Department website: http://neareast.jhu.edu/
The Department of Near Eastern Studies offers programs in four main areas: Egyptology, Assyriology, Northwest Semitic languages and literatures (including the Hebrew Bible), and Near Eastern Archaeology and art. The department approaches Near Eastern civilizations primarily through their own records, and language study is therefore an important part of the curriculum. However, many undergraduate courses require no knowledge of foreign languages and any interested student may take them.
Facilities
The university’s Milton S. Eisenhower Library contains an outstanding collection of books and journals in the branches of Near Eastern studies pursued by the department. The Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum has a collection of Near Eastern antiquities, including excellent study collections of Egyptian artifacts and Palestinian pottery. The Baltimore-Washington area is especially rich in library and museum facilities. Of special interest to students of the Near East are the Walters Art Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Library of Congress.
For current course information and registration go to https://sis.jhu.edu/classes/
Courses
Review of important issues in ancient Near Eastern history and culture from the Neolithic era to the Persian period. Included will be an examination of the Neolithic agricultural revolution, the emergence of cities, states and writing, and formation of empires. Cultures such as Sumer and Akkad, Egypt, the Hittites, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians will be discussed.
Area: Humanities
This seminar explores the social roles of sexuality, alcohol, other drugs, music, fragrance, and sensuality in secular and religious areas of Egyptian life, largely but not exclusively during the New Kingdom, ca. 1500 to 1000 B.C. The ancient attitudes towards these elements will be explored through the ancient textual sources in translation and the artistic representations.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
Freshman OnlyA case-study approach to the political, social, and cultural history of one of the ancient Near Eastern states commonly described as an “empire,” such as the Akkadian Empire, the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, or the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire. Individual classes mix a discussion of theoretical issues relevant to the study of ancient empires with close attention to primary sources.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
Egypt in the time of Cleopatra was a fascinating mix of peoples and cultures. Jews, Greeks, and other ethnic groups lived in this unique landscape along with the native Egyptians. In this class we will consider the rich civilization and complex history of Egypt during the reign of this legendary Queen.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
A survey of medicine and medical practice in the ancient Near East and, to a lesser extent, the Aegean world. The abundant sources range from magical spells to surprisingly “scientific” treatises and handbooks. Readings are selected from translations of primary sources in the writings of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Israel, Greece, and Rome. Topics will include the sources of our knowledge; the nature of medical practitioners, medical treatment, and surgery; beliefs about disease and the etiology of illness; concepts of contagion and ritual purity.
Area: Humanities
This course is an introduction to the religion of ancient Mesopotamia (3000-500 BC) through its myths and legends. We will approach Mesopotamian religion through both the textual and archaeological record. Although the focus will be on the myths and legends of Mesopotamia, we will also discuss rituals, magic, and household religion. By the end of this course, students should be familiar with the chief deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon, important texts pertaining to these deities, and the material culture of Mesopotamian religion.
Area: Humanities
This course examines the evolution of writing and the relationship between speech and writing in ancient and modern societies. We will examine the ways in which orthography, scripts, and the visual components inherent to written language (e.g., scripts, fonts, emoticons, diacritics etc.) are used to create and/or project certain social identities in these new written spaces. A primary aim of this course is to generate discussion regarding the ways in which writing in all of its forms—at the institutional, group, and individual level, in official documents, in emails, texts, tweets, and graffiti, using standardized and non-standard orthographies, in both regulated and unregulated spaces—can be a social and often political act of identity. The writing assignments for the course will encourage you to consider the ways in which writing can be harnessed to express social identities. You will work as a group to develop your own writing system and present it to the class. This will hone your creative and critical thinking skills and give you practice collaborating on a project. You will also research and conduct an original analysis on a corpus of writing.
Area: Humanities
A basic introduction to Egyptian Religion, with a special focus on the nature of the gods and how humans interact with them. We will devote particular time to the Book of the Dead and to the "magical" aspects of religion designed for protective purposes.
Area: Humanities
Already in Antiquity, the Egyptians had a reputation for wisdom and "secret" knowledge. But what was the reality behind this reputation? Who was a "wise man" or "wise woman" in Egypt? How didthey organize and teach scientific ideas and concepts? How did they compose, maintain, and transmit the "books" containing their canon of knowledge? From the abundant ethical, scientific, literary, magical, and religious writings of the Egyptians we will attempt to understand what wisdom and knowledge meant to the Ancient Egyptians.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
Ancient Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, Syria, and Iran, is the “cradle of civilization.” It witnessed new inventions previously unknown to the ancient world: urban cities, writing systems, kingship, and empires. This course examines the close relationship between war and peace and art in ancient Mesopotamia (ancient Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria) from 3500 to 539 BCE. During the semester students will be introduced to the art, architecture, and archaeology of ancient Mesopotamia. This course is aimed at students without a previous background in art historical or archaeological approaches to Mesopotamia, but more advanced students are welcome.
Area: Humanities
Statues in ancient Egypt were extremely powerful images. Following the appropriate rituals, a statue could eat, breath, smell, and see. Wealthy men and women, including the king and his high officials, commissioned statues of themselves to erect in temples and their tombs. This allowed them to benefit from offerings set in front of the statues and essentially live forever. Throughout their history, the Egyptians also carved statues of prisoners, servants, and deities. In this class, we will explore a variety of statues from throughout ancient Egyptian history. How did the Egyptians use statues, and why did they create these objects? Do the answers to these questions vary for different types of statues? In considering this, we will discuss manufacturing techniques, materials, subject matter, style, and the relationship between text and image. However, we will also examine other topics that may at first seem to be less obviously related, including mummies and the process of mummification, religion and magic in ancient Egypt, temples and tombs, and funerary beliefs. In order for students to directly analyze statues, we will take advantage of Baltimore's museums and visit collections of Egyptian art throughout the semester.
Area: Humanities
What happened to the ten lost tribes of Israel? Was Abraham Jewish? How far back can Jewish ethnicity be traced using genetic research? These questions and more will be topics of discussion as we explore the development of Jewish identity, beginning with the first evidence of a people called “Israel” in the 13th century BCE and ending with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The class will start with a discussion of different types of identity, including ethnic, religious, and cultural identities, as well as how identity can vary between members of the same community. We will also consider how ancient peoples can be studied using textual and archaeological sources. Then we will take a loosely diachronic approach to the development of Jewish identity, from the elusive origins of the Israelites to their existence as a monarchic state under rulers such as King David; from their forced displacement under the Assyrian empire to the Diaspora caused by the Romans. Using primary and secondary source materials, we will assess the key developments in group identity that took place at these times and the factors which influenced them.
