios on legends of Greek and Pelasgian migrations to Italy (late first century BCE)

Gauls: Cicero and the link between imperial conquest and negative stereotypes (mid-first century BCE)

Maiotians, Bosporians, Kaukasians, and other Pontic peoples: Strabo on northern Asia (early first century CE)

Sicilians and other Greeks: Cicero’s praise for Sicilians in the prosecution of Verres (mid-first century BCE)

Phoenicians and Sardinians: Cicero’s ethnic invective in defending Marcus Scaurus (mid-first century BCE)

Celts / Gauls: Cicero’s ethnic invective in defending Fonteius (mid-first century BCE)

Scythians: Aischines’ ethnic invective against Demosthenes (mid-fourth century BCE)

Judean diasporas: Josephos’ citation of documents on Asia Minor and Libya under Julius Caesar and Augustus (late first century CE)

Egyptian and Ethiopian diasporas: Diodoros on competing legends of migration and colonization (mid-first century BCE)

Judeans, “Asiatics”, and Greeks: Cicero’s ethnic invective aimed at eastern witnesses against Flaccus (mid-first century BCE)

Judeans: Trogus on contributions of Joseph and Moses and on the exodus (first century BCE)

Indians: Herodotos on eastern peoples at the ends of the earth (mid-fifth century BCE)

Greeks, Barbarians, Judeans, and Christians: Eusebios’ framing of a way of life (early fourth century CE)

Egyptians: Dio Cassius’ speech by Octavian on the “effeminate” Antony (early third century CE)

Celts: Dio Cassius on spirited and untrustworthy Galatians (early third century CE)

Judeans: Dio Cassius and Roman elite attitudes (early third century CE)

Judeans and others: The Gospel of Philip (before the fourth century CE)

Persian, Indian, and Judean wisdom: Klearchos of Soloi on Magian precedence (fourth century BCE)

Judeans: Kleomedes denigrates Epicurus and Judeans (second century CE)

Judeans: Ignatius on “Judaizing” and “Christianizing” (early second century CE)

Judeans and Celts: Various authors on Claudius’ actions against foreigners in the 40s CE (second / third centuries CE

Ethiopians: Herodotos on southern peoples at the ends of the earth (mid-fifth century BCE)

Mediterranean peoples: Artemidoros theorizes foreign elements in dreams (second century CE)

Barbarian wisdom: The Thunder, Perfect Mind (before the fourth century CE)

Syrian perspectives: Lucian self-identifies as “barbarian” and “Assyrian” (mid-second century CE)

Libyan perspectives: Cornelius Fronto self-identifies as a “barbarian” and Libyan nomad (mid-second century CE)

Numidian perspectives: Apuleius self-identifies as a “barbarian” and Numidian / Gaetulian (mid-second century CE)

Persians, Spartans, and Athenians: Platonic author on the superiority of the Persians (fourth century BCE)

Indian wisdom: Apuleius on the amazing naked philosophers and Pythagoras’ journeys (mid-second century CE)

Indian wisdom: Apuleius on the amazing naked philosophers and Pythagoras’ journeys (mid-second century CE)

Judeans, Syrians, Celts, Scythians and others: Plutarch on the “barbarian” origins of fearing the gods, or “superstition” (early second century CE)

Judeans, Syrians, and Egyptians: Epiktetos engages with ethnographic discourses for philosophical aims (mid-first century CE)

Judeans, Egyptians, and Magians: Various authors on Tiberius’ actions against foreign practices 17-19 CE (first-third centuries CE)

Judeans, Egyptians, and others: Seneca on the “superstitions” of foreigners (mid-first century CE)

Judeans, Africans, and Germans: Columella on the limits of environmental theory (first century CE)

Judeans: Valerius Maximus on the 139 BCE expulsion with “Chaldeans” (early first century CE)

Idumeans and Judeans: Ptolemy the historian on the difference (late first century BCE)

Judeans and Thracians: Hermippos of Smyrna on their influence on Pythagoras (early second century BCE)

Judean wisdom: Josephos on philosophical sects among Judeans (late-first century CE)

Greeks and Judeans: “Hellenizing” and “Judaizing” in 2 Maccabees (first century BCE)

Persians and Medes: Thucydides on “Medizing” (late-fifth century BCE)

Lydians: Herodotos on king Croesus and Lydian customs (mid-fifth century BCE)

