Religion can't be divorced from social,

宗教研究不能脱离社会
political, and historical contexts and issues.

政治历史背景和事件单独而论
And so what we're going to do today is do, one,

今天我们要讲的内容
the first of two lectures.

是两节课中的第一节
Now these are going to be sort of dreary, boring,

可能会沉闷无趣
typical Martin lectures;

是典型的马丁式课堂
dreary and boring historical surveys.

枯燥无聊的历史概论课
And I just have to do this today on the Greco-Roman world,

今天我要讲的是希腊罗马社会
tell you everything you need to know about the Greco-Roman world,

普及你们需要了解的有关的所有知识
at least for this semester.

至少是这个学期需要的
And then next time, next Wednesday --

下次课下个星期三