Spring

Persian short story writing began in the twentieth century with Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh’s collection Yek-ī būd yek-ī nabūd (1921). The 1920s through the 1940s is considered the formative period of Persian short-story writing, also known as the first period. The second period in the development of the modern Persian short story began with the coup of 28 Mordād 1332/19 August 1953 and ended with the 1979 revolution. The third period that started after the 1979 revolution has been called the period of diversity in that it brought forth a variety of literary movements.

In this course, we will review the three periods of Persian short story development mentioned above to give you historical background on this genre of Persian literature. However, the focus of readings in this course is the short stories written by Hedayat, Daneshvar, Pirzad, Golshiri, Esma’ili, and others who have employed elements of fantasy, surrealism, and the paranormal in their stories. The class meets twice per week, each time for an hour and a half. We will read the original stories in Persian and discuss them in class in Persian. We will use hypothesis as a social annotation tool to engage you more deeply with the readings through a collaborative discovery of the text. We will also do collaborate translations of selected sections of some stories in our course blog as well as composing commentaries on each story. At the end of the course, each student will write a critical paper about one of the short stories we read during the course and translate 4-5 pages of it. Try to implement the theories you learned in your other courses in your discussions of the story. 

This course introduces the grammar and writing system of the Lycian language of the first millennium BC (ca. 500 to 300). After reading a series of tomb inscriptions, we venture into the larger historical inscriptions that include the Lycian-Greek-Aramaic trilingual of Xanthos.

This is the third in a three-quarter sequence that covers the basic grammar and cuneiform writing system of the Hittite language. It also familiarizes the student with the field’s tools (i.e., dictionaries, lexica, sign list). Readings come from all periods of Hittite history (1650 to 1180 B.C.).

This course is the third quarter of the annual introductory sequence to the Babylonian language and the Cuneiform script. After covering the grammar in the first two quarters, students will further their mastering of the Classical and Late Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian and the associated monumental and cursive scripts by reading through a varieties of text genres: Letters, Royal Inscriptions, Legal Texts, and excerpts of Literature. 

The idea that gods curse an offender is deeply rooted in Mesopotamian society. In this course, we will explore the origin and composition of curses, their applications in different textual genres, and the consequences of living in a world of curses. We will read different text genres from different periods, including the epilogue of the Codex Hammurabi, royal inscriptions, treaties, contracts, and literary texts and rituals. An introduction to the different genres and dialects eases the participants into the material, which will be read and analyzed in detail. The participants trained in comparative textual analysis and argumentation, and they practiced translating complex Akkadian texts.

Selected texts from the Middle Aramaic period (c. 200 BCE-200 CE) are read with special attention to the historical development of the grammar of Aramaic during this time period.

The course is aiming to enable students to reach a reasonable level of proficiency in the Armenian language. The curriculum is heavily based on real life situations. Each class session includes a healthy balance of real-life like conversations (shopping, placing an order in a restaurant, asking directions, talking with natives, getting around in the city, banking, etc.), readings (dialogues, jokes, stories, news, etc.) and writings (essays on selected topics, filling forms, etc.). The students can also communicate in Armenian well beyond basic needs about the daily life and obtain some level of fluency in their professional interests. This sequence covers a wider-range vocabulary and more complex grammatical structures in modern formal and colloquial Armenian.

This three-quarter sequence focuses on the acquisition of basic speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in modern formal and spoken Armenian. The course utilizes the most advanced computer technology and audio-visual aids enabling students to master the alphabet, a core vocabulary, and some basic grammatical structures in order to communicate their basic survivor’s needs in Armenian, understand simple texts and to achieve a minimal level of proficiency in modern formal and spoken Armenian.

This course provides an introduction to the form of ancient Egyptian written and presumably spoken in the Egyptian New Kingdom (circa 1550-1069 BCE), in which literary and administrative texts and letters were written during the Egyptian Empire.

This course provides an introduction to the hieroglyphic writing system, vocabulary and grammar of Old Egyptian, the phase of the Egyptian language used during the Old Kingdom (circa 2686-2181 BCE). It also provides an introduction to the culture and society of Egypt's 'Pyramid Age' through a close reading of monumental texts from private tombs, royal and private stelae, administrative decrees, economic documents, and Pyramid texts. Some attention is given to Old Egyptian texts written in cursive Hieratic.