B024266 - HISTORY AND CIVILISATION OF MESOPOTAMIA

Italian

Mesopotamia cultures presentation with reading of literary passages.
Cuneiform writing introduction and Akkadian grammar’s hints.

C.B.F. Walker, Cuneiform, Berkeley-Los Angeles 1987 (= La scrittura cuneiforme, Roma 2008, trad. it. a cura di P. Corò)

Chapters from M. Liverani, Antico Oriente, Storia, società, economia, Laterza, Bari:
VI: La Mesopotamia proto-dinastica
VII: Il mondo di Ebla
VIII: L'impero di Akkad
IX: L'età neo-sumerica
X: La crisi della seconda urbanizzazione
XIII: L'età di Mari
XIV: Hammurabi di Babilonia
XIX: La Siria-Palestina nel Tardo Bronzo
Chapters from L. Milano (a cura di), Il vicino Oriente antico, dalle origini ad Alessandro Magno, EncycloMedia Publishers, Milano, 2012:
Introduzione (L. Milano)
Capitolo 8 (M. Jursa).

Franco D'Agostino, Gilgameš. Il re, l'uomo, lo scriba, L'Asino d'oro edizioni, 2017.

The course introduces the students to the knowledge of the civilizations arised in the "land between the rivers", i.e. Mesopotamia, and in the nearby Syro-Levantine areas, and offers a first approach to the cuneiform writing of the paleobabilonian period (i.e. Hammurabi of Babylon, 18th century BC).

None

Lectures.
The students will present scientific articles in relation to the topics discussed during the course. Collective discussion of articles will be held during the course.

During the lectures historical studies on specific topics will be read and discussed.
The slides used during the course will be provided under the Moodle Platform.

Oral exam.
The student must answer to questions on Mesopotamian history and culture. The presentations held by the student during the course will be part of the final evaluation.

The courswe will outline the history and the culture of Mesopotamnia and the Assiriology’s birth. During the course we will discussed various case studies using cuneiform written sources complemented with data of material culture and history of the studies. This will be useful for a critical assessment of some of the highlights of Mesopotamian and Syro-Levantine history and culture.
Further insights will concern the Gilgameš Epic.
The student will learn how the system of cuneiform writing works.