Area: Humanities
Introduction to the monuments and culture of Egypt from 3500 B.C. to 100 A.D. From the pyramids at Giza to Hellenistic Alexandria, this course surveys in slide illustrated lectures the remains of one of the world’s greatest early cultures.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
This course will survey the cultural history of Jerusalem over three millennia, primarily as the symbolic focus of three faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The course content will focus on the transformation of sacred space as reflected by literary and archaeological evidence by examining the artifacts, architectural monuments, and iconography in relation to written sources. The creation of mythic Jerusalem through event and experience will be examined. Course requirements will focus on the development of advanced writing skills and critical thinking.
Area: Humanities
Is astrology science? Is ancient medicine magic? What is the logic of divination? I invite you to explore the answers with me by traveling back in time to ancient Egypt, a place where knowledge from the ancient Mediterranean world once converged. We will start by bridging the difference between science and magic and establishing the importance of contextualization in cross-culture studies. The topics range from the birth of astronomy, the language and logic of dream books to gynecological texts’ connections with love magic.
Area: Humanities
The Bible is arguably the most read and yet most misinterpreted book of all time, one of the most influential and yet most misapplied work of literature. The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is Scripture to Jews and Christians yet also a rich collection of literature w/ numerous literary genres that has been highly influential on secular Western culture. At its core, it is our most important literary source that (when wed with archaeology) helps us to understand the people and culture of Iron Age Israel and Judah. This is an introductory course surveying of the books of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) giving primary attention to the religious ideas they contain and the ancient contexts in which they were composed. Topics include: The Academic Study of Religion, Ancient Creation Accounts, Ancestral Religion, The Exodus and Moses, Covenant, Tribalism and Monarchy, The Ideology of Kingship, Prophecy, Priestly Sources, Psalms, Wisdom Literature, and Apocalyptic Thought.
Area: Humanities
“What My Soul Said to Me” will be focused on looking at the mortuary culture in Middle Kingdom Egypt through various types of evidence. By looking at the funerary culture of this age, students will learn about the funerary culture of Egypt during this period and will also become more familiar with the Middle Kingdom period in general. More importantly, students will be encouraged to think about larger topics involved in archaeological and historical studies, while using Middle Kingdom period Egypt as a setting to focus those discussions. This course is aimed at students without a previous background in archaeology or Egyptology, but more advanced students are welcome.
Area: Humanities
This archaeology course will provide an overview of technological developments in the ancient world (from the Neolithic period to the beginning of the first millennium CE) and will explore their effects on the organization of economies and societies. Each week we will discuss a technological innovation and assess its impact on the societies that introduced it. This course will focus primarily on developments and case studies from the ancient Near Eastern and eastern Africa. We will depart from this trajectory to engage in relevant comparisons with developments occurring in other areas of the ancient world. Throughout the course, social aspects of technologies will be explored alongside economic aspects. In addition to focusing on the development of technologies as ‘objects’ (stone tools, pottery, metals, etc.), we will study non-material technologies, that arose as solutions to practical problems and have altered the world in important ways (agriculture, animal domestication, writing, etc.). This course approaches past technologies from a number of different perspectives: (1) by learning about particular anthropological and archaeological case studies, (2) by engaging with scholarship focusing on major theoretical and philosophical themes, (3) by engaging with ethnographic research, both in the form of articles and in the form of documentaries, and (4) by means of thought experiments and debates. This course will benefit humanities, social science, and science-oriented students who have an interest in understanding the inner-workings of two important aspects of human societies: technology and economy
Area: Humanities
Chances are you’ve heard of Cleopatra and the curse of King Tut’s tomb. You may have even met a mummy or two, whether in the flesh or on the silver screen. Even today, 5,000 years after the dawn of Egyptian civilization—and half-way around the globe—the land of the pharaohs continues to fascinate the Western world. But, how is it that ancient Egypt came to be so deeply entrenched in Western culture? This course considers the history of Western interaction with ancient Egypt and examines the consequences of laying claim to a culture that is not one’s own. We will approach our study through the lens of consumption, both material and cultural, situating these phenomena within their historical and contemporary contexts. By engaging with both primary and secondary sources, we will consider the power relations embedded in Egyptian archaeology and the writing of history as well as the ethics of collecting and displaying ancient Egyptian material culture. We will also investigate the popularization of ancient Egypt known as “Egyptomania,” focusing on the commoditization of ancient Egyptian culture in Western media and merchandise. By the end of the class, students will be able to engage with the complex, yet fundamental, question of who owns culture and what is at stake when we uncritically consume an image of the past.
Area: Humanities
The Middle East is home to the invention of agriculture, cities, and writing. It is also in the Middle East that we find evidence of humanity’s earliest diplomatic activity in, for instance, the actual letters sent by ancient kings to one another, the treaties drawn up after their conflicts, and the inscriptions that commemorate their conquests. In this course, we examine texts such as these to explore questions such as: How do we characterize the international system of the ancient Middle East? Does this system change over the approximately two millennia for which we have documentation? Is it better to approach ancient diplomacy through present-day eyes or in the context of ancient world-views? Is an understanding of diplomacy in the ancient Middle East relevant to our understanding of modern international relations? All texts read in translation.
Area: Humanities
The ancient world viewed Egypt as a repository of wisdom and learning, and even today, Egypt possesses in the modern consciousness a reputation for secret knowledge. From within Egypt, a diverse corpus of texts meant to record and transmit knowledge have survived and attest to Egyptian “scholarship.” This course will focus on what kinds of knowledge belonged to this written tradition (3000 BCE to 300 CE) and how those texts reflected broader social and cultural norms. This course will also consider, where relevant, the relationship between the intellectual traditions of Egypt and other societies of the ancient world, particularly Greece and Mesopotamia. Strong correlations between the Egyptian material and modern intellectual and scientific traditions, such as mathematics, astronomy, and medicine exist; but magic, divination, and religion were often treated in the same systematic, critical manner by the Egyptians. Thus the course will challenge modern understandings of science, and modern dichotomies such as rational versus irrational. After a brief introduction to Egypt, the first few weeks will concern who created these texts, who had access tothem, and their physical and intellectual milieu. Then, each week will cover a particular area of knowledge, its primary sources, social and multicultural context, and its relationship to the theoreticalthemes of the course.
Area: Humanities
How and why did our nomadic hunting and gathering ancestors become farmers? What led agricultural societies to build cities, develop writing, religious institutions, wage war, and trade for exotic goods? This course surveys prehistory and ancient history from the origins of human culture to the emergence civilization. Although prehistory and ancient history yield evidence of tremendous cultural diversity this course emphasizes common elements of past human experience, culture, and culture change. These include the origins of modern humans and their adjustment to a variety of post-ice age environments, shifts from hunting and gathering to agricultural lifeways, and the initial development of the world’s earliest cities and civilizations.
