RELIGION AND CULTURE IN MESOPOTAMIA Second Term Wed 10:30am-12:15pm (Lecture) & 12:30pm-1:15pm or TBA (Tutorial) CCT T41

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1 RELIGION AND CULTURE IN MESOPOTAMIA Second Term Wed 10:30am-12:15pm (Lecture) & 12:30pm-1:15pm or TBA (Tutorial) CCT T41 Course Code: CURE 3373 Title in English: Religion and Culture in Mesopotamia Title in Chinese: 兩河流域之宗教與文化 Course Description: The course gives a survey of the sophisticated civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers [Tigris-Euphrates], of the last three millennia BCE. The ancient world of Mesopotamia in West Asia embodies the human heritage of primeval or early historical experiences inscribed on tablets in Sumerian and Akkadian. There are various literary forms, such as myths, prayers, ritual texts, legal writings and economic and administrative records. In order to appreciate the religio-cultural traditions and concepts preserved in the literary texts of Sumerian and Akkadian, this course will study a sample of relevant literary texts and archaeological artifacts from this region with emphasis on the history, myth, ritual, cosmology, as well as religious and social institutions. A particular focus will be given to how religion permeated different aspects of the everyday life of the ancient Mesopotamians and integrated into the sociopolitical ideologies. Learning Outcomes: After completing this course, students should: Acquire an understanding of the religion and culture of Mesopotamia in their historical and sociopolitical contexts. Obtain a basic knowledge of the impacts of Mesopotamia on humanity and the modern world through the heritage preserved by the Greco-Roman world and in the Judeo-Christian traditions. Heighten their sensitivity to the religious and cultural dimensions of Mesopotamian civilizations. Demonstrate an appreciative, sympathetic attitude to the fresh-and-blood struggles of the ancient Mesopotamians. Develop a critical and analytic attitude to approaches to and current debates/theories in the ancient Mesopotamian religion and culture. Be able to synthesize the knowledge acquired from course content, reading materials, and independent research and convey the synthesized knowledge through written assignments, as well as oral and visual presentations. Develop the skills to conduct independent research, especially in the interpretation of literary texts in the cross-cultural contexts. Learning Activities: The course consists mainly of lectures, interwoven with tutorial sessions, class discussion, independent reading, class presentation, and research activities. The average time allocation (per week) of the learning activities is as follows: Lecture Class Discussion / Tutorial Student Presentation Reading and Research Written Assignments / Blackboard Posts In class Out of Class In class Out of Class In class Out of Class In class Out of Class In class Out of Class 1 hr 1 hr 0.5 hr 0.5 hr 3 hrs 2.5 hrs M M M M/O M M: Mandatory activity in the course O: Optional activity 1

2 Assessment Scheme: Task nature Purpose Learning Outcomes 1 (30%) Tutorial Participation 2 (20%) Weekly synopsis due by 11:59pm on the day before the tutorial on Blackboard s Discussion Forum Optional 1: Student Presentation Scheduled in the weeks as shown in the Class Schedule. (Written component on Blackboard & VeriGuide; nonwritten in class) Optional 2: Text Transformation Due on Mar 14 (Written component on Blackboard & VeriGuide; nonwritten in class) 1. To facilitate the students to critically synthesize and analyze the course reading materials and exchange ideas among themselves through Blackboard s Discussion Forum. 2. To encourage learning collaboration and flow of ideas among the students in tutorials. 3. To consolidate the students understanding of the reading materials. * Attendance is mandatory. In case of excused absence, prior notice to the instructor or teaching assistant is required. To develop the students skills to conduct independent research, select references of good academic standard, critically analyze and synthesize the references, and finally present their conclusions in class. To engage in the creative transformation of a Mesopotamian text. 1. All tutorial reading assignments are compulsory. However, students are only required to submit 5 synopses for 5 out of the 10 class tutorials of their choice. 