2023-2024

An important Hittite text genre without any clear parallels in other Ancient Near East literatures are the ‘obligation and oath’ texts. These texts describe the duties of professional classes in the Hittite imperial administration, sometimes in great detail. There are instructions for, for example, the commander of a border province, the mayor of Hattusa, temple personnel, military commanders, and the bodyguard of the king. We will read a few of the best-preserved texts from different time periods to gain insights in the functioning of the Hittite administration and society at large in each period, and how this changes over time.

TURK Reading/Research

Advanced Ottoman Readings II

A selection of Turkish printed texts in Arabic script from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is introduced in order of difficulty. Hakan Karateke's unpublished "Ottoman Reader" serves as a text book. The texts are drawn from historical textbooks, official documents, novels, and other genres.

Advanced Turkish students will develop their language skills in speaking, reading, translating, listening, and writing, while learning about Turkish society and culture at the same time. To address all of these aspects each class is divided into three sections which focuses on a specific skill.

This sequence features proficiency-based instruction emphasizing speaking and writing skills as well as reading and listening comprehension at the intermediate to advanced levels in modern Turkish. Modern short stories, novel excerpts, academic and journalistic articles form the basis for an introduction to modern Turkish literature. Cultural units consisting of films and web-based materials are also used extensively in this course, which is designed to bring the intermediate speaker to an advanced level of proficiency.

Elementary Turkish (First Year)

In this course, we will read the Sumerian mythological narrative known by its modern title “Dumuzi’s Dream.” Judging by the numerous manuscripts preserved from the Old Babylonian period, it was a popular text in scribal education. We will practice reading from copies, photos, and original cuneiform tablets, as five manuscripts are housed at the ISAC Museum and available for hands-on study. Based on close engagement with the individual manuscripts, we will discuss the principles of textual criticism and how to prepare an eclectic text, as well as a text edition. Besides philological issues, we will also address broader questions during classroom discussions, such as: Can we use such literary texts to reconstruct Sumerian mythology? How does this text relate to other literary compositions revolving around the divine couple Innana and Dumuzi, and how does it relate to non-literary text corpora? In how far can we determine its function, both within scribal education and beyond? Can we actually apply the term ‘literature’ to the Sumerian textual legacy?

Elementary Sumerian II