RELIGION AND CULTURE IN MESOPOTAMIA 2017–2018 Second Term Wed 10:30am-12:15pm (Lecture) & 12:30pm-1:15pm or TBA (Tutorial) CCT T41 Course Code: CURE 3373 Title in English: Religion and Culture in Mesopotamia Title in Chinese: 兩河流域 之宗教與文化 Course Description: The course gives a survey of the sophisticated civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, “the land between the rivers [Tigris-Euphrates],” of the last three millennia BCE. The ancient world of Mesopotamia in West Asia embodies the human heritage of primeval or early historical experiences inscribed on tablets in Sumerian and Akkadian. There are various literary forms, such as myths, prayers, ritual texts, legal writings and economic and administrative records. In order to appreciate the religio-cultural traditions and concepts preserved in the literary texts of Sumerian and Akkadian, this course will study a sample of relevant literary texts and archaeological artifacts from this region with emphasis on the history, myth, ritual, cosmology, as well as religious and social institutions. A particular focus will be given to how religion permeated different aspects of the everyday life of the ancient Mesopotamians and integrated into the sociopolitical ideologies. Learning Outcomes: After completing this course, students should: • Acquire an understanding of the religion and culture of Mesopotamia in their historical and socio- political contexts. • Obtain a basic knowledge of the impacts of Mesopotamia on humanity and the modern world through the heritage preserved by the Greco-Roman world and in the Judeo-Christian traditions. • Heighten their sensitivity to the religious and cultural dimensions of Mesopotamian civilizations. • Demonstrate an appreciative, sympathetic attitude to the fresh-and-blood struggles of the ancient Mesopotamians. • Develop a critical and analytic attitude to approaches to and current debates/theories in the ancient Mesopotamian religion and culture. • Be able to synthesize the knowledge acquired from course content, reading materials, and independent research and convey the synthesized knowledge through written assignments, as well as oral and visual presentations. • Develop the skills to conduct independent research, especially in the interpretation of literary texts in the cross-cultural contexts. Learning Activities: The course consists mainly of lectures, interwoven with tutorial sessions, class discussion, independent reading, class presentation, and research activities. The average time allocation (per week) of the learning activities is as follows: Lecture Class Discussion Student Reading and Written Assignments / / Tutorial Presentation Research Blackboard Posts In class Out of In class Out of In class Out of In class Out of In class Out of Class Class Class Class Class 1 hr 1 hr 0.5 hr 0.5 hr 3 hrs 2.5 hrs M M M M/O M M: Mandatory activity in the course O: Optional activity 1 Assessment Scheme: Task nature Purpose Learning Outcomes 1 Tutorial 1. To facilitate the students 1. All tutorial reading assignments are (30%) Participation to critically synthesize compulsory. However, students are only and analyze the course required to submit 5 synopses for 5 out of Weekly reading materials and the 10 class tutorials of their choice. synopsis due by exchange ideas among 2. On the designated Blackboard discussion 11:59pm on the themselves through forum for the tutorial, post a synopsis of the day before the Blackboard’s Discussion tutorial reading materials assigned for the tutorial on Forum. week marked with an asterisk and raise 2 to Blackboard’s 2. To encourage learning 3 critical questions of quality and substance Discussion collaboration and flow of on the content. (You may create a subject Forum ideas among the students title best describe your post or simply use in tutorials. your full English name as the subject title.) 3. To consolidate the students’ understanding * Part of this mark will be given based on the of the reading materials. student’s active engagement with the readings and group members in the tutorial. * Attendance is mandatory. In case of excused absence, prior email notice to the instructor or teaching assistant is required. 