Empire and Apocalypse: Globalization and the End of Time in Ancient Thought

International and Global Studies Colloquium “Empire and Apocalypse: Globalization and the End of Time in Ancient Thought” by Christopher Star, associate professor of classics.

In the ancient Mediterranean world, the rise of the world empires of Greece and Rome and the development of Jewish and Christian apocalypticism were related phenomena. The majority of scholarship on this topic has focused on how Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature (e.g. Daniel and Revelation) was written as a hostile response to Greek and Roman hegemony. Very little attention has been paid to Greek and Roman thought on the end of the world. Nevertheless, around the same time as the development of Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature (c. 200 BCE – 100 CE), Greeks and Romans also developed a variety of ways for conceiving of the links between empire and apocalypse. In this talk we will investigate the underexplored world of ancient Greek and Roman eschatology. I will also consider how ancient ideas about world empires ushering in the end of days may relate to our contemporary concerns about globalization and the future of humanity.

Lunch is free for current Middlebury College students/faculty/staff; suggested $5 donation for others; RSVP by 11/28 to rcga@middlebury.edu. Sponsored by the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs.