| ANE 1 | Pritchard, J. B., editor. The Ancient Near East, volume 1: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958. (ON RESERVE) |
| ANE 2 | Pritchard, James. B., editor. The Ancient Near East, volume 2: An New Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976. (ON RESERVE) |
| ANET | Pritchard, James. B., editor. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Related to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. with Supplement. Princeton. Princeton University Press, 1969. (LIBRARY REFERENCE) |
| CANE | Sasson, Jack M., editor-in-chief. Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Four volumes. New York: Scribner, 1995 onward. (LIBRARY REFERENCE) |
| ETCSL | Oxford University, Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Web address: https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/. In certain cases, the text has been adapted by altering Sumerian names into standard spellings. |
| Kovacs, Gilgamesh. | Kovacs, Maureen G. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford University Press, 1989. |
| Roux | Roux, Georges. Ancient Iraq. Third edition. Penguin, March 1993. |
| Roth | Roth, Martha. Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Society of Biblical Literature Writings from the Ancient World 6. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995. (ON RESERVE) |
| Van de Mieroop. | Van de Mieroop, Marc. A History of the Ancient Near East, c. 3000-323 BC. Second edition. Blackwell History of the Ancient World 1. Blackwell Publishing Limited, 2006. |
The course readings are located either in the Addlestone Library Reference Room or on Two-hour Reserve. Most citations in the Reading Assignment-list below are marked with a locator code: RS = Reserve; Ref = Reference Room;Per = Periodicals Room; W = Web Page.
All issues of ANET and CANE are located in the Reference Room; Roux, Ancient Iraq, Roth, Law Collections (1st ed. only), and ANE, are on Reserve.
Selected readings are also found on the course Web pages, where they are available for viewing and downloading. Each abbreviated citation is fully referenced in the list above or in the course bibliograpy (click to open).
Week 1: August 21 and 23
(8/22) Introduction and Course Description
(8/24) Assyriological and Near Eastern Methodologies
Van de Mieroop, "Introductory Concerns," 1-10;
Roux, "In Search of the Past," 17-21;
Ref [Recommended: Frank Hole, "Assessing the Past through Anthropological Archaeology,"
in CANE, vol. 4, pt. 11, 2715-2727.]
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Week 2: August 28 and 30
(8/29) Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent
Roux, "The Geographical Setting," 1-16.
(8/31) Mesopotamia: Land and Environment (II)
W/Ref Karl Butzer, "Environmental Change in the Near Eastand Human Impact on the Land,"
in CANE, vol. 1, pt. 2, 123-151 (click to open) (n.b.: concentrate on his conclusions, not the scientific details).
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Week 3: September 4 and 6
(9/4) Mesopotamia the Cradle of Civilization
Video: "Iraq: Cradle of Civilization" (57 mins). VIDEO 2542, pt. 1.
(9/6) The Ancient Near East in Space and Time
Roux, "Dating the Past," 22-42.
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Week 4: September 11 and 13
(9/11) The Neolithic and Proto-Dynastic Periods
Van de Mieroop, "Prehistoric Developments," 10-16;
Roux, "Neolithic," 42-59.
(9/13) The Proto-Dynastic Period: Ubaid, Uruk and Jemdet Nasr
Van de Mieroop, "Origins: The Uruk Phenomenon," 19-27, 35-40;
Roux, "The Ubaid Period," 59-84;
W Video-assignment: McGuire Gibson, "Why We Dig Up the Past"
[/docs_ne/gibsonlecture.wmv] (12 mins.).
Video: "Mesopotamia: Return to Eden" (52 mins.). VIDEO 3575.
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Week 5: September 18 and 20
(9/18) Mesopotamia: Sumerian Civilization (Early Dynastic Period)
Van de Mieroop, "Competing City States: The Early Dynastic Period," 41-51;
Roux, "An Age of Heroes," 104-130;
W/Ref "Gilgamesh and the Land of the Living" (ANET, 47-50) (click to open).