Gauls and Germans: Scenes from the Triumphal Arch of Orange (late first century BCE)

Greeks and other peoples: Paul’s Judean stereotypes about non-Judeans (mid-first century CE)

Samaritans and Judeans: Belonging to Israel in the Gospels (first century CE)

Christians, Judeans, and Greeks: Christians as a descent group in the Epistle to Diognetos (second or third century CE)

Egyptians and Canaanites: Wisdom of Solomon on worship of animals and images (first century BCE)

Judeans, Syrians, Indians, and others: Porphyry of Tyre on abstinence from meat (third century CE)

Barbarian wisdom: Porphyry of Tyre’s Neoplatonic perspective (third century CE)

Phoenicians: Gospel of Mark on Jesus and a Syro-Phoenician woman (late first century CE)

Kretans: Stereotypes in the letter to Titus (early second century CE)

Parthians, Libyans, Egyptians and others: Acts of the Apostles on legends of Judean migration (early second century CE)

Scythians and barbarians: Colossians and others on ritual recitations (late first or early second century CE)

Britons, Armenians, Bessians, and others: Reliefs of subjugated peoples at Aphrodisias (first century CE)

Indian wisdom: Nearchos, Megasthenes, and Arrian on the sages Dandamis and Kalanos (fourth century BCE-second century CE)

Judean, Indian, Babylonian, and Egyptian wisdom: Numenius the Platonic philosopher (mid-second century CE)

Illyrians, Pannonians, and other peoples: Strabo (early first century CE)

Getians, Dacians, and Scythians: Strabo (early first century CE)

Persians and Medes: Herodotos on customs (mid-fifth century BCE)

Barbarian wisdom: Cornutus on early humanity’s Stoic understanding of the cosmos (mid-first century CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Sextus Empiricus engages with ethnographic discourses for philosophical aims (second-third centuries CE)

Western peoples beyond the pillars of Herakles (and up): Lucian’s A True Story and ethnographic fiction (late second century CE)

Northern peoples: Antonios Diogenes’ Wonders Beyond Thule and ethnographic fiction (second century CE / ninth century CE)

Indians: Iamboulos and Diodoros on a utopian island beyond India (mid-first century BCE)

Nabateans among Arabians: Diodoros on their customs and freedom (mid-first century BCE)

Judean and Israelite diasporas: Inscriptional evidence (second century BCE-third century CE)

Babylonians: Diodoros on Chaldeans’ astrology and divination (mid-first century BCE)

Parthians: Scenes from the Arch of Septimius Severus (early third century CE)

Scythians, Amazons, and Persians: Isokrates on the superiority of the Athenian people (early fourth century BCE)

Mossynoikians in Pontos: Xenophon and others on the “most barbarous” people (early fourth century BCE)

Persians: Xenophon and an anonymous author on royal customs and Cyrus (early fourth century BCE / second century BCE)

Celts and Germans: Plutarch’s ethnographic digressions in the Lives (early second century CE)

Scythians, Amazons, and Hyperboreans: Diodoros on some northerners (mid-first century BCE)

Indians: Diodoros on environment, customs and social organization (mid-first century BCE)

Scythians and other Pontic peoples: Herodotos on the “most ignorant peoples of all” (fifth century BCE)

Britons and Iernians (Irish): Julius Caesar, Pytheas, and Strabo on customs and cannibalism (early first century CE)

Celts and Ligurians: Strabo on peoples south of the Alps (early first century CE)

Indian wisdom: Philostratos on Apollonios of Tyana’s journeys to barbarian lands (early third century CE)

Mysians, Kilikians, Galatians, and Thracians: Polybios on the mixed composition of Antiochos IV Epiphanes’ army (second century BCE)

Egyptian diasporas: Legends of migration concerning Hyksos and Judeans (late fourth century BCE and on)

Ethnic diversity in Libya / Africa: Sallust on legends of migration (mid-first century BCE)

Phoenician diasporas: Ephoros on Kadmos and legends of migration to Boiotia (mid-fourth century BCE)

Celts: Strabo on peoples northwest of the Alps (early first century CE)

Ethiopians: Diodoros on their claims, appearance, and customs (mid-first century BCE)

Arabians: Herodotos on deities and lifestyle (fifth century BCE)

Egyptians: Diodoros on the origins of civilization and on Egyptian views (mid-first century BCE)

Scythians: Greek depictions of Scythian archers on Attic pottery (sixth century BCE)

