The Pagan World

Ancient Religions Before Christianity

By: Hans-Friedrich Mueller, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Hans-Friedrich Mueller

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.

©2020 The Great Courses (P)2020 The Teaching Company, LLC

Interesting and Engaging

The material was very interesting and engaging. Unfortunately, I found the occasional mispronunciations of proper names of people and places a distraction in the midst of masterfully-written scholarship.

A great listen!

This is truly a great journey through the old world of paganism. It was truly a very enlightening lecture.

Love it

Very deep and well put. Keep this type coming. I would if audible can send me more great books lije this

Affectatious but Knowledgeable

The content of this is a very good survey of some pagan cultures. I’m only about halfway through, but so far it has been largely Mediterranean and Indian, which is a little disappointing because I already knew much about Greek and Roman mythology. There are details, such as rituals, that he covers though, so that was appreciated.

He seems to be VERY into the subject, which is wonderful, however his affectations in speech become very distracting. At times he gets downright Captain Kirkian. I realize he is trying to imitate what he believes people may have sounded like while chanting incantations and rights, but it’s so frequent that it becomes frustrating at times. He has also used the word “auspicious” more times than needed.

Overall a good overview so far, but halfway though I’m having a hard time wanting to spend another 8 hours listening to the rest.

It was good..

Hans-Friedrich Mueller is a good professor but the constant pausing and mispronouncing of the gods names really put me off the lecture. He would pronounce Ra pronounced as Raw as Rey.

Great performance!

This professor is so much fun to listen to and so knowledgeable, I listened twice!

Informative

I learned much from these detailed lectures. The professor is a classicist, so the content is limited to Greece and Rome, with a little bit of India thrown in occasionally.

Exceeded my expectations

Concentrated mostly on Ancient Rome (this professor’s academic specialty?) and connected religious beliefs with social and political developments as Rome grew from city-state to empire. As a result, the lectures gave me new insights into how a republic can disintegrate—maybe relevant to our own future.

Sample First

I would sample to see if you can deal with the voice. It was a real distraction for me and near the end I was ready for it to be over. That being said, I enjoyed the information and learned a lot.

Fascinating

A very interesting and animated exploration of religion, especially Mediterranean polytheism. The lecturer really draws out the ironies and oddities, especially of Roman religion, to entertaining effect.