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
This course explores the mythology of the ancient Near East from the invention of writing in Sumer in 3000 B.C. until the conquest of Alexander the Great near the end of the first millennium B.C. Mythological texts from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia, the Levant, and the Bible will be read from a comparative perspective. Special attention is paid to the origin and development of the epic, culminating in the great Epic of Gilgamesh, but considerable time is also given to the vast mythological and historical literature, and such diverse genres as love poetry, proverbs, humorous dialogues, Omens, and legal and medical texts. All readings are in English translation.
Area: Humanities
This course examines Africa’s ancient past from the emergence of biologically modern humans, ancient hunter-gatherers, the earliest animal herding and farming populations, to cities and civilizations. While Egypt plays an undeniably central role in world history, this course concentrates in particular on ancient geographies other than Egypt.
Area: Humanities
The reign of Tutankhamun ended a period of fascinating upheaval in ancient Egypt, when a king attempted to stamp out the traditional gods and introduce monotheism. He changed the art of Egypt radically and built a new city from which to rule. This course covers the second half of the 14th century B.C., including the time of the heretic king Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti, and his possible son Tutankhamun who ruled over all Egypt as a boy. So many questions still exist about this time and so many surprising ideas have been put forward to explain them. We will pursue as many as we can. Illustrated lectures will combine with group and individual presentations by students, supplemented with videos and online discussions with scholars who study this time period.
Area: Humanities
The consumption of alcohol is one of the oldest known human practices. Almost every culture has some type of mind-altering beverage that influences and shapes many facets of society. This course is a cross-cultural examination of the power and significance of alcohol in the ancient world. From the Neolithic to the Classical symposium to the Egyptian festival, the importance of communal drinking—alcohol or otherwise—is a uniting factor across the ancient world. This class will unpack the impact and significance of alcohol across a wide-range of ancient cultures, and examine what the study of alcohol might reveal about ancient societies. This includes alcohol as medicine, its religious and ritual functions, alcohol as a community unifier (and divider) and identity builder, and its practical and economic uses. Students will apply anthropological and archaeological theories to understand why, how, and to what effect humans drink.
Area: Humanities
One of the most significant transformations in human history was the “urban revolution” in which cities, writing, and social classes formed for the first time. In this course, we compare five areas where this development occurred: China, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, Egypt, and Mesoamerica (Mexico/Guatemala/Honduras/Belize). In each region, we review the physical setting, the archaeological and textual evidence, and the theories advanced to explain the rise (and eventual collapse) of these complex societies.
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
A broad survey of the significant political and cultural dynamics of Jewish history in the Medieval, Early-Modern, and Modern Eras.
Area: Humanities
We all use language every day—not just to communicate information, but to communicate who we are. How does this work? What do our language choices tell others about us? This course will consider some of the ways in which language and society are entangled—both the ways that different social categories are encoded in language, and the ways that groups of people use language to define themselves. Along the way, the course will address questions of dialect, diglossia, multilingualism, style, language planning, politeness, language and gender, language and power, and more.This course is designed for students without a background in linguistics. During the semester students will learn the basic research methods used by sociolinguists, then complete a project on a topic of their choosing.
Area: Humanities
This course is intended to introduce students to the discipline of zooarchaeology, the study of animal remains from archaeological sites. Humans have long depended on their animal counterparts not only for nutritional value, but for their economic, symbolic, and social value, making the study of animals in the human past deeply revealing of the entangled worlds that humans and animals lived in together. In service of this investigation, zooarchaeology, or the study of animal remains from archaeological sites, has developed interdisciplinary techniques in order to address archaeological questions. Zooarchaeology has the ability to provide insight into ancient human behavior around the world including economic strategies, dietary practices, religious observances, ecological interactions, and more. The course will introduce students to the basics of archaeological investigation and the identification of faunal osteological remains on archaeological sites, as well as some of the basic tools and techniques used to derive meaningful conclusions from primary data. Students will be introduced to the principles of comparative anatomy and the major elements of mammalian, avian, and fish skeletons. Students will also be taught to recognize significant markers for taphonomy, sex, butchery, age, and pathology and how this information is used to generate archaeological knowledge. Supplementary readings that help illustrate the application of these techniques to archaeological interpretation will be provided and discussed in class.
Area: Humanities
A survey of scientific practices and technological innovations in the ancient world, including astronomy, medicine, law, and divination. Special attention will be devoted to the relationship between magic and science during the periods covered.
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
A survey of the history of Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria.
Area: Humanities
A survey of the history of Ancient Syria and Canaan, including Ancient Israel.
Area: Humanities
A survey of the history of Ancient Syria and Cannan, including ancient Israel. Taught with AS.134.661. Cross-listed with Jewish Studies.
Area: Humanities
This lecture course is a survey of the history, society, and culture of Graeco-Roman Egypt. We will concentrate on Ptolemaic Egypt (ca. 332-30 B.C.), but will also devote some time to Roman Egypt, especially to the subjects of the decline of paganism and spread of Christianity in Egypt.
Area: Humanities
Recent excavation and research have shed light on several ancient cultures of the Nile and its tributaries.We will look at the available archaeological and textual (all Egyptian) evidence for these societies and their interactions with Egypt between 3500 and 300 B.C. We will also discuss research aims and methods employed now and in the past in Egypt and the Sudan.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
References to the story of the Garden of Eden can be found in every significant issue of our time, from sex to politics, from race to the environment. The course will examine the story itself as well as how it's been interpreted, leading up to today. Enthusiastic participation required.
Area: Humanities
This class will aim to cover the production and choice of funerary objects for Egyptian elite tombs in several eras of antiquity: the Middle and New Kingdoms, the Third Intermediate Period, and the Late Periods. Students will work with specific objects after learning generally about them, and they will carry out analyses of materials, pigments, construction methods, and erosion and degradation effects. They will create a virtual exhibition for the Museum's website and present their results for inclusion in the museum cataloguing project.
Area: Humanities
During the Modern Era in European history, the Traditionalist Jewish civilization of Europe that had evolved over many centuries went into deep crisis. The new political, social, and intellectual realities which characterized Modernity seriously challenged, overwhelmed, and indeed threatened to destroy the Jewish Traditionalist culture and society. In response, different Traditionalist thinkers and communities evolved a number of strategies for surviving in a modern environment, strategies that unexpectedly transformed Traditionalism into something different, which came to be called Orthodox Judaism. This course explores this process of transformation, which has had an important impact on Jewish life in the modern and post-modern eras. Cross-listed with Jewish Studies.
Area: Humanities
A survey of the manuscripts found at Quran and other sites near the Dead Sea.
Area: Humanities
Broadly surveying classic rabbinic literature, including the Talmud and its commentaries, the legal codes and the response, this seminar explores the immanent as well as the external factors that shaped the development of this literature, the seminal role of this literature in Jewish self-definition and self-perception, and the role of this literature in pre-modern and modern Jewish culture.
