MID E 3743 - Cuneiform Cultures of the Biblical World

Meets with ANTH 396/3969/5969. This course is an introduction to archaeology, religion, history, art, architecture, and other aspects of cultural mosaic of the cuneiform cultures of the ancient Middle East. It focuses on ancient Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Syria-Palestine, and Persia with references to Egypt whenever appropriate. It covers the period directly preceding the invention of writing in southern Mesopotamia (the second half of the fourth millennium B.C.) until the Hellenistic period, beginning with the conquest/liberation of the Middle East by Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C.