Parthians, Celts and Iberians or Germans: Scenes on the breastplate of the “Augustus of Prima Porta” (early first century CE)

Amazons: Greek artistic depictions of a female warrior people (fourth century BCE to second century CE)

Amazons: Strabo on their customs and northern location (first century CE)

Persians: God Mithras as a Roman representation of a Persian (second century CE)

Boiotians: Ephoros on the superiority of Boiotia and on a Phoenician connection (mid-fourth century BCE)

Pelasgian diasporas: Ephoros on legends of migration (mid-fourth century BCE)

Kretans: Ephoros on Kretan civic organization and customs (mid-fourth century BCE)

Various peoples: Herodotos on the mixed composition of the Persian army under Xerxes (fifth century BCE)

Libyans: Herodotos on customs and colonization (fifth century BCE)

Aitolians: Ephoros on their origins and invincibility (mid-fourth century BCE)

Mediterranean peoples: Pseudo-Skymnos’ Voyage Around the Earth for Nikomedes in full (mid-second century BCE)

Kimbrians / Germans: Poseidonios and Strabo refute stories about the tides (first century BCE)

Judeans, Armenians, Dacians, Egyptians, and other peoples: Defeat, capture, and subjugation on Roman imperial coinage (first-fourth centuries CE)

Dacians: Reliefs on “Trajan’s Column” at Rome celebrating subjugation (early second century CE)

Celts, Persians, and Amazons: Smaller statues of fighting and dying “barbarians” associated with Attalos of Pergamon (third-second century BCE / second century CE)

Dacians and Sarmatians: Reliefs on “Trajan’s Trophy” at Adamclisi, Romania (early second century CE)

Sarmatians: Tacitus on ferocity and laziness in military situations (early second century CE)

Celts: Statues of dying Gauls / Galatians associated with Attalos I of Pergamon (late third century BCE / second century CE)

Scythians and other northern peoples: Ephoros (mid-fourth century BCE)

Celts: Ephoros (mid-fourth century BCE)

Indians, Ethiopians, Celts, and Scythians: Ephoros on a four-fold division of the known world (mid-fourth century BCE)

Barbarian wisdom: Ephoros on inventors (mid-fourth century BCE)

Kretans, Spartans, Carthaginians, and Romans: Polybios on superior and inferior societal organization (second century BCE)

Parthians: Poseidonios on royal banquets (first century BCE)

Arabians and Aramaians: Poseidonios on relations between eastern peoples (first century BCE)

Mysians / Moesians: Poseidonios on their identification and customs based on Homer (first century BCE)

Celts: Poseidonios and others on banqueting and violent customs (first century BCE)

Illyrians: Theopompos on banquets (fourth century BCE)

Carthaginians: Appian of Alexandria (mid-second century CE)

Iberians: Appian of Alexandria (mid-second century CE)

Illyrians: Appian of Alexandria (mid-second century CE)

Persians and Medes: Herakleides of Kyme, Klearchos of Soloi, and others on royal banquets (fourth century BCE)

Mediterranean peoples: Claudius Ptolemy on astrological effects on peoples (second century CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Vitruvius on the effects of climate (first century BCE)

Barbarian wisdom: Dio of Prusa on barbarians’ innate knowledge of god (late first century CE)

Germans and Scythians: Seneca on enduring hardships and on anger (first century CE)

Judeans: Pliny the Elder and Julius Solinus on the Essenes beside the Dead Sea (first / third centuries CE)

Judean wisdom: Philo on the Therapeutists’ lifestyle (first century CE)

Judean and Indian wisdom: Philo on the freedom of Essenes and Kalanos (early first century CE)

Thracians: Tacitus on their uncivilized and wild nature (early second century CE)

Ethnic diversity on Rhodes island: Inscriptional evidence

Ethnic diversity in Egypt: Inscriptional and papyrological evidence

Scythian and Thracian diasporas: Inscriptional evidence

Celts / Galatians: Polybios on the Celts’ encounter with Rome and on his method in dealing with distant peoples (second century BCE)

Egyptians: Herodotos on customs and legendary kings (fifth century BCE)

Egyptian wisdom: Plato on Solon, the Egyptian priest, and Atlantis (mid-fourth century BCE)

Britons: Julius Caesar (mid-first century BCE)

Judean perspectives: Philo on the superiority of Moses and Judean ancestral customs (first century CE)

Britons: Tacitus (late first century CE)

