CLSX 529/HA 529: Egypt & Ancient Near East

CLSX 529 (42964) / HA 529 (43634)
Archaeology & Art of the Ancient Near East and Egypt

(Fall 2008; TR 2:30-3:45 pm; Spencer Museum of Art Auditorium)

Last update: 30 September 2008

front of the inlaid lyre, Ur (ca. 2400 BCE)
wood, gold leaf, lapis lazuli, bitumen

JOHN G. YOUNGER

Professor, Department of Classics; Director, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
1013 Wescoe & 213E Bailey
email: jyounger@ku.edu

Office Hours: MW 11:00-4:00 (Bailey 213); TR 11:00-2:00 (Wescoe 1013)

If these office hours are impossible, email me to arrange for other times.

Course Description: This course presents an introduction to Old World archaeology, its methods, techniques, goals, history, and some major monuments.

Course Goals: Besides a familiarity with the details of archaeological methods, the student should also obtain an introductory understanding of the history of archaeology as a discipline, the Old World cultures that archaeology has revealed, and the difficulties in understanding cultures through art and artifacts.

Required Texts

van de Mieroop, A History of the Ancient Near East, 3000-323 BC (Blackwell) ISBN 0631225528 (paper). Available in the KU Bookstore.

Robins, The Art of Ancient Egypt (Harvard University Press) ISBN 0674003764 (paper). Available in the KU Bookstore.

Shaw, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford UP 2004) ISBN 0192804588 (paper). Available in the KU Bookstore.

Additional course materials will be put online through Blackboard (courseware.ku.edu) and on reserve, as needed.

Grading

Exams
There will be 3 short quizes (15 minutes each), a midterm, and a possible final.

Quizes: 16 Sep, 13 Nov, 11 Dec.
Midterm exam: 14 October (T), 2:30-3:45, SMA Aud.
possible Final exam: 18 December (R), 1:30-4:00, SMA Aud.

For both Midterm & Final Exam, a "template" will be posted online one week before the exam.
The midterm template will be available on Blackboard/Documents on Tuesday 3 October.
Final template

The quizes will be short: identification of terms & names, map work, slide identification.
Both Midterm & Final Exam will have approximately the same format: slide identifications (80% of them will have been shown in class; 10% will be pictures like those in the textbook, and 10% will be illustrations not seen before); identifications of technical terms; and short essays.

Makeup Exams will be given ONLY if your absence is legitimate (serious health problems, a death in the immediate family) AND if you have a written document testifying to this emergency, to be submitted within a reasonable length of time; if this is a foreseeable absence, then you must inform me of your absence at least one week in advance by e-mail.

Attendance & Class Participation. I expect full attendance at each class session; I shall take attendance at least 20 times during the semester.

You should come to each class because almost ALL the material on the exams, including slide illustrations, will come from the lectures.

I expect some class participation (questions, discussion) from each student. This will result in my knowing your name; if I do not know your name by the Midterm, then I will not be able to recognize your full capabilities.

Your attendance will be noted, and part of your grade will be based on your attendance.

Term Project or Paper (due 15 Dec, M, by 4 pm).
A short paper (10 pages maximum, excluding bibliography and illustrations) or small project (like a reconstruction drawing of an ancient building or fresco; no models, nothing larger than a shoebox).

See suggested topics at the end of this syllabus.
Papers (10 pages maximum, excluding bibliography and illustrations) must have a bibliography with at least 6 items (3 of which are books or articles) and at least 6 footnotes. Click here for a summary about bibliography and footnotes.

FINAL GRADE: Your final semester grade will be based fairly equally on Midterrm, Final exam, the 3 quizes, and the term paper/project, and also on your in-class participation and attendance. I am always impressed by dramatic improvement over the course of the semester.

After I grade your final quiz, I shall post your "Grade So Far."

IF you attended 16 of the 20 sessions when I took attendance, you may take your "Grade So Far" as your final course grade.

If you are NOT satisfied with your "Grade So Far," you may take the Final Exam (18 December, 1:30-4:30, SMA Aud) which will be based on the lectures after the Midterm. Taking the Final Exam will NOT lower your updated "Grade So Far."

