This course will introduce students to the history of the civilization and the culture of Ancient Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq), which contributed to shape both the Western world and the modern Middle East. Ancient Mesopotamia was a land of contrasts between city and countryside, between sedentary and nomadic populations, between official cult and popular religion, between royal ideology and political skepticism. This course will encompass the variegated nature of this civilization and all the cultures that determine the nature of the historical records (written texts and material culture), through which one can reconstruct the history of Mesopotamia, and, in general, the whole Syro-Mesopotamian region. Furthermore, the connections between this region and other areas of the Ancient near East (Iran, Anatolia, Syro-Palestine, and Egypt) will be explored.
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