Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Course Atlas for Spring 2009

ANCMED 101: Introduction to Ancient Mediterranean

Content: This course offers an introduction to the great range of ancient cultures that flourished around the Mediterranean Sea thousands of years ago. We will read the poems, stories and letters written by ancient Egyptians, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans to learn how these cultures adapted in many different ways to the rich Mediterranean environment. We will also examine the abundant art, architecture and artifacts that these cultures left behind them as material testimony to how they led their lives. Themes covered in the class will include the growth of the first cities, states, and empires; the development of writing and the first written histories; and the impact of the exchange of ideas and materials across the Mediterranean.

ANCMED 201: Introduction to Mediterranean Archaeology

Content: The cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world are often viewed as “frogs around the pond”: defined by their interaction as much as their unique identities.    In this course, we focus on the material evidence for how these cultures, reaching from the Levant to the Pillars of Hercules, interacted with each other, sharing everything from raw materials and food to myths and technologies.  Our geographical range includes cultures in Egypt, Anatolia, Palestine, Greece and Rome, as well as the island cultures of Cyprus, Crete, and Sicily, the Phoenicians, and the world of nautical archaeology

ANCMED 202: Literature and Traditions

Content: This course provides a survey of texts and themes from the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. In addition to introducing the student to many of the great literary works from the civilizations that made up the ancient Mediterranean littoral, the course will provide the students with an understanding of the the background and origins of those works that we take for granted as part of our Western heritage. Interdisciplinary in its approach, the course goes beyond a survey to trace the long stream of literary tradition that connects these civilizations with one another. Assignments will challenge the student to assess critically the relevance of  these ancient themes for American society today.

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