How to get a good grade in this class

Read the readings BEFORE coming to lecture.

Come to every class - you will not be able to pass this course if you do not see the images presented in class.

Ask questions in class; tell me your name until I have memorized it.

Do your own work!

Complaints: If you have a complaint, please discuss it first with me. If you feel that you cannot discuss it with me, you may take your complaint to the Chair of the Classics Department, Professor Pamela Gordon (pgordon@ku.edu). If you do not receive a satisfactory solution, you may submit a written complaint to the Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College office in Strong Hall.

Plagiarism, Cheating, and Academic Misconduct

Plagiarism: turning in someone else's work as your work; quoting another person's work or statement without acknowledgement.

Cheating: getting answers on exams from someone else or from some help that is not in your own brain (e.g., iPods, cell phones).

Academic Misconduct: "Academic misconduct by a student shall include, but not be limited to, disruption of classes; threatening an instructor or fellow student in an academic setting; giving or receiving of unauthorized aid on examinations or in the preparation of notebooks, themes, reports or other assignments [= cheating]; knowingly misrepresenting the source of any academic work; unauthorized changing of grades; unauthorized use of University approvals or forging of signatures; falsification of research results; plagiarizing of another's work; violation of regulations or ethical codes for the treatment of human and animal subjects; or otherwise acting dishonestly in research." (section 2.6.1 of the Rules and Regulations of the Kansas University Senate)

I regard plagiarism and cheating as very serious offenses. All attempts to take credit for work that is not your own or to assist others in doing so will be dealt with according to the policies of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences; at the very least, I will NOT give the cheating student credit for the work, and I may fail the student who cheats.

Special Accommodations: Anyone who has a disability which may require some modification of seating, testing, or other class requirements should contact the Office of Student Disabilities to acquire the proper form that will allow me to make appropriate arrangements.

LECTURE TOPICS & READINGS

INTRODUCTION

The Near East & Egypt, topography

21 (R) Aug

Orientation Class: syllabus, requirements, geography, terminology

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapter 1.1-1.3, "What is the Ancient Near East?," "The Sources," "Geography"

Shaw: chapter 1, "Introduction," study the map on p. 22

Robins: study the map on p. 11

Recommended Surfing

ABZU: web resource site for the Ancient Near East

Wikipedia's portal for the Ancient Near East

26 (T) Aug

chronology

Required Readings

de Mieroop: charts 1.1 (p. 14) & 7.1 (p. 123)

Shaw: study the chronological chart, pp. 479-83

Robins: study the chronological chart, pp. 8-11

PREHISTORY

Neolithic statuettes from Ain Gazel, Jordan, ca. 3500 BCE

28 (R) Aug

Palaeolithic to Neolithic

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapter 1.4, "Prehistoric Developments"

Shaw: chapter 2, "Prehistory"

Robins: chapter 2, "Origins"

Recommended Surfing

Human Origins: site 1

Human Origins: site 2

Human Origins: site 3

Iceman: site 1

Iceman: site 2

2 (T), 4 (R) Sep

Neolithic: ANE (Uruk, Jericho) & Egypt (Pre- and Proto-Dynastic)

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapter 2, "The Uruk Phenomenon"

Shaw: chapter 3, "Naqada," and 4, "Emergence"

EARLY BRONZE AGE

the Great Pyramid at Giza (ca. 2300 BCE)

9 (T), 11 (R), 16 (T) Sep (Quiz 1)

ANE: Ur I, Sargon of Akkadia, Troy II; Egypt: Old Kingdom

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapter 3.2-3.4, "Competing City States"

Shaw: chapter 5, "Old Kingdom"

Robins: chapter 4, "Golden Age"

Recommended Surfing

ABZU: web resource site for the Ancient Near East

Nova: Egyptian pyramids

18 (R), 23 (T) Sep

writing & administration: cuneiform, hieroglyphics & demotic

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapter 3.1 & 3.5, "Written Sources," "Scribal Culture"

Recommended surfing

Wikipedia, Cuneiform

John Heise, Akkadian Language, chap. 4, "Cuneiform"

