عنوان

The Relationship Between Epic and Religion: A Study of the Shift in the Concept of Epic Heroism, the Characteristics and Actions of the God(s), and the Interactions Between Society and God(s) from the Classical Period to the Renaissance Era

TL56607

انگلیسی

The Relationship Between Epic and Religion: A Study of the Shift in the Concept of Epic Heroism, the Characteristics and Actions of the God(s), and the Interactions Between Society and God(s) from the Classical Period to the Renaissance Era

[Thesis]

Swain, Crystal Ann

Liebert, Elisabeth

Louisiana State University in Shreveport

2020

88 p.

M.A.

Louisiana State University in Shreveport

2020

The Classical period introduces epic: a form of literature that reflects the cultural values of society as well as the evolution and transitioned of those values throughout the eras. It is within epic that a reader can trace society's change in religious beliefs. The goal of this project is to examine the relationship between the epic hero and religion by following the shift from an anthropomorphic polytheistic belief system to a scholastic monotheistic religion. This thesis will study the change in the concept of heroism, the characteristics and actions of the god(s), the rituals performed in tribute to these god(s), and the interactions between the god(s) and society though divine messengers. It begins with a study of the Classical epics, the Iliad and Aeneid, which lay the foundation of early Western civilization's core values and beliefs. Moving into the late Classical period/early Medieval period, this thesis focuses on the change in religious ideologies present in The Poems of Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus: The Fall of Man, before shifting to the Renaissance period to conclude with Tasso's epic Jerusalem Delivered and the Holy Crusades.

Classical literature

Medieval literature

Religious history

Swain, Crystal Ann

Liebert, Elisabeth

Louisiana State University in Shreveport

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y