Area: Humanities
Description: "How does a religious system which defines its ancient laws as God-given and unchangeable apply them to radically different and changing social, political and intellectual situations? This course explores the literature of "Questions and Answers"(She'elot u-Teshuvot), the Jewish legal responsa which have struggled to match Jewish religious law to modern life for fifteen centuries. A sweeping survey of Jewish history as revealed by one of its most impenetrable yet fascinating sources. Cross-listed with Jewish Studies.
Area: Humanities
This course introduces technologies archaeologists use to map ancient landscapes. These include Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping software, advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, and various types of satellite imagery. Taught together with AS.131.653.
Area: Natural Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Climate change, population growth, war - what questions do archaeologists ask about the ancient past, how do they collect relevant evidence, and how do they arrive at satisfying answers to their questions? This course will review major theoretical currents in archaeology including evolutionary, cultural-historical, processual and post-processual approaches and discuss the future of archaeology as a scientific and humanistic discipline. Basic techniques for analyzing major categories of artifacts such as lithics, ceramics, archaeobotanical, and zooarchaeological materials will also be introduced.
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Applications of GIS in archaeology have recently expanded dramatically and GIS has now become an indispensable tool for archaeological research worldwide. This course will introduce the major applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in archaeology. These include the history of GIS in archaeology, air photography and satellite imagery, predictive modeling, hydrological modeling, viewsheds, and least-cost routes. It will grapple with theoretical issues manifest in archaeological GIS including conflicts between environment and social understandings of the ancient past, and will foster discussion of issues that affect outcomes of analyses including spatial scale and boundary delineation choices that can dramatically influence results. Students will learn the basics of ESRI’s ArcGIS software. Taught with AS.131.657.
Area: Humanities, Natural Sciences
This course examines the archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula from the earliest Paleolithic in the region (c. 1.5 million years ago) through the first few centuries of the Islamic era (c. 1000 AD). We will review basic geology and environmental conditions, examine the development of animal herding and crop cultivating lifeways, and scrutinize the rise of ancient South Arabian complex societies and civilizations. Co-listed with AS.131.664.
Area: Humanities
This course explores economic and social histories of water in the ancient Near East. It examines water’s diverse roles in ancient Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Levantine and South Arabian agriculture, politics, ritual and religion, including water’s interconnected significance in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Taught jointly with AS.131.615.
Area: Humanities
From thundering voices of social justice to apocalyptic visionaries, biblical prophets have been revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims for thousands of years. They have inspired civic leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. yet also provided fodder for modern charlatans promising a utopian future. Yet who were these individuals (orators? politicians? diviners? poets?) and what was the full range of their message as set against the Realpolitik world of ancient Israel, Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Jordan?
Area: Humanities
This course will introduce students to the vast body of rituals that were practiced and performed in antiquity, with a particular emphasis on rituals from ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Hebrew Bible. In addition to examining rituals from a comparative perspective, anthropological and sociological studies of ritual will be read and discussed to shed light on the social, cultural, and political significance of ritual in the ancient world and beyond.
Area: Humanities
Geoarchaeology is a multidisciplinary subfield that applies the tools and techniques of earth science to understand ancient humans and their interactions with environments. This course examines basic topics and concepts, including archaeological site formation, paleo-environmental reconstruction, raw materials and resources, soil science, deposition and erosion of wind and water-borne sediments in different environments such as along rivers, lakes and coastlines, radiocarbon and other chronometric dating methods, and ground-based remote sensing, including ground penetrating radar.
Area: Natural Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
This course provides an overview of technological developments in the ancient world, by foregrounding the development of objects (stone tools, pottery, metals) and of non-materialtechnologies (agriculture, animal domestication, writing).
Area: Humanities
An introduction to the paleography, grammar and lexicon of the Akkadian language, and the reading of simpler texts in that language. Co-listed with AS.132.600
Area: Humanities
A survey of the history of Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria.
Area: Humanities
An introduction to the paleography, grammar, and lexicon of the Akkadian language, and the reading of simpler texts in that language.Continues AS.130.381
Area: Humanities
This course will explore the artistic expression of Egyptian culture from the 3rd through the 6th Dynasties, ca. 2700-2100 B.C. Tombs, temples, statuary, and two-dimensional wall decoration provide a large visual vocabulary of Egyptian concepts. This class will look at these elements, separately and in combination in order to consider the intentions behind the art and evaluate the degree to which religious and ideological symbolism, known from later Egyptian art, should be understood in the early pyramid-building era.
Area: Humanities
An exploration of how ancient Israelite techniques of literary textual and inter-textual patterning contributes to cohesion and meaning in biblical prose and verse. Attention will be given to the distinguishing characteristics of Hebrew verse in relation to prose, and to a range of different kinds of prose in Israelite literature. These poetics will be exemplified in close readings of selected texts from the Hebrew Bible in English.
Area: Humanities
An introduction to the paleography, grammar and lexicon of the Sumerian language, and the reading of simpler texts in that language.
Area: Humanities
An introduction to the paleography,, grammar and lexicon of the Sumerian language and the reading of simpler texts in that language.
Area: Humanities
What was it like to live in ancient Egypt? At first this question may seem deceivingly straightforward. But with further thought, its complexity becomes clear. Who are we concerned with? How the king lived? A poor farmer? His wife or children? A foreign immigrant? Moreover, what is our evidence for life in Egypt? Do all of the sources support similar interpretations? Thiscourse will begin to tackle these questions by considering the experiences of different people in ancient Egypt.
Area: Humanities
Introduction to the grammar and writing system of the classical language of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055-1650 B.C.). In the second semester, literary texts and royal inscriptions will be read. Course meets with AS.133.600.
Area: Humanities
Introduction to the grammar and writing system of the classical language of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (ca. 2011- 1700 B.C.). Co-listed with AS.133.601.
Prerequisite(s): AS.130.400 or equivalent.
Area: Humanities
This writing intensive seminar examines the relationship between religion and science in ancient Mesopotamia and the rest of the Near East from the 4th millennium to the Hellenistic period. Using a variety of case studies, and through engagement with scholarly literature pertaining to the topic of the course, students will develop skills in specific research skills such as critical reading, analysis, and interpretation.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
Introduction to the grammar, vocabulary, and writing system of biblical Hebrew.
Area: Humanities
Survey of grammar and reading of simple texts. (Credit given only on completion of AS.130.440 and AS.130.441). May not be taken on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.
Area: Humanities
Reading of biblical Hebrew prose, especially from the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. Cross-listed with Jewish Studies.
Area: Humanities
Reading of Biblical Hebrew prose, especially from the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings.
Area: Humanities
Intermediate readings in a variety of narratives with some exposure to poetic text
Area: Humanities
Intermediate readings in a variety of narratives with some exposure to poetic text. A continuation of AS.130.446.
Area: Humanities
Prerequisite(s): You must request Independent Academic Work using the Independent Academic Work form found in Student Self-Service: Registration > Online Forms.