2. On the designated Blackboard discussion forum for the tutorial, post a synopsis of the tutorial reading materials assigned for the week marked with an asterisk and raise 2 to 3 critical questions of quality and substance on the content. (You may create a subject title best describe your post or simply use your full English name as the subject title.) * Part of this mark will be given based on the student s active engagement with the readings and group members in the tutorial. Students are to work independently. Each student is required to 1. Search for two to three academic essays/articles written on the text; 2. Give a 20-minute presentation in class that includes a compositional background (historical, social, political, and/or literary contexts) of the assigned text, highlights of the important issues raised in the academic essays/articles, and 2 to 3 further questions to engage the class in a discussion. 3. Submit a report of words in English or words in Chinese on the day of presentation. 1. Select of a Mesopotamian text of substance. 2. Trace the afterlife of a text and assess how the text fares in modern literature and popular culture, especially how it is being handled in the digital world (internet, video games, & films) and/or visual/performing arts (lithography, painting, sculpture, music etc.) 3. Retell the text creatively (e.g., a poem, play script, short film, song, painting etc.) with an annotated commentary and a reception history of words in English or words in Chinese. 4. Give a 20-minute presentation in class. 2

3 3 (50%) Term Paper Proposal and tentative bibliography due on Mar 28 (Blackboard) Paper due on Apr 25 (Blackboard & VeriGuide) To evaluate the students ability to critically engage current scholarship in the criticism of Mesopotamian texts and to analyze and critique different theories strengths and weaknesses and to synthesize the learned ideas from sources. 1. Write an abstract of no more than 300 words as a proposal for the term paper and submit a tentative bibliography. 2. Write a term paper of words in English or words in Chinese on one of the following topics: (a) A critical reading of a Mesopotamian text or a group of texts with respect to its sociocultural and historical contexts. (b) A thesis of how the issues raised in the Mesopotamian texts within their sociocultural and political contexts are relevant to our modern situations. (c) An in-depth study of the significance of a deity/demon/religious practice within his/her/its ancient contexts and/or to biblical hermeneutics. (d) A critical comparison of a Mesopotamian text or literary text with a biblical text, highlighting their similarities and differences in terms of literary motifs, styles, and rhetorical aims. Recommended Learning Resource: Required Texts: Foster, Benjamin R., trans. and ed The Epic of Gilgamesh. New York: Norton. Nemet-Nejat, Karen Rhea Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. Westport, CN: Greenwood. [UL DS69.5 N4 1998; on reserve] Abbreviated Titles: ANET Pritchard, James Bennett Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [CC Ref BS1180.P ] CANE Sasson, Jack M., ed Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. 4 vols. New York: Scribner. [UL Oversize DS57.C ] COS Hallo, William W., and K. Lawson Younger, Jr., eds The Context of Scripture. 3 vols. Leiden and Boston: Brill. ProQuest Ebook Central. [CC Oversize BS1180.C ] FDD Foster, Benjamin R From Distant Days: Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia. Bethesda, MD: CDL. HTO Jacobsen, Thorkild The Harps That Once : Sumerian Poetry in Translation. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. [UL PJ4083.H ; on reserve] LAS Black, Jeremy, Graham Cunningham, Eleanor Robson, and Gábor Zólyomi The Literature of Ancient Sumer. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ProQuest Ebook Central. Online Resources: ETCSL The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. Oracc The Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, University of Pennsylvania. Assigned Readings: Bahrani, Zainab Women of Babylon: Gender and Representation in Mesopotamia. London; New York: Routledge. [UL HQ1137.I72 B ; on reserve] 3