(9/20) Mesopotamia: Sumerian City States and their Rulers
Van de Mieroop, "The Wider Near East," 51-62;
Roux, "The Sumerian City States," 130-145;
W "ETSCL: Sumerian King List (pt. 1, Early Dynastic/Sumer)" (click to open);
W "ETSCL: List of Lagash Rulers" (click to open).
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Week 6: September 25 and 27
(9/25) Languages and Writing
Van de Mieroop, "The Development of Writing and Administration," 28-35;
Ref Denise Schmandt-Besserat, "Record Keeping before Writing." In CANE 4, 2097-2107.
(9/27) Decipherment of Near Eastern Writing
W/Ref Peter Daniels, "The Decipherment of Ancient Near Eastern Scripts." CANE 1, 81-93 (click to open).
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Week 7: October 2 and 4
(10/2) Land, Environment and Sumerian History
Video: "Mesopotamia: I Have Conquered the River" (59 mins.). DS69.5 .M38 2001.
Last day to withdraw with grade of "W"
(10/4) Mesopotamia, Early Bronze Age: Akkadian Empire
Van de Mieroop, "Political Centralization in the Late Third Millennium," 63-73;
Roux, "The Akkadians," 146-160;
W "ETSCL: Sumerian King List (pt. 2, Akkad/Agade)" (click to open);
W/Ref "Legend of Sargon" (ANE 1, 85-86 or ANET 119) (click to open)
RS/Ref "The Curse of Agade" (ANE 2, 204-215; ANET, 646-651);
Per/W H. H. Cullen, "Climate Change and the Collapse of the Akkadian Empire,"
Geology 28/4 (April 2000): 379-382 (click to open);
W [Recommended: H. Weiss, "Third Millennium Abrupt Climate Change and Social
Collapse in West Asia and Egypt," 711-720] (click to open).
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Week 8: October 9 and 11 (Midterm Week)
(10/9) Mesopotamia, Middle Bronze Age: Ur III and the Neo-Sumerian Empire
Van de Mieroop, "The Third Dynasty of Ur," 73-84;
Roux, "The Great Kingdom of Ur," 161-175;
W "ETSCL: Sumerian King List (pt. 3, Ur III/Neo-Sumerians)" (click to open);
W/RS Roth, "Introduction," 1-10; "Laws of Ur-Namma," 13-21 (click to open);
W "ETSCL: Ur-Namma the Canal-digger" (click to open).
(10/11) Midterm Examination (60 mins.)
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+ + + FALL BREAK: October 14 through 16 + + +
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Week 9: October 16 and 18
(10/16) No Class
(10/18) Middle Bronze Age: The Fall of Ur and the Amorite Ascendancy
Roux, "The Great Kingdom of Ur," 175-177;
W/RS Roth, "Laws of Lipit-Ishtar," 23-35 (click to open);
W "ETSCL: Lament over the Destruction of Ur" (click to open);
W "ETSCL: Lament for Sumer and Ur" (click to open).
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Week 10: October 23 and 25
(10/23) Middle Bronze Age: The Old Babylonians and Old Assyrians
Van de Mieroop, "The Near East in the Early Second Millennium," 85-94; "Hammurabi's Babylon," 111-119;
Roux, "The Amorites," 179-185; "Hammurabi," 195-207;
Kovacs, Gilgamesh, "Introduction," xvii-xxxv;
W/RS Roth, "Law Code of Hammurabi," 71-140;
RS/Ref "Edict of Ammisaduqa" (ANE 2, 36-41 or ANET 526-528);
(10/25) Van de Mieroop, "Assyria and the East," 94-105;
Roux, "Eshnunna and Assur," 185-189; 208-224;
Kovacs, Gilgamesh, Tablet I, 2-12;
W/RS Roth, "Laws of Eshnunna," 57-68;
W Mesopotamian Legal Texts. (click to open).