Prerequisite(s): You must request Independent Academic Work using the Independent Academic Work form found in Student Self-Service: Registration > Online Forms.
Prerequisite(s): You must request Independent Academic Work using the Independent Academic Work form found in Student Self-Service: Registration > Online Forms.
Prerequisite(s): You must request Independent Academic Work using the Independent Academic Work form found in Student Self-Service: Registration > Online Forms.
Prerequisite(s): You must request Independent Academic Work using the Independent Academic Work form found in Student Self-Service: Registration > Online Forms.
Writing Intensive
Prerequisite(s): You must request Independent Academic Work using the Independent Academic Work form found in Student Self-Service: Registration > Online Forms.;AS.130.510
Writing Intensive
Prerequisite(s): You must request Independent Academic Work using the Independent Academic Work form found in Student Self-Service: Registration > Online Forms.
Seminar in Near Eastern History: Mesopotamia
A three-year history cycle required of all graduate students and forming the core of our graduate program. One year each will be devoted to Egyptian history, Mesopotamian history, and Syro-Palestinian history.
This course examines Africa’s ancient past from the emergence of biologically modern humans, ancient hunter-gatherers, the earliest animal herding and farming populations, to cities and civilizations. While Egypt plays an undeniably central role in world history, this course concentrates in particular on ancient geographies other than Egypt.
Area: Humanities
Topic varies but can include the archaeology of Mesopotamia, Syria, or Palestine, or thematic discussions (e.g., on ideology, state collapse, etc.).
Topic varies but can include the archaeology of Mesopotamia, Syria, or Palestine, or thematic discussions (e.g., on ideology, state collapse, etc.).
Area: Humanities
This course introduces technologies archaeologists use to map ancient landscapes. These include Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping software, advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, and various types of satellite imagery. Taught together with AS.130.353.
Area: Natural Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Climate change, population growth, war - what questions do archaeologists ask about the ancient past, how do they collect relevant evidence, and how do they arrive at satisfying answers to their questions? This course will review major theoretical currents in archaeology including evolutionary, cultural-historical, processual and post-processual approaches and discuss the future of archaeology as a scientific and humanistic discipline. Basic techniques for analyzing major categories of artifacts such as lithics, ceramics, archaeobotanical, and zooarchaeological materials will also be introduced.
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Applications of GIS in archaeology have recently expanded dramatically and GIS has now become an indispensible tool for archaeological research worldwide. This course will introduce the major applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in archaeology. These include the history of GIS in archaeology, air photography and satellite imagery, predictive modeling, hydrological modeling, viewsheds, and least-cost routes. It will grapple with theoretical issues manifest in archaeological GIS including conflicts between environment and social understandings of the ancient past, and will foster discussion of issues that affect outcomes of analyses including spatial scale and boundary delineation choices that can dramatically influence results. Students will learn the basics of ESRI’s ArcGIS software.Taught with AS.130.357.
Area: Humanities, Natural Sciences
This course examines the archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula from the earliest Paleolithic in the region (c. 1.5 million years ago) through the first few centuries of the Islamic era (c. 1000 AD). We will review basic geology and environmental conditions, examine the development of animal herding and crop cultivating lifeways, and scrutinize the rise of ancient South Arabian complex societies and civilizations. Co-listed with AS.130.364.
Geoarchaeology is a multidisciplinary subfield that applies the tools and techniques of earth science to understand ancient humans and their interactions with environments. This course examines basic topics and concepts, including archaeological site formation, paleo-environmental reconstruction, raw materials and resources, soil science, deposition and erosion of wind and water-borne sediments in different environments such as along rivers, lakes and coastlines, radiocarbon and other chronometric dating methods, and ground-based remote sensing, including ground penetrating radar.
Area: Natural Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Area: Humanities
An introduction to the paleography, grammar and lexicon of the Akkadian language, and the reading of simpler texts in that language.
An introduction to the paleography, grammar and lexicon of the Akkadian language, and the reading of simpler texts in that language. Undergraduates admitted to this course earn 4.5 credits per semester.
Area: Humanities
In this course a selection of intermediate level Akkadian texts from different genres and period will be read, analyzed and discussed. To build on skills learned in Introduction to Akkadian, specific emphasis will be placed on understanding more advanced grammatical forms and learning how to critically use research tools like the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary and von Soden's Akkadisches Handwoerterbuch.
In this course a selection of intermediate level Akkadian texts from different genres and period will be read, analyzed and discussed. To build on skills learned in Introduction to Akkadian, specific emphasis will be placed on understanding more advanced grammatical forms and learning how to critically use research tools like the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary and von Soden's Akkadisches Handwoerterbuch.
Area: Humanities
This course introduces students to letters written in the Akkadian language from a variety of historical periods. Recommended course background: AS.132.600 and AS.132.601.
Area: Humanities
This writing intensive seminar examines the relationship between religion and science in ancient Mesopotamia and the rest of the Near East from the 4th millennium to the Hellenistic period. Using a variety of case studies, and through engagement with scholarly literature pertaining to the topic of the course, students will develop skills in specific research skills such as critical reading, analysis, and interpretation.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
Students read texts in the original Akkadian cuneiform with attention to their philological, archaeological, historical, and literary features. The seminar topic varies from semester to semester but usually consists either of texts of various genres from a single period (e.g., Neo-Assyrian) or texts of various period from a signle genre (e.g., letters).
Area: Humanities
Students will read a variety of Akkadian texts commonly described as literary in the original cuneiform.
Reading treaties and related materials in Akkadian.
An introduction to the paleography, grammar and lexicon of the Sumerian language, and the reading of simpler texts in that language.
Area: Humanities
Area: Humanities
We will read Letter Collection B and related materials in the original cuneiform.
In this course a selection of Sumerian texts from different periods and genres will be read and discussed from a linguistic, philological, historical, and literary perspective.
Research and discussion on topics of current interest.
Research and discussion on topics of current interest.
Area: Humanities
A seminar-based course requiring that students have had at least one prior course in Egyptian art or archaeology. The course will consider the wide variety of ways that people analyze Egyptian art -- currently and over the last hundred twenty-five years. Art historical, anthropological, semiological, and various other approaches will be evaluated during the term. We will focus on reading authors discussing examples chosen from three millennia of art production.Recommended Course Background: At least one prior course in Egyptian art or archaeology.
Area: Humanities
Introduction to the grammar and writing system of the classical language of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (ca. 2135-2000 B.C.). In the second semester, literary texts and royal inscriptions will be read.
Introduction to the grammar and writing system of the classical language of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (ca. 2011-1700 B.C.). Co-listed with AS.130.401
Prerequisite(s): AS.133.600 or equivalent.
Area: Humanities
In this course we read a variety of Middle Egyptian hieroglyphic compositions and documents. Knowledge of Middle Egyptian Required.
In this course we read a variety of Middle Egyptian hieroglyphic compositions and documents. Knowledge of Middle Egyptian Required.