Libyans / Africans: Sallust (mid-first century BCE)

Arkadians: Polybios theorizes environment and peoplehood (second century BCE)

Pontic peoples: Tertullian on the Pontic “barbarian” Marcion (late second century CE)

Syrian perspectives: Lucian of Samosata on The Syrian Goddess in full (mid-second century CE)

Scythian wisdom: Letters of Anacharsis (mid-third century BCE)

Iapygians and Tarentinians: Klearchos of Soloi (fourth century BCE)

Lydians: Xanthos of Lydia and Klearchos of Soloi (fifth-fourth centuries BCE)

Scythians: Klearchos of Soloi (fourth century BCE)

Barbarian wisdom: Poseidonios on inventors of the golden age (first century BCE)

Egyptians: Josephos on animal worship (late first century CE)

Iberians: Artemidoros, Poseidonios, and others (second century BCE to first century CE)

Germans: Tacitus’ Germania in full (late first century CE)

Europeans, Asians, and Greeks: Aristotle on environment, ethnic hierarchies, and slaves (fourth century BCE)

Persian wisdom: Plutarch’s story about Kleombrotos’ journeys (early second century CE)

Egyptian wisdom: Lucian’s story about Eukrates and Pankrates (late second century CE)

Italian and Roman diasporas: Inscriptional evidence

Scholarly articles on ethnic relations and migration

Egyptian diasporas: Inscriptional evidence

Syrian and Phoenician diasporas: Inscriptional and archeological evidence

Europeans and Asians: Pseudo-Hippokrates on humoural and environmental theories (fifth century BCE)

Iberians: Trogus on their extreme courage (first century BCE)

Scythians: Trogus on Scythian superiority (first century BCE)

Judean wisdom: Theophrastos on Judean philosophers (fourth century BCE)

Egyptian perspectives: Chairemon on Egyptian temple functionaries (first century CE)

Judeans: Mnaseas, Poseidonios, Apollonios Molon, Diodoros, Apion, and Damokritos on the statue of a donkey and on human sacrifice (second century BCE and on)

Judeans: Manetho, Chairemon, and Lysimachos on an alternative Exodus (third century BCE on)

Judeans: Agatharchides of Knidos on the Sabbath (second century BCE)

Judeans: Pseudo-Hekataios’ On Judeans (before first century CE)

Indian and Judean wisdom: Klearchos citing Aristotle (fourth century BCE)

Judean perspectives: Josephos’ Against Apion in full (late first century CE)

Egyptian perspectives: Manetho on “Egyptian Matters” (early third century BCE)

Libyans: Hanno the Carthaginian (fourth century BCE or earlier)

Scythian and barbarian wisdom: Diogenes of Laertes (early third century CE)

Chaldeans, Greeks, Egyptians, and Judeans: Aristides of Athens (second century CE)

Phoenicians: Herodotos on customs and colonizing efforts (fifth century BCE)

Mediterranean peoples: Polemon theorizes the meaning of physical features (second / fifth centuries CE)

Eastern and northern peoples: Bardaisan of Edessa and Philippos’ Book of the Laws of Countries (second-third centuries CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Pseudo-Aristotle theorizes the meaning of physical features (third century BCE)

Barbarian wisdom: Various authors and Clement of Alexandria (second century CE)

Judeans: Poseidonios (?) and Strabo on decline after Moses (first century CE)

Barbarian wisdom: Celsus and Origen of Alexandria (second-third centuries CE)

Germans: Philo of Alexandria on fighting the tides (first century CE)

Phoenician wisdom: Ampelius on Mochos of Sidon (early-third century CE)

Phoenician wisdom: Strabo and Poseidonios on Mochos of Sidon (first century BCE)

Phoenician, Egyptian and Babylonian wisdom: Porphyry of Tyre and Antonius Diogenes on Pythagoras (third century CE)

Phoenician, Egyptian and Persian wisdom: Iamblichos of Chalkis on Pythagoras (fourth century CE)

Phoenician wisdom: Damascius on Eudemos of Rhodes and Mochos of Sidon (fourth century BCE)

Phoenician perspectives: Philo of Byblos on “Phoenician Matters” (early second century CE)

Indians: Nearchos, Megasthenes, and Arrian (fourth century BCE-second century CE)

Persian wisdom: Eudemos of Rhodes on Magians (fourth century BCE)

