Cultures and Religions

The course - provides students with knowledge and understanding of the methodological, critical-problematic, and practical aspects of the discipline; it offers regional and thematic perspectives in which research projects relevant to the discipline are active or may be developed; it highlights the diversity of fields in which disciplinary skills can be applied (descriptor 1); - develops the student’s independent ability to relate what has been learned to other academic fields (SSDs): historical, literary, artistic, cultural heritage, economic, political, historical-religious, etc. (descriptor 2); - enables students to apply the acquired knowledge and specific terminology in the context of so-called “transferable skills” (independent judgment, communication skills, descriptors 3–5). In the context of the CdS dedicated to religious and cultural interaction, the course allows students access, in addition to the most ancient manuscript witnesses of the biblical text in the Greek version, to a very rich documentation concerning the cult, both pagan and Christian, in its public and institutional aspects, but also in the private practice of everyday life. The Greek, Latin, Coptic and Arabic papyri offer a panorama of unrepeatable variety and depth, as well as of personal and community devotion, particularly of ancient superstitious and magical practices and of the pervasive religious syncretism that dominates late ancient spirituality. Such documentation is also a precious and primary source for gender studies applied to ancient societies.