Area: Humanities
Using artistic, archaeological, and textual data, this course will apply recent anthropological and archaeological theories for understanding identity to ancient Egypt. In order to successfully approach such a broad concept, which could easily encompass many other topics, we will focus specifically on three different types of identity: ethnic (and cultural), gender, and sexual. Throughout the semester, we will explore how scholars identify past identities and the issues associated with this process. We will also consider the ways in which these identities were fluid, socially or culturally restricted, and self-defined.
Area: Humanities
An introduction to the grammar and texts of Late Egyptian.
Area: Humanities
Area: Humanities
In this class we will read Coptic texts of various genres.
This class will aim to cover the production and choice of funerary objects for Egyptian elite tombs in several eras of antiquity: the Middle and New Kingdoms, the Third Intermediate Period, and the Late Periods. Students will work with specific objects after learning generally about them, and they will carry out analyses of materials, pigments, construction methods, and erosion and degradation effects. They will create a virtual exhibition for the Museum's website and present their results for inclusion in the museum cataloguing project.
This course will look at the period from the end of the reign of Amenhotep III through that of Horemheb, ca. 1350 to 1300 B.C. Social, religious, and political aspects of the period will be the focus with an emphasis on understanding how radical changes to societal structure, the economy, and foreign policy may have been and what the evidence for this is.
This course will explore the artistic expression of Egyptian culture from the 3rd through the 6th Dynasties, ca. 2700-2100 B.C. Tombs, temples, statuary, and two-dimensional wall decoration provide a large visual vocabulary of Egyptian concepts. This class will look at these elements, separately and in combination in order to consider the intentions behind the art and evaluate the degree to which religious and ideological symbolism, known from later Egyptian art, should be understood in the early pyramid-building era.
In a world of big ideas, there is none larger than that of God. Divinity is an ever-present topic for both religious devotees and hard core secularists—for anyone who embraces the humanities or ponders what makes us human. Humans are, for better and worse, homo-religiosus (humans who practice religion) as much as homo-sapiens. But what do we know of God historically? How do we go about reconstructing divinity from ancient texts and archaeology? How do we best walk back in time to understand ancient Middle Eastern cultures that gave birth to notions of the divine that have come down to today’s Judaism, Christianity and Islam? This course looks synthetically at the vast topic of God—exploring questions of historical origin, how God was characterized in literature (mythic warrior, king, parent, judge, holy, compassionate) and how God was represented in iconography, both materially and abstractly. Secondly, how did belief intersect with practice? Using the indow of divinity, this course will peer into the varieties of religion experience, exploring the royal use of religion for power, prestige and control balanced against the intimacy of family and household religion. It will probe priestly prerogatives and cultic status, prophetic challenges to injustice, and the pondering of theodicy by poetic sages.
Area: Humanities
This course will provide an introduction to West Semitic dialects as reflected in inscriptions from the first millennium BCE. We will survey the grammar (phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon) of epigraphic Hebrew, Phoenician, and known Transjordanian languages (Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite). We will also discuss the methodological challenges inherent to the study of script evolution, scribalism, and the reconstruction of NWS languages through the study of inscriptions. This course will also introduce students to scholarship outside of the field of NWS and Hebrew Bible on literacy, the study of visual grammar, and the socio-semiotic approach to the study of writing.
Area: Humanities
A rapid reading course aimed at increasing proficiency in reading the Hebrew text of the book of Ezekiel. Various aspects of translation and interpretation will be studied (e.g., grammar, textual criticism, Philology) including literary, historical, and theological questions.
Area: Humanities
Translation and analysis of selected texts in Biblical Hebrew giving attention to advanced features of grammar and syntax. Topic: "Archaic Biblical Poetry".
Area: Humanities
Reading the Hebrew text of the book of Job with attention to philology, textual criticism, and various aspects of interpretation.
Area: Humanities
Translation, textual, philological, prosodic, literary and thematic analysis of Isaiah 40-55, with focus on how Hebrew verse as distinct from prose is constructed.
Area: Humanities
The Deuteronomistic History is one of the most enduring and influential theories in modern biblical scholarship. Though this theory has been criticized in recent years and no longer enjoys unanimous support, it still serves as a baseline for many scholars in the field. Whether one chooses to accept or reject this theory, discussion of its history and merits raises essential questions concerning the formation of the Hebrew Bible. This includes ancient conceptions of authorship and editing practices, the development of Israelite religious ideology, and the dating of many biblical texts. This course introduces the student to the basic history of the Deuteronomistic History as a scholarly construct, while at the same time engaging in the primary Hebrew texts. Students will readand translate biblical Hebrew for the first half of the class. During the second half of class, students will discuss and evaluate the applicability of each approach to passages in particular and the Deuteronomistic History as a whole. Special focus will be on recent criticism and defense in order to explore its continued viability.
Area: Humanities
This course examines the evolution of writing and the relationship between speech and writing in ancient and modern societies. We will examine the ways in which orthography, scripts, and the visual components inherent to written language (e.g., scripts, fonts, emoticons, diacritics etc.) are used to create and/or project certain social identities in these new written spaces.A primary aim of this course is to generate discussion regarding the ways in which writing in all of its forms—at the institutional, group, and individual level, in official documents, in emails, texts, tweets, and graffiti, using standardized and non-standard orthographies, in both regulated and unregulated spaces—can be a social and often political act of identity. The writing assignments for the course will encourage you to consider the ways in which writing can be harnessed to express social identities. You will work as a group to develop your own writing system and present it to the class. This will hone your creative and critical thinking skills and give you practice collaborating on a project. You will also research and conduct an original analysis on a corpus of writing.
Area: Humanities
A rapid reading course aimed at increasing proficiency in reading the Hebrew text of the book of Ezekiel. Various aspects of translation and interpretation will be studied (e.g., grammar, textual criticism, Philology) including literary, historical, and theological questions. Cross-listed with Jewish Studies.
Phonology and morphology of Biblical Hebrew.
Readings in the Aramaic texts from Qumran, such as the Prayer of Nabonidus, the Genesis Apocryphon, Targum of Job, and the Enochic literature.Basic ability to read Aramaic is necessary.
Area: Humanities
An introduction to the ancient witnesses of the biblical text and the principles of textual criticism.
This course surveys the linguistic and literary structure of the Pentateuch. A second and equally important focus will be the history of scholarship and its broader impact on the study of the history and religion of ancient Israel and Judah.
Area: Humanities
Translation and analysis of selected texts in Biblical Hebrew giving attention to advanced features of grammar and syntax. Topic: "Book of Jeremiah I".
Topics include history of scholarship, methodology, representations of deity, the aniconic tradition, solar Yahwism, sacred space, blood rituals, passover, royal cult, family religion, divination, prophecy, incantations, etc.
