HIS 249 History of the Ancient Near East
This course surveys the political, social, and cultural history of the Near East from the birth of urbanism and the invention of writing in the fourth millennium B.C.E. to the defeat of the Persian empire by Alexander the Great in 300 B.C.E. We will cover regional empires, including Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, and Hatti, as well as smaller kingdoms and tribal coalitions, including Israel, Judah, and Ugarit. And we will examine the daily, annual, and life-cycle routines of the ancient Near Eastern family. Throughout, we will be guided by the documents that have survived from these ancient cultures, sometimes only through later copies and redactions. Letters, trial transcripts, contracts, monumental inscriptions, and mythological narratives,among other texts, will provide students with a window into ancient society and culture.