Program Description
New York University’s graduate program in Ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian Studies (ANEES), inaugurated in 2005, offers its students the opportunity for advanced study in the languages, literatures, history, religions, archaeology, and art of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. It draws on NYU’s substantial resources in these areas and its faculty members in several different departments and institutes, including the Institute of Fine Arts and the Departments of Anthropology, Art History, Hebrew and Judaic Studies, and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. Interdisciplinary study is strongly encouraged. Students in the program work with the director of graduate studies and with a faculty adviser in their field to construct a coherent program of academic study that is individually tailored to prepare them for careers in research, teaching, and museum work.
Programs leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees consist of courses in the relevant ancient languages, seminars, and individual reading and research courses, as well as the acquisition of practical skills required for scholarship and scholarly employment in their fields. With the approval of their advisers, students can receive credit for all courses taken in the Graduate School of Arts and Science and at other schools and institutes at NYU, as well as at universities participating in the Inter-University Doctoral Consortium (Columbia, Princeton, CUNY, Rutgers, Fordham, Stony Brook, and New School University). NYU has a program in Museum Studies that allows students in both the MA and PhD programs of ANEES to take an advanced certificate in that field with some additional courses.
In addition to their coursework, ANEES students will benefit from the location of the program in New York City, where the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum have important collections of art and artifacts from these civilizations. Public lectures at the museums and elsewhere in the city give students frequent opportunities to hear about the ongoing research of American and visiting international scholars.
The program shares the administrative resources of the Hebrew & Judaic Studies Department, where the founding faculty members have appointments, but it is separate from it academically. Students in ANEES are welcomed at Hebrew & Judaic Studies Department events and benefit from its larger community.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctoral students must complete 72 units of coursework if they enter without a Masters degree, and they are eligible to transfer a maximum of 40 units if they enter with a Masters degree. Students must also pass written qualifying subject area examinations in major and minor fields and an evidence-based exam in the major field. At present, these major fields may include: Assyriology, Ancient Syria-Palestine, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology. Minor fields may over lap with these major fields and also may include Near Eastern Late Antiquity, covering the Hellenistic and Roman Periods.
Students must also do basic ancient language coursework according to their particular study area. For those focusing on text specialization, this includes two ancient Near Eastern languages, with two years of graduate level study or the equivalent in each language, or three years of study for the primary language in the major field and one year of study for a second field. For those focusing on archaeology specialization, this includes one ancient language, with two years of graduate level study or the equivalent. All students must pass reading examinations in French and German as well.
Every student must complete and successfully defend a dissertation showing evidence of original research in his or her major field as the final stage of the degree requirements.
Master of Arts
The M.A. degree in Ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian Studies is awarded to students who have completed at least 32 points of graduate work (a minimum of 24 points in residence at New York University) in consultation with a major field advisor. Language requirements include two years of one ancient Near Eastern language for students with specialization in textual evidence, or one year of one language for students with an archaeology specialization. Either French or German is also required, with the agreement of the student’s primary advisor. Students may complete the Masters degree by either: 1) taking a major field subject area exam to be given and evaluated by the principal advisor and one other faculty member; or 2) writing a Masters thesis. The topic of the thesis must be approved in advance by the principal advisor, and the completed thesis must be read and approved by that advisor and one other reader.
Departmental Fellowships, Prizes and Awards
A comprehensive list of University, Graduate School, and departmental fellowships, prizes and awards appears in the Financing Graduate Education section of the GSAS Application for Admission and Financial Aid.