4 Barrett, Caitlín E Was Dust their Food and Clay their Bread? Grave Goods, the Mesopotamian Afterlife, and the Liminal Role of Inana/Ishtar. Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 7, no 1: Beaulieu, Paul-Alain The Social and Intellectual Setting of Babylonian Wisdom Literature. In Wisdom Literature in Mesopotamia and Israel, edited by Richard J. Clifford, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. ProQuest Ebook Central. Bottéro, Jean Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [CC DS69.5.B ] Bottéro, Jean. 2001a. Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, [UL DS71.B ] Bremmer, Jan N Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible, and the Ancient Near East. Leiden, Boston: Brill. ProQuest Ebook Central. Chadwick, Robert. First Civilizations: Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. Quebec: Éditions Champ Fleury, ProQuest Ebook Central. Charpin, Dominique Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia. Translated by Jane Marie Todd. Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press. ProQuest Ebook Central. Cowley, Arthur E. Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B. C. Oxford: The Clarendon, [UL PJ5208.E4 1967] Denning-Bolle, Sara J Wisdom and Dialogue in the Ancient Near East. Numen 34, no.2: Harris, Rivkah The Conflict of Generations in Ancient Mesopotamian Myths. Comparative Studies in Society and History 34, no. 4: Jacobsen, Thorkild The Treasures of Darkness: History of Mesopotamian Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press. [CC BL2350.I7J3; on reserve] Jeyes, Ulla The Naditu Women of Sippar, in Images of Women in Antiquity, edited by Averil Cameron and Amélie Kuhrt, Detroit: Wayne State University Press. [UL HQ1127.I ] Kuhrt, Amélie The Cyrus Cylinder and Achaemenid Imperial Policy. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 25: Lambert, W. G Kingship in Ancient Mesopotamia. In King and Messiah in Israel and the Ancient Near East, edited by John Day, Sheffield, England: Sheffield University Press. [CC BS1199.K5 K ; on reserve] Lambert, W. G Mesopotamian Creation Stories. In Imagining Creation, edited by Markham J. Geller and Mineke Schipper, Leiden and Boston: Brill. ProQuest Ebook Central. Lloyd, Alan B The Inscription of Udjaḥorresnet a Collaborator s Testament. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 68: Geller.M. J Mesopotamian Love Magic: Discourse or Intercourse? In Sex and Gender in the Ancient Near East, edited by S. Parpola and R. M. Whiting, Helsinki: University of Helsinki Press. [Blackboard] Oppenheim, A. Leo Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization. Revised ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Pollock, Susan Women in a Men s World: Images of Sumerian Women. In Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory, edited by Joan M. Gero and Margaret W. Conkey, Cambridge, Mass.: Basil Blackwell. [UL GN799.W66 E54] Pongratz-Leisten, Beate Sacred Marriage and the Transfer of Divine Knowledge: Alliances between the Gods and the King in Ancient Mesopotamia. In Sacred Marriages: The Divine-Human Sexual Metaphor from Sumer to Early Christianity, edited by Martti Nissinen and Risto Uro, Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ProQuest Ebook Central. Teppo, Saana Sacred Marriage and the Devotees of Ištar. In Sacred Marriages: The Divine-Human Sexual Metaphor from Sumer to Early Christianity, edited by Martti Nissinen and Risto Uro, Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ProQuest Ebook Central. Vanstiphout, Herman Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus, Or How and Why Did the Sumerians Create their Gods? In What Is a God?: Anthropomorphic and Non-Anthropomorphic Aspects of Deity in Ancient 4