2 Optional 1: To develop the students’ Students are to work independently. Each (20%) Student skills to conduct student is required to Presentation independent research, select 1. Search for two to three academic references of good academic essays/articles written on the text; Scheduled in standard, critically analyze 2. Give a 20-minute presentation in class that the weeks as and synthesize the includes a compositional background shown in the references, and finally (historical, social, political, and/or literary Class Schedule. present their conclusions in contexts) of the assigned text, highlights of (Written class. the important issues raised in the academic component on essays/articles, and 2 to 3 further questions Blackboard & to engage the class in a discussion. VeriGuide; non- 3. Submit a report of 1500-2000 words in written in class) English or 2000-2500 words in Chinese on the day of presentation. Optional 2: To engage in the creative 1. Select of a Mesopotamian text of substance. Text transformation of a 2. Trace the afterlife of a text and assess how Transformation Mesopotamian text. the text fares in modern literature and popular culture, especially how it is being Due on handled in the digital world (internet, video Mar 14 (W) games, & films) and/or visual/performing (Written arts (lithography, painting, sculpture, component on music…etc.) Blackboard & 3. Retell the text creatively (e.g., a poem, play VeriGuide; non- script, short film, song, painting…etc.) with written in class) an annotated commentary and a reception history of 1500-2000 words in English or 2000-2500 words in Chinese. 4. Give a 20-minute presentation in class. 2 3 Term Paper To evaluate the students’ 1. Write an abstract of no more than 300 (50%) ability to critically engage words as a proposal for the term paper and Proposal and current scholarship in the submit a tentative bibliography. tentative criticism of Mesopotamian 2. Write a term paper of 3000–4000 words in bibliography texts and to analyze and English or 3800–5000 words in Chinese on due on critique different theories’ one of the following topics: Mar 28 (W) strengths and weaknesses (a) A critical reading of a Mesopotamian text (Blackboard) and to synthesize the or a group of texts with respect to its learned ideas from sources. sociocultural and historical contexts. Paper due on (b) A thesis of how the issues raised in the Apr 25 (W) Mesopotamian texts within their (Blackboard & sociocultural and political contexts are VeriGuide) relevant to our modern situations. (c) An in-depth study of the significance of a deity/demon/religious practice within his/her/its ancient contexts and/or to biblical hermeneutics. (d) A critical comparison of a Mesopotamian text or literary text with a biblical text, highlighting their similarities and differences in terms of literary motifs, styles, and rhetorical aims. Recommended Learning Resource: Required Texts: Foster, Benjamin R., trans. and ed. 2001. The Epic of Gilgamesh. New York: Norton. Nemet-Nejat, Karen Rhea. 1998. Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. Westport, CN: Greenwood. [UL DS69.5 N4 1998; on reserve] Abbreviated Titles: ANET Pritchard, James Bennett. 1969. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [CC Ref BS1180.P83 1969] CANE Sasson, Jack M., ed. 1995. Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. 4 vols. New York: Scribner. [UL Oversize DS57 .C55 1995] COS Hallo, William W., and K. Lawson Younger, Jr., eds. 2003. The Context of Scripture. 3 vols. Leiden and Boston: Brill. ProQuest Ebook Central. [CC Oversize BS1180.C66 1997] FDD Foster, Benjamin R. 1995. From Distant Days: Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia. Bethesda, MD: CDL. HTO Jacobsen, Thorkild. 1987. The Harps That Once…: Sumerian Poetry in Translation. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. [UL PJ4083 .H37 1987; on reserve] LAS Black, Jeremy, Graham Cunningham, Eleanor Robson, and Gábor Zólyomi. 2004. The Literature of Ancient Sumer. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ProQuest Ebook Central. Online Resources: ETCSL The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/ Oracc The Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, University of Pennsylvania. http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ Assigned Readings: Bahrani, Zainab. 2001. Women of Babylon: Gender and Representation in Mesopotamia. London; New York: Routledge. [UL HQ1137.I72 B34 2001; on reserve] 3 Barrett, Caitlín E. 2007. “Was Dust their Food and Clay their Bread? Grave Goods, the Mesopotamian Afterlife, and the Liminal Role of Inana/Ishtar.” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 7, no 1: 7-65. Beaulieu, Paul-Alain. 2007. “The Social and Intellectual Setting of Babylonian Wisdom Literature.” In Wisdom Literature in Mesopotamia and Israel, edited by Richard J. Clifford, 3-19. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. ProQuest Ebook Central. Bottéro, Jean. 1992. Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [CC DS69.5 .B6813 1992] Bottéro, Jean. 2001a. Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2001. [UL DS71 .B65 2001] Bremmer, Jan N. 2008. Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible, and the Ancient Near East. Leiden, Boston: Brill. ProQuest Ebook Central. Chadwick, Robert. First Civilizations: