Syracuse University

REL 301 / MES 300
Ancient Near Eastern Religions & Cultures

Instructor: Jim Watts (PhD) he, him
Office: Hall of Languages 501 
Office Hours: TTh 2-3 pm and by appointment
E-mail:  jwwatts at syr.edu
Phone:  443-5713

Course Description:  The ancient Near East produced the oldest written texts in the world, along with much art and other artifacts. They provide a window into the ways of life, rituals, beliefs, hopes and fears of people living 2,500 to 5,000 years ago and illustrate the interplay between religion and human culture in all its various forms. This course will explore the interaction of culture and religion by examining the social contexts of ancient religious ideas and practices through close readings of texts from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and Israel, and close examination of textual artifacts.

Parts of each students' research will involve hands-on examination of old textual artifacts in SU Library's Special Collections.

Audience: Students interested in ancient history, culture, and religion and wishing to fill Humanities and Writing Intensive core requirements, as well as majors and minors in Religion, Jewish Studies, History, Literature and Art History.

Prerequisites/Co-requisites: None.

Goals: In this course, students will: 

1. develop an understanding of ancient Near Eastern cultures as key instances in the diversity of human religious phenomena,
2. develop fluency in describing and interpreting ancient textual and artifactual remains,
3. use the context of ancient Near Eastern cultures to think both critically and imaginatively about the nature of religion as a basic response to and expression of the human condition;
4. recognize and appreciate the difficulties and possibilities in undertaking a coherent, disciplined study of ancient cultures, and to become aware of the diversity of perspectives within that study;
5. come to a distinct yet corrigible conception of "religion," and to be able to recognize its appearance not only within ancient religious institutions of diverse cultures, but also in other social/cultural forms.

Course Requirements:
The course consists of class discussions, lectures, student projects, and, most of all, readings. This course is a reading course, and students' completion of all reading assignments is essential for their success. Assignments, discussions, lectures and tests all presuppose that students have read carefully and on schedule the assigned readings. Questions to guide students' reading can be found in the schedule.

Attendance and participation in discussions is expected of all students and will influence my evaluation of their work (5%), which will also be based on their performance on daily quizzes (15% total), and four research papers (20% each). The grades of late papers will be reduced by one grade level (e.g. B to B-). Missed quizzes cannot be made up, but the lowest five quiz grades will be dropped.

The grading scale is: A+ = 100, A = 95, A- = 92, B+ = 88, B = 85, B- = 82, C+ = 78, C = 75, C- = 72, D+ = 68, D = 65, D- = 62, F = 55. Incidents of plagiarism or cheating result in no credit (0) for the test or assignment and may result in further disciplinary action (see academic integrity statement below). Students may check their grades online through the Blackboard Learning System.

Required: 

• Coogan, Michael D. Stories from Ancient Canaan. 1st or 2nd ed. Westminster, 1978, 2012. (=SFAC)
• Foster, Benjamin R. From Distant Days: Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia. Bethesda: CDL, 1995 (=FDD)
• Foster, John L. Ancient Egyptian Literature: An Anthology. Austin: U. of Texas, 2001. (=AEL)
• Holland, Glenn. Gods in the Desert. Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. (= Gods) Available online through Bird Library (click here).

Recommended:

• The Jewish Study Bible: Tanakh (New Jewish Publication Society Version)
• or New Oxford Annotated Bible (New Revised Standard Version)