Comparative and historical analysis of the Semitic languages in their Afro-Asiatic context.
A survey of the history of Ancient Syria and Canaan, including Ancient Israel.
A survey of the history of Ancient Syria and Cannan, including Ancient Israel.
Area: Humanities
A year-long course studying Ugaritic language and literature. The first semester will focus on grammar and translating a representative selection of mythological texts. The second semester will concentrate on ritual texts. The course will also be epigraphic in nature using both conventional and digital techniques.
A continuation of AS.134.720 with emphasis on the mythological and ritual texts from Ugarit. A digital epigraphy lab will also form part of the course.
Area: Humanities
Area: Humanities
An advanced course in Aramaic devoted to the study of Old Aramaic inscriptions. We will be translating and analyzing a selection of texts from Northern Syria (e.g. Bar-Rakib; Hadad; Kuttamuwa, Nerab, Panamuwa, Sefire, Zakkur), Southern Syria (e.g. Bar-Hadad/Melqart Stela, Hazael, Tel Dan) and Northern Mesopotamia (e.g. Tell Fakhariyah). Students will be expected to vocalize such texts as a study in historical and comparative linguistics and to clarify their understanding of the morphology and syntax.
Area: Humanities
Cross Listed Courses
Archaeology
An introduction to archaeology and to archaeological method and theory, exploring how archaeologists excavate, analyze, and interpret ancient remains in order to reconstruct how ancient societies functioned. Specific examples from a variety of archaeological projects in different parts of the world will be used to illustrate techniques and principles discussed.
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Classics
This seminar investigates the Eastern Mediterranean as a space of intense cultural interaction in the Late Bronze Age, exploring how people, ideas, and things not only came into contact but deeply influenced one another through maritime trade, art, politics, etc. In addition to class discussion, we will work hands-on with artifacts from the JHU Archaeological Museum, focusing on material from Cyprus.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
This course explores the visual and material worlds of ancient Cyprus from the earliest human evidence through the Iron Age. Course topics will include the island's unique position between the Aegean and Near East and how this has impacted both Cyprus' ancient past and the way in which it has been conceived in the modern world. Class involves regular analysis of artifacts based in the Archaeological Museum.
Area: Humanities
Earth Planetary Sciences
The course provides a broad introduction to the principles and practice of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and related tools of Geospatial Analysis. Topics will include history of GIS, GIS data structures, data acquisition and merging, database management, spatial analysis, and GIS applications. In addition, students will get hands-on experience working with GIS software.
Area: Engineering, Natural Sciences
History
A survey of the major historical transformations of the region we now call the 'Middle East' (from late antiquity through the 11th century) in relation to the formation and development of Islam and various Muslim empires.Cross-listed with Near Eastern Studies and the Program in Islamic Studies.
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Seminar on the history of childhood and ideas of childhood around the medieval Mediterranean; themes include child custody; medieval education and punishment; parent-child private letters; child mortality and the arts of bereavement/consolation. Cross-listed with the Program in Islamic Studies and Near Eastern Studies.
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Examines case-studies of imperial conquests (Islamic, Mongol, reconquista, early colonialism) and attendant changes in religion (Christianization; Islamization) and in language (Arabization; transition from Latin to European vernaculars) across medieval Eurasia.
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
A historical survey of the bureaucratic practices of medieval Islamic states (in comparative perspective); includes clos readings of primary official documents, e.g. petitions, edicts, fiscal receipts, and administrative reports.
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Explores the concept of marvels in different genres of medieval Arabic culture: Qur'anic exegesis; travel literature; 'ethnography'; cosmography and geography; marvels of the natural world (e.g. hermaphrodites); Muslim views of pre-Islamic ('pagan') monuments.
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
History of Art
Specifics of gender and sexuality are not universal norms, but rather are the product of particular cultural formations. Works of art are especially critical in shaping and conveying these particularities. This seminar examines how artistic products expressed and constructed gender identities and notions of sexuality in ancient Mesopotamia from the 4th millennium to the Hellenistic period. As a group, we will explore a variety of case studies, through which students will be introduced to ancient Mesopotamian culture and will develop skills in specific research skills such as critical reading, analysis, and interpretation.
Area: Humanities
This course will introduce students to the art of the Roman world through art created by and for the Roman lower classes, art created in late antiquity, and art created in the far provinces of the empire. These topics represent a dramatic shift away from the traditional “center” of the study of Roman art (art created for the wealthy and politically privileged citizens of central Italy between the first century BCE and the first century CE), and are leading to new understanding of marginalized groups in the Roman world.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
This course provides a basis for the study of ancient Americas art and architecture and a broad exposure to the issues relevant to its study. Select visual arts within the primary regions of Mexico and Central America will be emphasized. In conjunction with the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and the JHU Archaeological Museum (JHAM), students will participate in on-site study of the collections. Students who have taken AS.010.105 are not eligible to register. This course duplicates AS.010.105.
Area: Humanities
Mesopotamia, the “land between the rivers,” is considered the cradle of civilization. Its earliest urban centers appeared by 3500 BCE in the region of modern-day Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Along with urbanism came the emergence of temples and palaces as large-scale elite institutions (along with written records). Their arts manifest some of the earliest complex representations and follow a vibrant course for several millennia. The first empires marshaled large armies and amassed fabulous riches. Complex religious and ritual ideologies were expressed in the art and architecture. And all has been revealed by the archaeologist’s spade. This class explores the art and architecture of Mesopotamia (ancient Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria) from 3500 to 330 BCE. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between the arts and ancient society in order to enable students to acquire the skills for accessing and appreciating ancient civilizations.
Area: Humanities
The development of archaeology in the Middle East – its history of explorers, diplomats, missionaries and gentlemen-scholars – profoundly shaped the modern world, from the creation of new museums and the antiquities market to international relations and terrorism.
Area: Humanities
From 900 to 609 BCE, the Assyrian Empire dominated the ancient Near Eastern world, stretching from western Iran to the Mediterranean and Egypt. In concert with imperial expansion came an explosion of artistic production ranging from palace wall reliefs to small-scale luxury objects. This course provides an integrated picture of the imperial arts of this first world empire, situating it within the broader social and political contexts of the first millennium BCE. In its conquest of foreign lands, this powerful state came in contact with and appropriated a diversity of cultures, such as Phoenicia, Egypt, and Greece, which we will also study.