Persian wisdom: Theopompos of Chios and Plutarch on Magians (fourth century BCE and later)

Persian wisdom: Aristoxenos of Tarentum on Pythagoras and Zoroaster (fourth century BCE)

Judean perspectives: Eupolemos on contributions by Abraham and Moses (before the mid-first century BCE)

Judean perspectives: Anonymous on Abraham’s contributions (before the mid-first century BCE)

Egyptian wisdom: Thessalos on Nechepso and an Egyptian priest (first or second century CE)

Celts / Gauls: Julius Caesar (mid-first century BCE)

Germans: Julius Caesar (mid-first century BCE)

Judean perspectives: Artapanos on contributions by Abraham, Joseph, and Moses (second century BCE)

Mediterranean peoples: Pseudo-Skylax (fourth century BCE)

Judeans: Tacitus on Judean origins and customs (second century CE)

Celts / Gauls: Timagenes of Alexandria (first century BCE)

Diversity, part 2: Judean diversity fits with plurality of Jesus groups

Reflections from the Diversity of Early Christianity course, part 1: Invested sources

Podcast 8.24: Satanic Imagery And Conspiracies In Modern Culture

Podcast 8.23: Goethe’s Ironic Mephistopheles (1700s-1800s)

Podcast 8.22: Milton’s Traditional Satan in Paradise Lost (1600s)

Podcast 8.21: The Devil and Internal Struggles of the Reformation Period (1500s)

Podcast 8.20: Witchcraft Accusations and Pacts with the Devil (1400-1600)

Podcast 8.19: Satan and Demons in Everyday Life in the Middle Ages

Podcast 8.18: Satan’s Home, part 5 – Medieval Depictions and Dante’s Inferno

Podcast 8.17: Satan’s Home, part 4 – Tortures in Hell and Christ’s Descent

Podcast 8.16: Satan’s Home, part 3 – Developments among Early Jesus Followers

Podcast 8.15: Satan’s Home, part 2 – The Birth of Judean Hell in 1 Enoch

Podcast 8.14: Satan’s Home, part 1 – Cultural Origins Of Hell

Podcast 8.13: Satan as Father of Lies and Heresy in the Church Fathers (2nd-4th centuries CE)

Podcast 8.12: Satan’s Demons and the Greco-Roman Gods in the Church Fathers (2nd-3rd centuries CE)

Podcast 8.11: The Jealous Creator and the Serpent of Wisdom in Gnosticism (2nd century CE)

Podcast 8.10: Jealous Satan, the Image of God, and the Serpent in the Life of Adam and Eve

Podcast 8.9: A Satanic Empire in John’s Apocalypse (ca. 80-100 CE)

Podcast 8.8: Internal Functions of the Rhetoric of Satan in Paul and John (ca. 50-110 CE)

Podcast 8.7: The Devil and Beelzebub in Early Biographies of Jesus (70-100 CE)

Podcast 8.6: Mastema in Jubilees and Beliar in the Dead Sea Scrolls (ca. 100 BCE)

Podcast 8.5: Fallen Angels in 1 Enoch (ca. 225 BCE)

Podcast 8.4: Other Predecessors of Satan from the Hebrew Bible

Podcast 8.3: Predecessors of Satan from Persia

Podcast 8.2: Predecessors of Satan from Canaan and Israel

Podcast 8.1: A Cultural History of Satan – Predecessors of Satan from Mesopotamia

Podcast 7.9: Daniel’s Visions as Veiled History

Podcast 7.8: Introduction to Daniel’s Historical Apocalypse

Podcast 7.7: 1 Enoch – Fallen Angels in Early Apocalypticism

Podcast 7.6: 1 Enoch – An Introduction to the Earliest Apocalypse

Podcast 7.5: Origins part 3b – Israelite Prophets 2

Podcast 7.4: Origins part 3a – Israelite Prophets 1

Podcast 7.3: Origins part 2 – Zoroastrian apocalypticism

Podcast 7.2: Origins part 1 – Ancient Near Eastern Combat Myths

Podcast 7.1: Visions of the End – What is Apocalypticism?

