Topics in Ancient Near Eastern Studies

Catalog description

This course offers rotating topics in the advanced study of the history and cultures of the Ancient Near East, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant. The choice of primary topic in each iteration of the course is made by the instructor. This course offers students an opportunity to conduct and examine research on the Ancient Near East in a theoretically informed and cross-disciplinary manner. Course topics may be organized around specific places or periods, for example: the Assyrian or Babylonian Empires, the Hittites in Anatolia, ancient Syria and Israel, the Amarna period, the Old, Middle, or New Kingdoms in Egypt, and so forth. Course topics may also be thematic, revolving around specific subject matters, such as early state formation, international relations, material culture of a particular region and/or period, religious texts and rituals of a specific region and/or period, literary texts of a particular genre or corpus, and so on. The aim of the course is to provide students with critical exposure to aspects of the history and culture of the ancient Near East as a well as a solid grounding in scholarly research methods.