Andreas Bendlin

Andreas Bendlin is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Toronto, with cross-appointments to the Department of Historical Studies at the Mississauga Campus. His academic appointments span both the St. George and Mississauga campuses, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Roman history, religion, and culture. He serves as Director of the Collaborative Program in Ancient History (ColPAH) and has been actively involved in the Department of Historical Studies as its Chair.

Dr. Bendlin earned a master's degree in Classical Languages with distinction from the University of Tübingen in Germany, a Ph.D. in Ancient History from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and a habilitation in Religious Studies from the University of Erfurt, Germany. Prior to joining the University of Toronto in 2005, he held research fellowships at the Universities of Oxford, Bochum, and Constance, and received teaching and research invitations to institutions across four continents including Cape Town, Heidelberg, Jerusalem, Rome, and Siena.

Professor Bendlin's research focuses primarily on ancient religion, with particular expertise in the pragmatics of religious life in the Roman Mediterranean. His scholarly interests extend to Roman social history, especially the life of associations in the Graeco-Roman world, and Roman literary and cultural history. His current research includes a large-scale project on demography, migration, and urbanism, and their impact on religious pluralism in the city of Rome. His publications demonstrate deep engagement with methodological questions in the study of Roman religion, challenging traditional approaches that view Republican religion as a 'closed system' and instead proposing an 'open system' model that recognizes the differentiated nature of Roman religious practice.

His extensive publication record includes monographs, edited volumes, and numerous articles focusing on Roman religion, religious associations, urban sacred landscapes, and the historiography of Roman religious studies. His research demonstrates consistent engagement with theoretical questions about how we conceptualize religion in ancient contexts, with particular attention to avoiding Christianizing assumptions that have historically shaped the field.

At the University of Toronto, Professor Bendlin teaches a wide range of undergraduate courses at all levels in the Department of Historical Studies on the Mississauga campus, including CLA233 (Introduction to Roman Culture and Society), CLA368 (Augustus and the Julio-Claudians), CLA310 (Religion in the Roman Empire), and CLA391 (Life and Death in Ancient Pompeii). He also teaches and supervises students in the Graduate Program in the Department of Classics at the St. George campus, focusing on Roman religious and social history and Latin prose authors such as Cicero, Livy, and Tacitus. Additionally, he serves on examinations and supervisory committees in the Graduate Program in the Department and Centre for the Study of Religion.