2023-2024

This course focuses on Hittite prayers. The texts are read in cuneiform and placed it in their social-historical context. The reading hones the student's philological skills. We will study the development of Hittite prayers from the 17th century to 13th century, incorporating recent insights on the rhetorical structure and power of prayers and the influence from Mesopotamia. We will read a selection of Old Hittite benedictions (the forerunners of prayers), the hymn to the Sungod, the desperate prayers of Arnuwanda and Asmunikal for delivery from their enemies, and a plague prayer of Mursili II.

TURK Reading/Research

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 Hakan Karateke's unpublished "Ottoman Reader" serves as a text book.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 a selection of Sumerian texts that provide insights into the image of the king. We will start with royal inscriptions, move on to the so-called royal correspondence of the Kings of Ur, and finish with excerpts from the self-praise poem of king Sulgi commonly referred to as ‘Sulgi B’. Apart from tackling philological issues and practicing to read cuneiform from copies and photos, we will also address broader questions during classroom discussions, such as: Can we use royal inscriptions, correspondence, and hymns as historical sources? Can we bridge the gap between the reign of historical Ur III kings and their feats as commemorated in texts preserved exclusively on Old Babylonian manuscripts? Can we use language and orthography for dating a text?

This course covers Elementary Sumerian.

This sequence deepens and expands the students' knowledge of modern Persian. The goal is to enable the students to gain proficiency in all skills of language acquisition at a higher level. In this sequence, the students learn more complex grammatical structures and gain wider vocabulary through reading paragraph-length texts on a variety of topics related to Persian language, literature, and culture. Students will also be familiarized with Persian news and media terminology. Class meets four hours a week with the instructor and one hour with a native informant who conducts grammatical drills and Persian conversation.

This sequence concentrates on all skills of language acquisition (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). The class begins with the Persian alphabet, and moves to words, phrases, short sentences, and finally short paragraphs. The goal is to enable the students towards the end of the sequence to read, understand, and translate simple texts in modern standard Persian and engage in short everyday conversations. All the basic grammatical structures are covered in this sequence. Introducing the Iranian culture through the texts is also a goal. The class meets four hours a week with the instructor and one hour with a native informant who conducts grammatical drills and Persian conversation.