Area: Humanities
The course focuses on art and architecture in the political and religious contexts of the Middle East, from the 4th to the 14th c. The three monotheistic religions all claimed specific territories -- in particular the city of Jerusalem -- for cult practices. This situation resulted in military conflicts that had an impact of Jewish, Medieval, Byzantine, and Islamic art in the Holy Land. The political conflicts, which still plague the region today, are rooted in the complex situation of the medieval period. The Roman, Arab, Byzantine, and crusader invasions resulted however in exciting eclectic styles that characterize the art and architecture of the region. We will discuss concepts behind political and religious leadership, as they intersect with the power of the arts.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
Babylon – the name resonates even today, from the biblical whore of Revelation to sci-fi. It evokes exotic places and time long past. But what do we really know about the ancient city and the civilization that flourished there thousands of years ago? The first part of this course examines the archaeological city of Babylon, located in the modern state of Iraq, and considers its artistic and architectural achievements in the context of Mesopotamian history. The second part of the class explores the ongoing impact of Babylon in the cultural imagination of later periods, from the Classical and biblical authors, to European artists, Hollywood movies, science fiction, and contemporary political movements.
Area: Humanities
Advanced inquiry into imperial Inka architecture and fiber arts.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
Centering on the tomb as the unit of analysis, this course examines the cultural and material aspects of death and funerary ritual. Case studies are drawn from North America, Mesoamerica, and the Andes. Collections study in museums.
Area: Humanities
What makes a space sacred? How is it different from other spaces? This seminar explores the various means - visual, artifactual, architectural, and performative - of creating sacred space in the ancient and medieval worlds of the Near East and Mediterranean. Possible cases for study include early Sumerian temples, state-sponsored Assyrian temples, votive deposits, Greek sanctuaries, sanctuaries and landscape, early medieval Jewish, Christian, and Islamic cult buildings, cave sanctuaries, pilgrim sites, icons and sacred space.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
Antioch Recovery Project investigates mosaics from the ancient city of Antioch (modern Antakya, Turkey, near the border with Syria) now in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Excavated by an international team of archaeologists in the 1930s, hundreds of ancient mosaics from the cosmopolitan city were subsequently dispersed to museums across the globe, with twenty-four mosaics entering the collection of the BMA. Phase I will focus on the digital documentation and analysis of the mosaic of Narcissus as a prototype for ongoing research bringing together the fragments of ancient Antioch for contemporary beholders. The Greek myth of Narcissus tells the story of a beautiful Theban hunter doomed to love his own reflection and is the origin of the modern psychiatric term “narcissism”. Researching the mythology, materials, conservation history, archival material, historiography, and contemporary reception of the Narcissus mosaic and myth offers extensive opportunities to collaborate with scholars across a range of disciplines at JHU, in the Baltimore museum community, and beyond. Investigators will move between the Baltimore Museum of Art, the CRL processing lab in Gilman Hall, and Special Collections. The course will involve some travel to visit other mosaics from Antioch now in collections at Harvard’s Dumbarton Oaks in Washington D.C., and the Princeton Art Museum in Princeton, New Jersey.
Area: Humanities
Assyria, centered in northern Iraq, created one of the world’s first great empires that dominated the ancient Near Eastern world from around 900 to 612 BCE. In concert with imperial expansion came an explosion of artistic production ranging from palace wall reliefs to small-scale luxury objects. This seminar examines the close relationship between the arts and politics in the Assyrian empire. Some themes that will be explored are: historical narrative, text and image, portable luxury arts and gender, politics and religion. The course will engage in close visual analysis of the ancient materials and readings of critical scholarship.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
The arts of the Near East, Aegean and Egypt are typically taught separately from one another. However, the Mediterranean Sea has always served as a connector, and the diverse cultures of these areas were in close contact with one another for much of their histories. During the Bronze Age (3000 to 1200 BCE), these interactions were particularly dynamic, resulting in a diversity of arts including wall frescoes, precious jewelry, and elaborate furnishings and weaponry. This course examines the arts of the interactions among Near Easterners, Greeks, Egyptians and others. It focuses special attention on the role of artistic products in intercultural relations, including trade, diplomacy, war and imperialism.Students are not expected to have extensive knowledge of all the areas, although some experience in at least one of them will be helpful. The course will interweave establishing a knowledge base necessary to tackle this topic with broader conceptual concerns and interdisciplinary approaches (art historical, archaeological, anthropological, and historical).There will be a final paper.
Area: Humanities
This seminar investigates the fascinating landscape of medieval art and architecture of Georgia. Its specific geographic position in the South Caucasus, at the cross roads between the East and West, the Christian and Islamic Worlds, had a profound impact on the art and architecture in the region. Ancient sites show close connections with the Graeco-Roman World on the western border and with the Sassanid Empire in the East. The Christianization of the Kingdom of Kartli in the early fourth century resulted in close ties with the development of early Christian art in Syria, the Holy Land, and Byzantium. While the Christian religion remained an identifying factor during several hundred years of Muslim rule (736 to 1122) during which the city of Tbilisi was the capital of an emirate, Islamic motifs and style became an important factor for art works in medieval Georgia. Art and architecture with a specific Byzantine profile flourished in particular after the reunification of Georgia during the reign of King David the Builder (1073- 1125) and Queen Tamar (1184 to 1213). The cathedral and monastery of Gelati and Mzcheta, the murals in the royal monasteries of Vardzia and Khintsvisi, and the countless icons are a testimony to this relationship. We will discuss the specific diverse aesthetics and materiality (stone, enamel and metal works) of Georgian art with the goal to reassess the map of medieval art and architecture that currently does not include the Eastern Frontier. A mandatory c. 10 days field trip to Georgia is planned after classes end in May 2020.
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
Assyria, centered in northern Iraq, created one of the world’s first great empires that dominated the ancient Near Eastern world from around 900 to 612 BCE. In concert with imperial expansion came an explosion of architectural and artistic production including entire cities and their ornamentation. This seminar examines the close relationship between the arts and politics in the Assyrian empire. The course will engage in close visual analysis of the ancient materials and critical readings of scholarship. There will be a final project.
Area: Humanities
Medicine, Science and the Humanities
In this course, four essential aspects of the theme of death and dying will be examined: Death and Medicine; Emotional Responses to Death; Burying and Commemorating the Dead; and Conceptions of Death. Specific topics relating to each of these aspects that will be covered include illness and causes of death; prevention of death; suicide; death and grief; burial practices; mourning the dead; public commemoration of the dead; life after death; and death and rebirth. Students will explore these topics from a historical-anthropological perspective with Paul Delnero, a specialist in the history and culture of the ancient Near East (Near Eastern Studies); from a literary perspective, by reading and writing poetry relating to these subjects with the acclaimed poet James Arthur (Writing Seminars); and from a musical perspective, through direct encounters with the music and creative process of the award-winning composer, Michael Hersch (Peabody).
Area: Humanities
Writing Intensive
Program in Museums and Society
We examine the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum collection to learn the materials and techniques utilized in the ancient world to produce objects in ceramics, stone, metal, glass, faience, bone and ivory.
Area: Humanities
What role did the colorful surfaces of sculptures, vessels and textiles play in the ancient world? We examine historical texts and recent scholarly and scientific publications on the technologies and meanings of color in antiquity, and use imaging and analytical techniques to study polychromed objects from the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences