2021-2022

The Hittite king and queen maintained a regular correspondence with their peers in Egypt and Babylon. Officials of the Hittite administration wrote to their subordinates and superiors, and scribes often added piggy-back letters for their colleagues on the 'other' side. These letters provide great insight in the international power dynamics of the Late Bronze Age, the workings of the Hittite administration, and the political struggles in the Hittite Kingdom.

Pre-Islamic poetry laid the foundation for all subsequent Arabic poetry, and formed a key referent for Arabic grammar and Qurʾān exegesis. Its structure, motifs, and images constituted a literary model for Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid, Andalusian, and Mamluk poetry, and its grammatical and lexical usages formed a tool to understand the Qurʾānic message and to measure the purity of later Arabic expressions. In this class, we will read closely some of the best known poems of the pre-Islamic period. An assessment by the medieval critics of our poets and some of their poetic theory will also be introduced. Secondary literature will be assigned in order to provide a theoretical framework for the material.

This two-quarter sequence is an introduction to the classical Arabic language. It is useful for students whose research includes the reading of classical Arabic texts in varied fields such as literature, history, political science, theology and philosophy. In the class 1) rules of Arabic grammar are studied intensively, topic by topic; 2) parsing (i'rab) is an important component, with a view to understanding the structure of the language; 3) brief texts from different fields of classical Arabic are read focusing on their grammatical structure, and 4) some theory about the development of the grammatical genre is introduced, as are the basic features of prosody ('arud) and rhetoric (balagha).

This two-quarter sequence is an introduction to the classical Arabic language. It is useful for students whose research includes the reading of classical Arabic texts in varied fields such as literature, history, political science, theology and philosophy. In the class 1) rules of Arabic grammar are studied intensively, topic by topic; 2) parsing (i'rab) is an important component, with a view to understanding the structure of the language; 3) brief texts from different fields of classical Arabic are read focusing on their grammatical structure, and 4) some theory about the development of the grammatical genre is introduced, as are the basic features of prosody ('arud) and rhetoric (balagha).

Advanced Readings in Hittite historical texts

The goal of this class is to get an overview of Hittite literature, as “defined” by the Hittites themselves, in the wider historical-cultural context of the Ancient Near East. Some of the most important questions we can ask ourselves in reading ancient texts are: why were they written down, why were they kept, for whom were they intended, and what do the answers to these questions (apart from the primary content of the texts themselves) tell us about — in our case — Hittite society?

As part of a three-quarter sequence, this second quarter we finish the grammar and start reading Hittite texts, introducing the student to the various genres that Hittite literature has to offer. We will continue the introduction of important tools of the field and students will acquire further routine in reading cuneiform.

What we call Hittite mythology is in fact a cover term for rather disparate strands of tradition: one at home in central Anatolia and often providing the etiology for rituals or religious festivals, and one derived from Hurrian speaking societies in northern Mesopotamia. We will read texts from both traditions and explore not only the differences in content and literary style, but also their Sitz im Leben.

As part of a three quarter sequence, this course familiarizes the student with about 3/4 of Hittite grammar. The principles of the cuneiform writing system are taught and the student will learn some 100 signs of the basic syllabary and most important logograms. Also, a begin is made of introducing the student to the basic tools of the field.

The purpose of this three-quarter sequence is to enable the student to acquire a knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar of Classical Hebrew sufficient to read prose texts with the occasional assistance of a dictionary. The first half of the third quarter finishes verb inflection and includes translation to and from Hebrew, oral exercises, and grammatical analysis. The second half of the quarter consists of selected readings from the prose texts of the Hebrew Bible.