5 Mesopotamia, edited by Barbara N. Porter, Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ProQuest Ebook Central. Yaron, Reuven. Social Problems and Policies in the Ancient Near East. In Law, Politics, and Society in the Ancient Mediterranean World, eds. Baruch Halpern and Deborah W. Hobson, Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, [UL DE71.L ] Supplemental Bibliography: General Bienkowski, Piotr, and Millard, Alan Dictionary of the Ancient Near East. Philadelphia; London: British Museum Press. [ARL DS56.D5 2000b] Kuhrt, Amélie The Ancient Near East: c BC. 2 Vols. London, New York: Routledge. [UL DS62.23.K v.1-2] Leick, Gwendolyn Who's Who in the Ancient Near East. London, New York: Routledge. ProQuest Ebook Central. McIntosh, Jane R Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. [UL DS69.5.M ] Pollock, Susan Ancient Mesopotamia: The Eden that Never Was. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [UL DS73.1.P ] Van de Mieroop, Marc A History of the Ancient Near East, ca BC. Malden, MA: Blackwell, [UL DS62.2.V ] Culture and Civilization Algaze, Guillermo Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization: the Evolution of an Urban landscape. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ProQuest Ebook Central. Caubet, Annie, and Patrick Pouyssegur The Ancient Near East: the Origins of Civilization. Translated by Peter Snowdon. Paris: Terrail, Kramer, Samuel Noah History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine First in Recorded History. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. [UL DS72.K7 1981] Leick, Gwendolyn Mesopotamia: the Invention of the City. London: Penguin. [ARL DS69.5.L ] Roaf, Michael Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. Oxford: Andromeda Books. Sagg, H. W. F Civilization before Greece and Rome. New Haven: Yale University Press. [UL DS57.S28] Saggs, H.W.F The Greatness That Was Babylon: A Survey of the Ancient Civilization of the Tigris- Euphrates Valley. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. [UL DS70.7.S ] Snell, Daniel Life in the Ancient Near East, B.C.E. New Haven: Yale University Press. EBSCOhost Ebooks. Law Codes and Legal Documents Roth, Martha Tobi Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Altanta, GA: Scholars. [UL KL210.R ] Weinfeld, Moshe Social Justice in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press; Jerusalem: Magnes. [CC BS1199.J8 W ] Westbrook, Raymond, and Deborah Lyon, eds Women and Property in Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean Societies. Conference held August Cambridge: Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University. [Online] Westbrook, Raymond Law from the Tigris to the Tiber: The Writings of Raymond Westbrook. 2 vols. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ProQuest Ebook Central. Literary Culture & Intellectual History Frankfort, Henri, H. A. Frankfort, John A. Wilson, and Thorkild Jacobsen The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man; An Essay on Speculative Thought in the Ancient Near East. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. [UL BF96.I5] (Republished as in 1949 as Before Philosophy. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books. [CC BL96.F8 1949].) 5

6 Literature Clifford, Richard J Wisdom Literature in Mesopotamia and Israel. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. ProQuest Ebook Central. Foster, Benjamin R. Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature. (Vol.I & II) Potomac, MD: CDL Press, [UL PJ3951.B v.1-2] Heidel, Alexander The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. [UL PJ3771.G6 H4 1949] Lambert, W. G Babylonian Wisdom Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press. [CC PJ3941.L26] Lambert, W. G., and A. R. Millard Atra-Hasåis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood. Oxford: Clarendon P. [CC PJ3771.A8 1969] Liverani, Mario Myth and Politics in Ancient Near Eastern Historiography. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ProQuest Ebook Central. Meador, Betty De Shong Inanna Lady of Largest Heart: Poems of the Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna. Austin: University of Texas Press. O Brien, Joan V In the Beginning: Creation Myths from Ancient Mesopotamia, Israel, and Greece. Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press. [CC BL226.O27] Rubio, Gonzalo Sumerian Literature. In From an Antique Land: Introduction to Ancient Near Eastern Literature, edited by Carl S. Ehrlich, New York: Rowman & Littlefied. ProQuest Ebook Central. Sandars, N. K. trans Poems of heaven and hell from Ancient Mesopotamia. Penguin: Harmondsworth. [UL PJ3953.S3] Love, Sex, Gender, and Sexuality Harris, Rivkah Gender and Aging in Mesopotamia: The Gilgamesh Epic and Other Ancient Literature. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. EBSCOhost Ebooks. Kloppenborg, Ria, and Wouter J. Hanegraaff Female Stereotypes in Religious Traditions. Leiden, New York: E.J. Brill. [CC BL458.F ] Leick, Gwendolyn Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature. London and New York: Routledge. ProQuest Ebook Central. Lesko, Barbara S Women s Earliest Records: From Ancient Egypt and Western Asia. Atlanta, GA: Scholars. [UL HQ1137.M628W ] Marsman, Hennie J Women in Ugarit and Israel: Their Social and Religious Position in the Context of the Ancient Near East. Leiden, Boston: Brill. [CC BS575.M ] Reese, Lyn Women in the Ancient Near East: Stories and Primary Sources from the Sumerians Through the Early Israelites. Berkeley, CA: Women in World History Curriculum. [UL Oversize HQ R ] Stol, Marten Women in the Ancient Near East. Berlin and New York: W. de Gruyter. ProQuest Ebook Central. Westenholz, Joan Goodnick Towards a New Conceptualization of the Female Role in Mesopotamian Society. Journal of the American Oriental Society 110: Mesopotamia in Relation to the Bible Arnold, Bill T., and Bryan E. Beyer, eds Readings from the Ancient Near East: Primary Sources for Old Testament Study. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic. [CC BL1060.R ] Bottéro, Jean The Birth of God: the Bible and the Historian. Translated by Kees W. Bolle. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. [CC BS1173.B ] Clifford, Richard J Creation Accounts in the Ancient Near East and in the Bible. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monography Series 26. Washington, DC: The Catholic Biblical Association of America. Ferris, Paul Wayne The Genre of Communal Lament in the Bible and the Ancient Near East. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International. [CC BS1199.L27 F47] Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. In the Wake of Goddesses: Women, Culture and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth. New York: Free,

7 Gordon, Cyrus H., and Gary A. Rendsburg The Bible and the Ancient Near East. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. [CC BS635.G ] Kang, Sa-Moon Divine War in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East. Berlin and New York: W. de Gruyter. ProQuest Ebook Central. Matthews, Victor H., Bernard M. Levinson, and Tikva Frymer-Kensky Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East. Sheffield, Eng.: Sheffield Academic Press. [CC BS1199.W7 G ] Roberts, J. J. M The Bible and the Ancient Near East: Collected Essays. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns. [CC BS R ] Sparks, Kent L Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible: A Guide to the Background Literature. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson. Politics and Warfare Gibson, McGuire, and Robert D. Biggs The Organization of Power: Aspects of Bureaucracy in the Ancient Near East. Chicago, Ill.: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. [UL DS70.5.U7 O ] Launderville, Dale Piety and Politics: The Dynamics of Royal Authority in Homeric Greece, Biblical Israel, and Old Babylonian Mesopotamia. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans. [CC BL325.K5 L ] Religion Black, Jeremy, and Anthony Green Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. Austin: University of Texas. [CC Ref BL2350.I7 B ] Bottéro, Jean. 2001b. Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [CC BL2350.I7 B ] Cartledge, Tony W Vows in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East. Sheffield, England: JSOT Press. [CC BS1199.V67 C ] Dick, Michael B., ed Born in Heaven Made on Earth: The Making of the Cult Image in the Ancient Near East. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Frankfort, Henri Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. [CC BL325.W5F7] Goetze, Albrecht, ed Old Babylonian Omen Texts. New York: AMS. [UL PJ3711.Y3 v.10] Green, Alberto R. W The Role of Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East. Missoula, MT: Scholars Press and the American Schools of Oriental Research. [CC BL570.G7] Green, Alberto R. W The Storm-God in the Ancient Near East. Biblical and Judaic Studies 8. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ProQuest Ebook Central. Henshaw, Richard A Female and Male: the Cultic Personnel: the Bible and the Rest of the Ancient Near East. Allison Park, PA: Pickwick. [CC BS1199.S45H ] Mikasa, Prince Takahito Cult and Ritual in the Ancient Near East. Wiesbade: Otto Harrassowitz. [UL DS56.C ] Porter, Barbara B., ed What Is a God?: Anthropomorphic and Non-Anthropomorphic Aspects of Deity in Ancient Mesopotamia. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ProQuest Ebook Central. Snell, Daniel C Religions of the ancient Near East. New York: Cambridge University Press. [CC BL1060.S ] Van der Toorn, Karel, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. 2d ed. Leiden and Boston: Brill. [CC Ref BS680.G57 D ] Wiggermann, F. A. M Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts. Groningen: STYX & PP Publications. [CC BL2350I7W ] Society Chirichigno, Gregory Debt-Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East. Sheffield: JSOT Press. [CC BS680.L33 C54] Epsztein, Leon Social Justice in the Ancient Near East and the People of the Bible. Bowden, John. trans. London: SCM Press. [UL HM671.E ] Postgate, J. N Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History. London, New York: Routledge. [UL DS73.1.P67] 7

8 Powell, Marvin A. ed Labor in the Ancient Near East. New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society. [UL HD8656.L33] Pu, Muzhou Enemies of Civilization: Attitudes toward Foreigners in Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. Albany: State University of New York Press. [UL DS71.P ] Silver, Morris Economic Structures of the Ancient Near East. London: Croom Helm. [UL HC S55] Class Schedule: Class Date Lecture / Student Presentation Tutorial Reading Requirements Week 1 Jan 10 Nemet-Nejat, 1-10, Oppenheim, (optional) Week 2 Jan 17 Week 3 Jan 24 Week 4 Jan 31 Week 5 Feb 7 Week 6 Feb Course Outline 2. Introduction to Ancient Mesopotamia and its Influence on Today s Culture 3. Documentary The Gardens of Babel : 1. Geographical Setting of Mesopotamia 2. A Rundown of Historical Periods 1. The First Writing System 2. The City-States and the First Empire 3. Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia 4. Historical Writings: Assyrian Annals and Babylonian Chronicles 1. The World of the Deities and Demons 2. The Cultic Institution 3. Sacred Marriage Presentation Options: (1) A Love Song for Šu-Suen (LAS 88-90) (2) Inana and Išme-Dagan (LAS 90-92) 1. Love and Sex 2. Gender and Sexuality 3. Love Songs (Inanna-Dumuzi Corpus) Presentation Options: (3) The Exaltation of Inana (LAS ) (4) Nergal and Ereshkigal (COS : ) 1. The Epic of Gilgamesh 2. The Quest for Immortality 3. Life, Death, and the Afterlife Presentation Options: (5) The Adapa Story (FDD ) (6) Inana s Descent to the Underworld (LAS 65-76) 8 Nemet-Nejat, The Song of the Hoe (ETCSL t or COS 1.157: 511) * Writing and State Administration Nemet-Nejat, Vanstiphout, Memory and Literacy in Ancient Western Asia, in CANE Postgate, Royal Ideology and State Administration in Sumer and Akkad, in CANE * Sacred Marriage A Hymn to Inana (LAS 92-99) Love Lyrics of Rim-Sin (FDD ) Pongratz-Leisten, Teppo, Vanstiphout, (optional) Bottéro, 1992: (optional) Jeyes, (optional) A šir-namursaģa to Inana and Iddin- Dagan (LAS ; optional) * Femininity and Representation Pollock, Bahrani, 28-39, Ploughing with the Jewels (LAS 84-86) Dumuzid and Enkimdu (LAS 86-88) Bottéro 2001a, OR Jacobsen, * Is the Epic of Gilgamesh an Ancient Masterpiece? Foster, xi-xxii, 3-95, , Bendt Alster, Epic Tales from Ancient Summer, in CANE Barrett, 7-65 (optional) LAS xix-lxiii (optional)

9 Week 7 Feb 28 Week 8 Mar 7 Week 9 Mar 14 Week 10 Mar 21 Week 11 Mar 28 Week 12 Apr 4 Week 13 Apr Creation Stories and Flood Stories 2. New Year Festival Presentation Option: (7) The Atra-Ḫasis Story (COS 1.130:440-52) 1. Social Institutions Presentation Option: (8) Etana, the King without an Heir (FDD ) 1. Law Codes and Political Institution 2. The Code of Hammurabi 3. Social Reform and Social Justice Presentation Options: (9) The Middle Assyrian Laws (COS 2.132: ) (10) The Poor Man of Nippur (FDD ) 1. Dynastic Continuity 2. Anomalous Ascension 3. Kudurra (Boundary Stones) Presentation Options: (11) Curse of Akkade (HTO ) (12) Birth Legend of Sargon of Akkad (COS 1.132: 461) 1. Trauma, Disaster, and Laments 2. Wisdom and Pessimism Presentations: (13) Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur (COS 1.166: ) (14) The Dialogue of Pessimism (FDD ) (No Class. Reading Week.) 1. Prayers and Praises 2. Magic Spells and Incantations 3. Divination and Prophecy * Parallel Creation Stories in Mesopotamia and the Bible Enuma Elish (FDD 9-51) Genesis 1 9 Lambert, Myth and Mythmaking, in CANE Lambert 2008, 1-37 OR Bottéro 2001a, Harris 1992, (optional) Jacobsen 1976, (optional) The Sumerian Flood Story (LAS ; optional) * Social Instituions Nemet-Nejat, Lambert 1998, * The Social Functions of Law Codes The Code of Hammurabi (COS 2.131: ) Bottéro 1992, Yaron, Charpin, & (optional) * Kingship and Legitimation Cyrus Cylinder (COS 2.124: ) Kuhrt 1983, Lloyd 1982, Ezra 1:1-11 Darius s Bīsitūn Inscription (Aramaic version) in Cowley, The Autobiography of Idrimi (COS 1.148: ) OR Nabondius and His Mother (ANET ) * Response to Human Suffering Beaulieu 3-19 Denning-Bolle Babylonian Theodicy (COS 1.154: ) Poem of the Righteous Sufferer (FDD ) A Sufferer s Salvation (FDD ) Lament for Ur (HTO ) (optional) * Magic as Religion Love Charms (FDD , ) Divine Speech (FDD ) Prayers (FDD , , ) 9

10 Week 14 Apr 18 Concluding Remarks Magic Spells (392-94, , Bremmer, Geller, Farber, Witchcraft, Magic, and Divination in Ancient Mesopotamia, in CANE Contact Details for Teacher and Teaching Assistant: Lecturer: WONG Kwok Sonia ( 王珏 ) Office: Room G07B, CCT Tel: sonia.wong@cuhk.edu.hk Office Hour: By Appointment (schedule via ) Teaching Assistant: CHAN Hiu Kwan Natalie nataliechan.czt@gmail.com Academic Honesty and Plagiarism: Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of these policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures. In the case of group projects, all students of the same group should be asked to sign the declaration, each of whom is responsible should there be any plagiarized contents in the group project, irrespective of whether he/she has signed the declaration and whether he/she has contributed directly or indirectly to the plagiarized contents. For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is principally text-based and submitted via VeriGuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the system upon students uploading of the soft copy of the assignment. Assignments without the properly signed declaration will not be graded by teachers. Only the final version of the assignment should be submitted via VeriGuide. The submission of a piece of work, or a part of a piece of work, for more than one purpose (e.g. to satisfy the requirements in two different courses) without declaration to this effect shall be regarded as having committed undeclared multiple submission. It is common and acceptable to reuse a turn of phrase or a sentence or two from one s own work; but wholesale reuse is problematic. In any case, agreement from the course teacher(s) concerned should be obtained prior to the submission of the piece of work. Grade Rubric: A (+/ ) B (+/ ) C (+/ ) D (+) F - Astral, insightful, - Adequate, - Lack of - Misconception in - Content reflective thoughtful, understanding of subject matter irrelevant to - Exceeds expectations descriptive, the subject matter - Below subject - Original & creative relevant - Below expectations expectations matter thesis with - Meets expectations - Unclear thesis - Unclear thesis - Fail to meet contributions to - Thesis built on the without adequate without adequate any of the scholarship theses & findings of support from support from expectations - Content consistent current scholarship current scholarship current scholarship - Persuasive & logical - Content consistent - Some arguments - Arguments arguments - Adequate & clear Unconvincing, unconvincing, - Excellent integration & line of arguments unclear unclear synthesis of different - Good integration & - Lack of integration - Neither integration views synthesis of & synthesis of nor synthesis of - Implications well different views different views different views observed - Implications noted - Implications unclear - Implications not - Excellent organization - Good organization - Lack of relevant noted - Rich & relevant - Relevant references references with - Incorrect citation references with correct with correct citation some issues in citation format format citation format 10