Winter

Students will supervise work in one or more trenches, possibly (depending on suitability and project scale) an excavation area comprised of several trenches, including managing the local workforce and any junior students, and developing strategies together with the project leader. They should also be the lead on one type of material culture or data collected, managing the team responsible for recording, measuring, sampling, etc., and interpreting and synthesizing preliminary results in the field. Assessment will be based on field notes, area summary, and contribution to any preliminary reports or articles.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor

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.

This course focuses on the Hieroglyphic and Cuneiform Luwian inscriptions of the second millennium BC. Since Hieroglyphic Luwian I (AANL 20301) is a prerequisite, this course will only offer a very brief grammatical refresher, and will immediately start with the texts. We will read the large 13th century hieroglyphic texts of Tudhaliya IV and a few Cuneiform Luwian rituals from the 15th and 14th century.

Festivals celebrating deities and therapeutic rituals using magic to heal both mental and physical problems in individuals and groups of people belong to the most prolific genres of Hittite literature. This class will give an introduction to the festival and ritual genres, and discuss their place in Hittite literature and society. Following this we will read a number of representative texts in the original language and script (cuneiform). Requirements: Elementary Hittite 1-3.

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.

This course is the second quarter of the annual introductory sequence to the Babylonian language and the Cuneiform script. Students will further explore the grammar of Babylonian in its Old Babylonian dialect (19th-16th c. BCE) and read ancient inscriptions (especially the Laws of Hammu-rabi) in the Old Babylonian monumental script. They will also be introduced to the Old Babylonian cursive used in letters and the documents of everyday life.

Selected letters and contracts from the Imperial Aramaic period (c. 600-200 BCE) are read with special attention to the historical development of the grammar of Aramaic during this time period.

This course aims to enable students to reach a reasonable level of proficiency in the Armenian language.

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.