Podcast 6.14: Cultural Minority Associations and Ethnic Stereotypes, part 2

Podcast 6.13: Cultural Minority Associations and Ethnic Stereotypes, part 1

Podcast 6.12: Jesus Groups as Associations and Cultural Minorities, part 2

Podcast 6.11 Jesus Groups as Associations and Cultural Minorities, part 1

Podcast 6.10: Judean Immigrant Associations, part 2

Podcast 6.9: Judean Immigrant Associations, part 1

Podcast 6.8: Phoenician Immigrant Associations, part 2

Podcast 6.7: Phoenician Immigrant Associations, part 1

Podcast 6.6: Approaches to Studying Ethnic Associations and Identities

Podcast 6.5: Associations and the Roman Empire

Podcast 6.4: Associations and Greco-Roman Society (The City)

Podcast 6.3: Judean and Christian Groups as Associations

Podcast 6.2: Social, Religious, and Burial Activities of Associations

Podcast 6.1: Introduction to Associations in the Greco-Roman World

Podcast 5.15: Jesus as Messianic King?

Podcast 5.14: Jesus as Prophet

Podcast 5.13: Jesus as Healer and Exorcist

Podcast 5.12: Jesus as Teacher, part 2 – Present or Future Kingdom?

Podcast 5.11: Jesus as Teacher, part 1 – Method and Content

Podcast 5.10: Jesus and his Mentor, John the Baptizer

Podcast 5.9: Jesus in the Context of Educated Groups and Leaders

Podcast 5.8: Jesus, the Galilean and Judean

Podcast 5.7: Jesus, Galilee, and Israelite History, part 2 – To the Time of Jesus

Podcast 5.6: Jesus, Galilee, and Israelite History, part 1 – To the Second Temple

Podcast 5.5: Scholarly Portraits of the Historical Jesus, part 2 – Sanders

Podcast 5.4: Scholarly Portraits of the Historical Jesus, part 1 – Crossan

Podcast 5.3: Studying the Historical Jesus – Sources and Problems, part 3

Podcast 5.2: Studying the Historical Jesus – Sources and Problems, part 2

Podcast 5.1: Studying the Historical Jesus – Sources and Problems, part 1

Podcast 4.6: Honouring the Emperors as Gods

Podcast 4.5: Justice from the Gods in Lydia

Podcast 4.4: Messages from the Gods – Apollo at Claros and Didyma

Podcast 4.3: Salvation from the Gods – Asklepios at Pergamum

Podcast 4.2: A City and Its Patron Deity – Artemis of Ephesos

Podcast 4.1: Introduction to Honouring the Gods

Podcast 3.16: The Gospel of Mary – Secret Knowledge from the Ultimate Disciple

Podcast 3.15: The Gospel of Philip, part 2 – Ritual Enactments of Salvation

Podcast 3.14: The Gospel of Philip, part 1 – Ideas of Salvation

Podcast 3.13: The Wisdom of Jesus Christ and Middle Platonism

Podcast 3.12: Secret Book of John, part 2 – Salvation from the Material Realm

Podcast 3.11: Secret Book of John, part 1 – The Spiritual Realm

Podcast 3.10 Introducing Gnostic Worldviews

Podcast 3.9: Marcionites and the Unknown God (Download)

Podcast 3.8: Jewish Followers of Jesus, part 2 – Pseudo-Clement

Podcast 3.7: Jewish Followers of Jesus, part 1 – Ebionites

Podcast 3.6: Sources for the Study of Diversity – Gnostic, Apocryphal, Patristic

Podcast 3.5: Diversity in Asia Minor – A Regional Case Study

Podcast 3.4: Docetic and Judaizing Opponents of Ignatius, part 2

Podcast 3.3: Docetic and Judaizing Opponents of Ignatius

Podcast 3.2: A Schism in John’s Community, part 2

Podcast 3.1: Introduction to Diversity – A Schism in John’s Community, part 1

Podcast 2.11: Hebrews’ Portrait of Jesus – Highpriest Melchizedek, part 2

Podcast 2.10: Hebrews’ Portrait of Jesus – Highpriest Melchizedek, part 1

Podcast 2.9: John’s Portrait of Jesus – Son and Word, part 2

Podcast 2.8: John’s Portrait of Jesus – Son and Word, part 1

Podcast 2.7: Luke’s Portrait of Jesus – Prophet Elijah, part 2 (Download)

Podcast 2.6: Luke’s Portrait of Jesus – Prophet Elijah, part 1

Podcast 2.5: Matthew’s portrait of Jesus – New Moses, part 2

Podcast 2.4: Matthew’s portrait of Jesus – New Moses, part 1

Podcast 2.3: Mark’s portrait of Jesus – Suffering Son, part 2

Podcast 2.2: Mark’s portrait of Jesus – Suffering Son, part 1

Podcast 2.1: Introduction to the Gospels as Portraits of Jesus

Podcast 1.12: Legacies of Paul – Women’s leadership, part 2 (Download)

