This course focuses especially on three important archaeological excavations in the Aegean Basin—Corinth, Ephesus and Pergamum—utilizing material evidence as a means of exploring the civic context of nascent Christianity. Attention will be given to Greek and Roman city planning, urban architecture, daily life as reflected in the material remains, traditional civic religion, Roman imperial religion, and the use of domestic space for religious purposes. The relevance of these data for understanding Christian origins and early Christian writings—particularly 1 Corinthians and Revelation—will also be a matter of central concern in this course.