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Week 11: October 30 and November 1
(10/30) Mesopotamia: Late Bronze Age: The Middle Babylonians and Mitanni
Van de Mieroop, "Club of Great Powers," 130-148; "Kassites," 171-179; "Western States," 149-155;
Roux, "Hurrians and Mitannians," 233-237; "Kassites," 241-256;
Ref Winhelm, "The Kingdom of Mitanni in 2nd Millennium Upper Mesopotamia,"
in CANE 2, 1243-1255;
W/RS "Royal Correspondences of Egypt: EA 7, EA 8, EA 10, EA 11,
EA 17, EA 26" (W. Moran, The Amarna Letters, 12-17,
19-23, 41-42, 84-85);
Kovacs, Gilgamesh, Tablet II, 14-21.
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Week 12: November 6 and 8
(11/6) Anatolia: The Hittite Old Kingdom
Van de Mieroop, "The Hittite Old Kingdom," 119-125;
Roux, "New Peoples," 225-232;
RS/Ref "The Telepinus Myth,"(ANE 1, 87-91 or ANET 126-128);
Kovacs, Gilgamesh, Tablet Tablets III-IV, 24-38.
(11/8) Anatolia: The Hittite New Kingdom
Van de Mieroop, "The Hittite New Kingdom," 156-163;
Roux, "The Time of Suppiluliumas," 257-261;
RS Roth, "Hittite Laws," 213-240;
W/Ref "Suppiluliumas and the Egyptian Queen," (ANET 319) (click to open);
W Hittite-Egyptian royal correspondences (G. Beckman, Hittite
Diplomatic Texts, 121-129) (click to open);
Kovacs, Gilgamesh, Tablets 5-6, 40-56.
Annotated Bibliography Due (11/8)
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Week 13: November 13 and 15
(11/13) Mesopotamia: The Middle Assyrians
Van de Mieroop, "Assyria," 179-184;
Roux, "Assur and Susa versus Babylon," 261-265;
W/RS Roth, "Middle Assyrian Laws," 153-192 (click to open)
Kovacs, Gilgamesh, Tablets 7-8, 58-72.
(11/15) Mesopotamia: The Neo-Assyrian Empire
Van de Mieroop, "The Rise of Assyria," 229-269
Roux, "The Rise of Assyria," 282-354;
RS/Ref "Sargon II: The Fall of Samaria," (ANE 1, 195-198 or ANET 284-287).
RS/Ref "Sennacherib: The Siege of Jerusalem," (ANE 1, 199-201 or ANET 199-201).
RS/Ref "Banquet of Ashurnasirpal II."(ANE 2, 99-104 or ANET 558-560).
Kovacs, Gilgamesh, Tablets 9-10, 74-89.
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Week 14: November 20 and 22
(11/20) The Neo-Babylonians
Van de Mieroop, "The Neo-babylonian Dynasty," 276-285;
Roux, "The Chaldaean Kings," 372-406;
W Roth, "Neo-Babylonian Laws," 143-148 (click to open);
W Babylonian Deed of Slave Manumission (click to open);
RS/Ref "Historiographic Documents," (ANE 1, 202-205 or ANET 304-308).
RS/Ref "Mother of Nabonidus," (ANE 2, 104-108 or ANET 560-562).
RS/Ref "Nabonidus and His God," (ANE 2, 108-112 or ANET 562-563).
RS/Ref "Conquest of Jerusalem," (ANE 2, 112-113 or ANET 563-564).
Kovacs, Gilgamesh, Tablet 10, "Utnapishtim," 90-94.
(11/22) Thanksgiving: No Class
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Week 15: November 27 and 29
(11/27) Epic of Gilgamesh: Discussion
Van de Mieroop, "The Epic of Gilgamesh," 264;
Kovacs, Gilgamesh, Tablet 11, "the Flood" + Epilogue, 96-107.
Term Paper Due (11/27)
(11/29) Last Day of Class: The Medes and the Persian Empire
Van de Mieroop, "The Persioan Empire," 286-301;
Roux, "The Achaemenian Period"," 406-412;
RS "Foundation Tablet of Xerxes from Persepolis," (ANET 316-317).
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FINAL EXAMINATION:
Thursday, December 6, 12:00 noon-3:00 pm (MYBK 317)