World Cultures: Ancient Near East and Egypt 
V55.0501 
Professor R. Wright


Schedule
 

Temple of Edfu, Horus wearing double crown (Ptolemaic)

Week
Date
Day
Topic
Near Eastern and Egyptian Cultures - Today and Yesterday
1 9/2 TU Introduction to the Course and its Requirements.
1 9/4 TH Brief History of the Middle East and Egypt - A review of their past and present
Recitiation 1. There is no recitiation this week
Background to the Study of Egypt and Mesopotamia
2 9/9 TU Archaeology, Ethnography and Texts.
2 9/11 TH Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia - Compared in Time and Space
Recitation 2. Student resources, stratigraphy, dating, and chronologies (9/12)
3 9/16 TU Geography, Environment and Human Settlement
D. Brewer & E. Teeter. The River, Valley and Desert (on reserve)
S. Pollock, Chapters 1 and 2
3 9/18 TH Settling Down - The Origins of Agriculture
Recitation 3. Archaeological methods, Archeotype Assyria (9/19)
 Mesopotamian and Egyptian Writing Systems: Their Role in History
4 9/23 TU Mesopotamian Cuneiform
S. Pollock, Chapter 6
I. Shaw, Chapter 1
Science Times (4/6/99) When No One Read, Who Started to Write? (on reserve)
4 9/25 TH Egyptian Hieroglyphic writing
Recitation 4. Cuneiform and hieroglyphs (9/26)  First Short Paper will be assigned.
 Mesopotamia: Cities and their Hinterlands
5 9/30 TU In-Class Exam
Regional Settlement Patterns/the City of Uruk
S. Pollock, Chapters 3, 4, 5
5 10/2 TH Uruk and Nippur - Urbanism, Markets and Sacred Places
Recitation 5. Regional Settlement Patterns - City, Town, and Village (10/3) 
Mesopotamia: Society, Ritual, and World View
6 10/7 TU Kings, Gods and Goddesses. The Idea of the Hero and Heroine
S. Pollock, Chapters 7, 8
6 10/9 TH Social Differences and Political Organization
Recitation 6. The Epic of Gilgamesh (10/10). FIRST SHORT PAPER IS DUE.
7 10/14 TU Kings of the Four Quarters - Militarism, Trade and Diplomacy
S. Pollock, Chapter 9
7 10/16 TH Mesopotamian Banquets and Music
Recitation 7. Exam Review (10/17). 
8 10/21 TU Land in between - The State of Ebla
8 10/23 TH In-Class Exam
Recitation 8. Metropolitan Museum of Art  - Scheduled Tour (10/24)
See the Field Trips section for more information. 
Egypt and the Age of the Pyramids
9 10/28 TU Before the Pyramids and Dynastic Kings - Predynastic Egypt
I. Shaw, Chapters 2, 3, 4
9 10/30 TH Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom Concepts of the Afterlife
Recitation 9. Mummies in the Popular Media & Film: Under Wraps (10/31). Second Short Paper will be assigned. 
Egypt. Mortuary Towns and Society
10 11/4 TU The Idea of Tomb Building and Pyramids
I. Shaw, Chapter 5
Aerograms, Newsletter of the Ancient Egypt Research Associates 2002-2003 - All
10 11/6 TH The Pyramid Town of Giza
Recitation 10. Settlement Patterns in Egypt - Giza (11/7)
11 11/11 TU Egyptian Mummies
11 11/13 TH This Old Pyramid
Recitation 11. My Favorite Mummy (11/14). SECOND SHORT PAPER IS DUE.
12 11/16 TU Social Differences and Political Organization
I. Shaw, Chapters 6 and 11
12 11/18 TH Old Kingdom Pious Foundations
Recitation 12. Exam Review (11/19)
13 11/25 TU Mesopotamia and Egypt - Did they Collapse?
13 11/27 TH Thanksgiving Break
Recitation 13. There is no recitation this week.
14 12/2 TU Legacies of the Past and Cultural Heritage
Selections from Phyllis Messenger, The Ethics of Collecting Cultural Property pages 8-10, 129-134, 229-238, 275-280 (on reserve)
14 12/4 TH In-Class Exam
15 12/9 TU Egypt Goes to the Movies
 
All Recitations meet in Room 204, the 2nd floor lab, at 25 Waverly Place, Department of Anthropology.
Summary of Schedule:
In-Class Exams - 9/30, 10/21, 12/4
Short papers due - 10/10, 11/14

          Field Trip - TBA during week of October 20th.
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