Spring

Hieroglyphs. Cuneiform. The Phoenician alphabet. Two centuries ago these and other scripts could not be read; some of them were not considered writing at all. Today, scholars debate the fine points of ancient Egyptian and Sumerian grammar. They read early Greek in Linear B tablets, ancient Mayan in Meso­ameri­can glyphs, an unsuspected Indo-European language in curious Anatolian hieroglyphs, and other long-forgotten languages in other scripts, some of them cracked only recently. In this course we will examine several famous and not-so-famous decipherments: how scholars deciphered these scripts, decoded their languages and brought their literatures and cultures back to life. We will also consider why so many scripts must be deciphered—why some scripts and languages have died out so completely that they have been forgotten. Finally, we will investigate a number of scripts that have yet to be deciphered, such as Etruscan, the Rongorongo script of Easter Island (pictured above), and the knot-based writing system of the Inca khipus, and consider why they remain unsolved.

This course explores the formative period of Imami Shiʿism through close readings of primary Arabic sources, especially al-Kāfī of al-Kulaynī. Intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students with prior training in Arabic, the course treats al-Kāfī as a layered compilation rather than a monolithic text. Students analyze parallel traditions, doctrinal tensions, and processes of redaction to understand how diverse strands of early Shiʿite thought were brought together in the fourth/tenth century and how this process shaped the emergence of classical Imami Shiʿism. 

Students with limited prior training in Arabic are encouraged to consult the instructor before enrolling.
 

This is a discussion-oriented seminar that introduces students to the evidence, issues, and debates concerning ancient trade and exchange, with a focus on the economic institutions of the ancient Near East and especially those of the Bronze and Iron Age Levant and Eastern Mediterranean.
 

The aim of this course is to provide students with a broad overview of the development of human societies around the world from the first emergence of hominins to the industrial period, with a particular emphasis on an archaeological perspective for the historical periods. The course aims to cover a number of key developments, times and places (e.g. the Neolithic revolution, the first cities, Egypt, Buddhism, the Chinese empires) from a wide range of parts of the globe (South Asia, China, Western Asia, Europe, the Americas). Within the context of these topics, the course also aims to introduce to students a range of theoretical and methodological approaches or current debates. The course will be taught through 27, 50-min lecture and discussion classes by 19 different instructors from UChicago and beyond. The course has the value of providing students with a broad framework that will help them contextualize their learning throughout their time in Chicago. This course is one of the four required introductory courses in the archaeology major. 

There are no prerequisites.
 

This course examines religious responses to major political upheavals in Islamic history, from the Abbasid revolution to the age of European expansion. Topics include the Mongol destruction of the caliphate in 1258 and the opening and closing of confessional boundaries; the formation of regional Muslim empires in the 16th century; Ibn Arabi, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Khaldun; the development of alternative spiritualities, mysticism, and messianism in the fifteenth century; trans-confessionalism, antinomianism, and the articulation of sacral sovereignties in the sixteenth century; the pious responses to European colonialism . All work in English.