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This course deals with the phenomenon of religion as a cultural construct in permanent interaction with the remaining cultural production. It is a very effective tool that elaborates intellectual constructions (stories of various kinds, including myths) designed to provide answers to the concerns arising from conscious existence. A universe of beliefs that gives meaning to a community that relates individually and in groups with supernatural beings through formalized actions, namely rituals. Beliefs and rituals are specific tools for the construction of identities. Identity, as a sense of belonging, constitutes a framework of protection for the individual who feels that he or she is part of a group. Religion is at the epicentre of all intercommunity conflicts, as it is the core of the ideological superstructure that supports the socio-economic and political structures that determine relations with other communities. Under these conditions it is easy to attribute responsibility for conflicts to religion, which reduces and simplifies the analysis. The interaction between religion and culture is therefore the focus of this subject.

1. Pre- and protohistory. The origins of religious thought: abstraction, language, representation. 2. Egypt and Mesopotamia. The ideological supports of the first states: religion and cultural production; the identification of the status quo with divine will; theocracy and sacrilege. 3. Middle East. The supposed ideological-religious opposition of the Indo-European and Semitic worlds: integration or extermination of foreign gods 4. Religion in the Axial Age (800-200 BC): Lao Tzu, Confucius and the philosophers of the Warring States; Hinduism, Brahmins and Gautama Buddha; etc 5. Religion in the Axial Age (800-200 BC): Zoroaster and Mazdeism; prophetic Judaism; etc 6. Archaic and classical Greece. Greek philosophy and religion from the pre-Socratics to sophistry. 7. The Hellenistic Mediterranean. Political and religious conflicts: the definition of dogma and the new cultural order. 8. The Hellenistic Mediterranean. The conflict between religious praxis and theological production. 9. The Hellenistic Mediterranean. Universal gods for global empires: the great religious and cultural transformation. 10. The religion of the Roman Empire. Social changes and identity conflicts: retraction of old religious institutions, preachers, new religions. 11. The religion of the Roman Empire. The religious agency: space and time. 12. The religion of the Roman Empire. Cultural appropriation, religious experience and the body. 13. The religion of the Roman Empire. Territorial, ethnic and cultural identities: juxtaposition, interferences, conflicts. 14. The religion of the Roman Empire. Human-divine communication and materiality. 15. The religion of the Roman Empire. Performativity and theatricalization. 16. The religion of the Roman Empire. Polytheisms vs. Monotheisms? The construction of divine power. 17. The religion of the Roman Empire. The triumph of monotheisms; innovation-fundamentalism dialectic in Judaism; Jesus of Nazareth and the Pauline invention of a new religion; Christianity and classical philosophy. 18. The religion of the Roman Empire. Habitus, Embeddedness, Religious marketplace, Resonance, Collective effervescence, Communitas. 19. The religion of the Roman Empire. The polis-religion. 20. The religion of the Roman Empire. Folk, personal, popular, vernacular religion. 21. The religion of the Roman Empire. The Lived Religion and the Urban religion. 22. Late Antiquity and Middle Ages. Religious imperialisms and cultural renewal of the Mediterranean: Imperium romanum; Holy Land as a paradigm of a religious conflict sustained over time; cultural foundations of Islamic monotheism. 23. Middle Ages. The perpetuation of Christianity beyond the fall of the Roman Empire: political and cultural keys to a supposedly religious phenomenon; the identity of political power with a lineage, a creed and a territory. 24. Middle Ages and Modern Age. Reform and counter-reform. Ethical-religious agents to explain a broken Europe; socioeconomic dynamics and ideological change; a multi-religious Europe on the margins of a multicultural Mediterranean. 25. Modern and Contemporary Age. Global policies, regional imbalances, inequality, conscience, conflict, armed struggle, terrorism: the excuse of religion.

Educational activities and teaching methodologies: - Teacher's lectures with computer and audiovisual media support, in which the main concepts of the subject will be developed and the bibliography will be provided to complement the students' learning. - Critical reading of texts recommended by the teacher of the course: press articles, reports, manuals and/or academic articles, either for further discussion in class, or to expand and consolidate the knowledge of the subject. - Resolution of practical cases, problems, etc. raised by the teacher individually or in groups. - Specific tutorials to discuss and prepare the presentation of individual works and materials. - Exhibition and discussion in class, under the moderation of the teacher, of topics related to the content of the subject, as well as of practical cases. - Preparation of papers and reports individually or in groups.