Cuneiform Numbers

Cuneiform Digital Library

Wikipedia, Egyptian Hieroglyphs

AncientScripts.com, Egyptian

Omniglot, Egyptian

Jim Loy's Egyptology

MIDDLE BRONZE AGE

Ziggurat at Ur (ca. 2100 BCE)

25 (R), 30 (T) Sep; 2 (R), 7 (T) Oct

ANE Ur III, Byblos, Assyria; Egypt: 1st Intermediate Period, Middle Kingdom

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapter 4, "Political Centralization," 5, "Near East in the Early Second Millennium," 6.1-6.3, "Growth of Territorial States"

Shaw: chapters 6, "First Intermediate Period," 7, "Middle Kingdom"

Robins: chapters 5, "Diversity," 6 & 7, "Middle Kingdom"

9 (R) Oct

NO CLASS

14 (T) Oct

Midterm; see Blackboard/Documents for the template

15-18 (R-N) Oct

Fall Break

LATE BRONZE AGE

Amenophis IV ("Akhenaten")

21 (T) Oct

collapse: 2nd Intermediate Period: Hyksos

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapter 6.4, "Dark Age"

Shaw: chapter 8, "Second Intermediate Period"

Robins: chapter 7, "Middle Kingdom (II)"

23 (R), 28 (T), 30 (R) Oct; 4 (T) Nov

ANE: Mitanni, Hittites; Egypt: New Kingdom

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapters 7, 8, 9, "Club," "Western States," "Kassites"

Shaw: chapters 9-11, "18th Dynasty," "Amarna," "Egypt & the Outside World"

Robins: chapters 8-10, "New Momentum," "Great Heresy," "Glories"

SYSTEMS COLLAPSE

Bringing the Trojan Horse, from the movie "Troy"

6 (R) Nov

Trojan War, Sea Peoples

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapter 10, "Collapse"

Shaw: chapter 12, "Third Intermediate Period"

Robins: chapter 11, "Fragmentation"

Recommended Surfing

Troy: site 1

Troy: site 2

EARLY IRON AGE

Babylon Gate, restored in the Pergamum Museum, Berlin

11 (T), 13 (R) Nov (Quiz 2)

Phrygia, Urartu, Palestine, Babylon, Assyria, Saite & Kush

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapters 11-14

Shaw: chapter 12, pp. 338-68

Robins: chapter 12, "Late Period I"

18 (T), 20 (R) Nov

Persian Empire

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapter 15, "Persian Empire"

Shaw: chapter 13, "Late Period"

Robins: chapter 13, "Late Period II"

HELLENISTIC AGE

lighthouse at Alexandria, in use from 294 BCE to ca. 1325 CE

25 (T) Nov, & 2 (T) Dec

Alexander & the Hellenistic Age

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapter 15.4, "Alexander"

Shaw: chapter 14, "Ptolemaic"

Robins: chapter 13, "Final Flowering"

27-30 (R-N) Dec

Thanksgiving Break

2 (T) Dec

Alexander & the Hellenistic Age, cont.

Required Readings

de Mieroop: chapter 15.4, "Alexander"

Shaw: chapter 14, "Ptolemaic"

Robins: chapter 13, "Final Flowering"

ROMAN OCCUPATION

Tomb facade at Petra (Jordan), 1st c. CE

4 (R) Dec

Roman Conquest

Required Readings

Shaw: chapter 15, "Roman Conquest"

Recommended Surfing

Bob Brier, "Saga of Cleopatra's Needles," Archaeology 55.6 (November/December 2002)

obelisk: site 1

obelisk: site 2

9 (T) Dec

the Roman East, Parthia, Sassanian, Palmyra

LATE ANTIQUE

Church of the "Holy Sepulcher," Jerusalem, mid 4th c. CE; Umayyad mosque, Damascus, ca. 650 CE

11 (R) Dec (Quiz 3)

from the Romans to the Arab Conquest

15 (M) Dec

Term paper or project due (by 4 pm)

18 (R) Dec, 1:30-4:00

Final Exam: Study Guide, click here

Term papers / projects (drawings, reconstructions, NO models)

Papers (10 pages maximum) must have a bibliography with at least 6 items (3 of which are books or articles) and at least 6 footnotes.

Click here for a summary about bibliography and footnotes.