Podcast 1.11: Legacies of Paul – Women’s leadership, part 1

Podcast 1.10: Paul’s response to the Romans

Podcast 1.9: Paul and the situation at Rome

Podcast 1.8: Paul’s response to the Galatians

Podcast 1.7: Paul and the situation in Galatia

Podcast 1.6: Paul and the followers of Jesus at Corinth, part 3

Podcast 1.5: Paul and the followers of Jesus at Corinth, part 2

Podcast 1.4: Paul and the followers of Jesus at Corinth, part 1

Podcast 1.3: Paul’s response to Jesus-followers at Thessalonica

Podcast 1.2: The Situation at Thessalonica

Podcast 1.1: Paul in his own words

Notes for Denison Goodspeed Lecture (April 16, 2018)

Oenomaus of Gadara on Detection of Deceivers and on Divination

Greco-Roman deities: Artemis of Ephesus 3

Greco-Roman deities: Artemis of Ephesus 2

Greco-Roman deities: Artemis of Ephesus 1

Pompeii 2: Rivalries among associations and a riot at Pompeii

Paintings of Pompeii 1: Villa of the Mysteries of Dionysos (Villa Item)

Beate Dignas, Economy of the Sacred in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor (2002)

Consulting the gods about your favourite blanket

Ballparking the historical Jesus – The importance of context

A second highly probable thing about the historical Jesus: Immersion by John the Baptizer

Non-Christian sources for the study of the historical Jesus: Josephus and Tacitus on the execution of Jesus

Did the peasant Jesus ignore Judean ritual laws? Crossan’s answer

On Sexual Indulgence: Paul and contemporaries like Musonius Rufus

Human sacrifice and cannibalism again — oh, and sexual perversion too

Thessalos’ travels and his “magical” cures

Sex and salvation in the Gospel of Philip

Marcion’s Stranger God (also “strange”)

The Jesus Ultimatum: Action and suspense in Mark’s gospel

The “savage” Marcion: Ethnographic stereotypes in attacking “heretics”

April D. DeConick’s The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says

Breaking news: Early Christians were impious atheists . . . (NT 3.2)

An early Christian schism over how to view Jesus’ flesh: Opponents of John the elder (Diversity 1.2)

Contexts of early Christianity (NT 3.1)

Viewing the diversity of early Christianity through opponents (Diversity 1.1)

What crime did Ignatius of Antioch commit and who laid the charges?

Immigrants adrift in the Greco-Roman world?

Post-apocalyptic films: From Escape from New York to Twelve Monkeys and beyond

Golden rule: Do unto others according to the “pagans”

“The beginning of another world”: Apocalyptic expectations of re-creation (End 1.9)

Spoofing the apocalypse, or How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb (End 1.8)

Saviours or destroyers in space: Modern incarnations of ancient apocalyptic worldviews (End 1.7)

Origins of an apocalyptic sect at Qumran: Teacher of Righteousness vs. Wicked Priest (End 1.6)

The times they are a changin’ endin’: Bob Dylan’s apocalypse (End 1.4)

Luke’s portrait of Jesus: Prophet Elijah and “Saviour” (NT 2.14)

Visions of the End: Where did they come from? (End 1.1)

Was Paul a man of his time?: Contemporaries on the treatment of slaves (NT 2.11)

Interpreting Judean scriptures in Paul’s time (NT 2.10)

“The head . . . proclaimed these verses”: Another (ancient) ghoulish story for halloween

Paul and the situation at Galatia — again (NT 2.9)

Paul and the Super-apostles at Corinth (NT 2.8)

It’s the end of the world as we know it: Paul’s apocalyptic worldview (NT 2.6)

The Gospel of Judas and ethnographic stereotypes: The priests “sacrifice their own children”

Let’s talk about sects: Diversity in Second-Temple Judaism (NT 2.3)

Breaking news: Early Christians had no New Testament (NT 2.1)

‘Come! Plunge the knife into the baby’: Tertullian’s not-so-subtle retort

For the gods of the homeland: Immigrants from Beirut on a Greek island

Associations of Immigrants: Thracians and the goddess Bendis near Athens

Judas Iscariot as the “good guy”?: The Gospel of Judas

Satanic conspiracies of the 1970s and 1980s (Satan 12)

Paul, the Galatians, and circumcision (NT 1.6)

The horrifying Nosferatu, personified plague and death (Satan 9)

Enter the serpent: Adam, Eve, and the Devil (Satan 8)

A very Jewish Jesus: The Gospel of Matthew’s portrait (NT 1.4)

Rhetorical functions of Satan: From Babylon the whore to devilish super-apostles (Satan 7)

“Who is this guy?”: The Gospel of Mark on the identity of Jesus (NT 1.3)

“Me and the Devil Blues”: Robert Johnson and the crossroads (Satan 5)

Rebellious, fallen angels and the flood: 1 Enoch (Satan 4)

Alexander the Great (d. 323 BCE) and Christian origins (NT 1.2)

Other predecessors of Satan in Israelite religion and the Hebrew Bible (Satan 3)

Mesopotamian gods, chaos-monsters, and the “combat myth” (Satan 2)

Christian Origins (NT 1.1)

A History of Satan (Satan 1)

Regional rivalries and humour in the Greco-Roman world (Jokes 2)

A guided tour of the heavens: The Ascension of Isaiah (NT Apocrypha 21)

Sophia’s repentance: The Apocryphon of John (NT Apocrypha 20)

The morphing Jesus: Christology in the Acts of John (NT Apocrypha 19)

What’s so magisterial about it?: Magistrates and the Swiss and German reformations (Reformations 11)

Salvation according to the “modern way” in the middle ages (Reformations 10)

A ghost story (from Phlegon): Bouplagos stood up from among the dead (Bou!)

The sacraments and divisions in the reformations (Reformations 9)

Thecla, Tertullian, and controversies over women’s leadership (NT Apocrypha 18)

Into the mystic: Meister Eckhart and medieval mysticism (Reformations 8)

Menocchio on judgement and hell (Reformations 7)

Peter vs. Simon Magus (alias Paul) in the Pseudo-Clementines (NT Apocrypha 17)

Sophia’s mistake: The Sophia of Jesus Christ and Eugnostos (NT Apocrypha 16)

“Gnosticism” as a scholarly category and the study of the diversity of Christianity (NT Apocrypha 15)

Menocchio on the Synoptic problem (Reformations 6)

Demons and everyday life: Giving birth to monsters (Reformations 5)

The Fall of the temple of Artemis according to the Acts of John (NT Apocrypha 14)

Menocchio, the peasant, on cheese and maggots (Reformations 4)

The Coptic Gospel of Thomas and an interesting online debate (NT Apocrypha 13)

“Forgery” (deceit) or “pseudonymity” (admiration): Ehrman’s take (NT Apocrypha 12)

Jesus said: Let the children. . . get lost? (NT Apocrypha 11)

Bandits and their wild banquets: Lapiths and Centaurs

Reformations: Continuity or disjunction? (Reformations 2)

Reformations and Late-Medieval Christianity (1300-1650) course (Reformations 1)

The brilliant student and the humiliated teacher again: Smart young Apollonius of Tyana (NT Apocrypha 8)

“Are we. . . to listen to her?”: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene (NT Apocrypha 7)

Early Christian Apocrypha and the historiography of early Christianity (NT Apocrypha 6)

Acts of John: Be thou like the bed-bugs (NT Apocrypha 5)

Peter (in the Pseudo-Clementines) on “false” passages in scripture (NT Apocrypha 4)

Jesus’ descent into hell and Satan’s conversation with Hades (NT Apocrypha 3)

The Little Drummer Boy and Protevangelium of James (NT Apocrypha 2)

The Cursing Infant Jesus: Ancient vs. modern sensibilities (NT Apocrypha 1)

“Marvels” yet again: Long-lost fountain of viagra

A Hellenistic Twilight Zone episode (and a Jewish parallel story)

Phlegon’s Believe It or Not: Man undergoes sex change only to reverse it

Those other (“pagan”) synagogues

Multiple memberships in the world of the early Christians

Aliens, Fallen Angels, and Heaven’s Gate

Banqueting under the protection of your gods

An invitation from the god Sarapis: Banqueting with the gods

Worshiping the Beast / Honouring the Emperor

“Going beyond all bounds to the realm of myth” in describing the “other”

Banquets of the anti-associations: “They sacrificed a human being and partook of the flesh”