Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations

The course traces the history of ancient Egypt from the foundation of the Egyptian state around 3050 BCE to its incorporation into the Roman Empire. The focus is on various aspects of Egyptian culture, including the institution of kingship, the role of women, and the peculiarities of Egyptian art, literature, and religion. Emphasis is placed on the methods by which knowledge about this ancient civilization can be obtained.

From city state to empire. The peoples and polities of Mesopotamia and the Near East, including Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. Their cultural contributions, from the development of writing to their achievements in law, administration, science, art and architecture, religion, and literature.

What makes a certain thing (a state, art, law) Islamic? When and how did what we think about as the Islamic today come about? How has “the Islamic” changed over time? With these questions in mind, this course introduces students to major peoples, events, intellectual currents, and institutions in Islamic history.

Examine the history, lands, peoples, religions, literatures and cultures that produced the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Topics to be covered include an overview of the geography and history of Ancient Israel and Judea, the role of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages, the literary genres reflected in biblical and some contemporary non-biblical texts, and the scholarly methods by which the Bible is studied.

Are human beings basically evil or good? What creates order in society? Coercion? Religion? Can societies operate without law? This course explores different systems of authority and control through ancient texts, focusing on the very first ideas of law in human history. We examine actual law codes, court cases on real estate disputes and conspiracy to commit murder and rape, as well as alternative means of regulating communities such as ideology, ritual and magic. While most courses on ancient law approach the topic from the perspective of modern concerns, this course situates the first law in its own historical, social and political context. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Reading the Bible is easy, but reading it well isn’t. Should we read its stories as history? All of it? Or perhaps only part of it? If so, which parts? And if some parts aren’t meant to be read as history, then what are they? Was Jonah really swallowed by a large fish? Did the sun and moon stand still for Joshua? Did Moses really part the Red Sea? Did Jesus really raise Lazarus from the dead? Are miracles necessarily fiction? In this seminar, we will read together many of the most colourful stories of the Bible, sometimes alongside similar stories from the cultural context of ancient Israel, and discuss what genre (history, myth, legend, folktale) they belong to and how this affects our reading of these texts. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

The narrative of women speaking out begins in Iran in the first decades of the 20th century. In this course, we will look at an early generation of educated Iranian females who although from varied backgrounds have a common desire to make their lives public. We will refer to a mix of sources including memoirs, interviews and poems to explore how feminist aspirations are repressed or expressed in a society dominated by patriarchal values. We will analyse how a woman’s childhood experience affects her personal expectations for the future and whether the cultural environment restricted this generation or encouraged women to make a social contribution. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

The ancient city of Babylon, now a vast archaeological site in Iraq about 100km south of Baghdad, has captured people’s imagination up to this day. Who has not heard of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Biblical Tower of Babel, or the sci-fi TV series Babylon 5? Yet, how much of that reflects the reality of ancient Babylon? This course will explore the city of Babylon through its texts and archaeology and contrast this data with the way the city has been remembered over the past two thousand years. However, the goal of the course is not only to investigate how myths about Babylon have been constructed throughout the centuries. It will also look at the shortcomings of contemporary academic research on Babylon, and how difficult it is to reconstruct humankind's distant past. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course offers an introduction to the contemporary Middle East from an anthropological perspective. Topics will include gender, kinship, religion, modernity, popular culture, and the study of everyday life.

Examines modern Arabic literary works that portray marginalized social figures and groups, including the criminal, the urban poor, the peasantry, the delinquent, the prostitute, and the political outcast. Explores issues such as political violence, marginality, precarity, social reform and social exclusion.

Focuses on the origins and development of the novel genre in the Arabic tradition. Examines the aesthetic qualities of the genre as an artistic form and the ways that it has depicted and intervened in the modern social, political, and cultural upheavals that have shaped the Arab world in the 20th century. Readings of novels and criticism in English.

The course examines written and archaeological sources to discuss the status and role of women in the ancient Near East, focusing in particular on the first millennium BCE.

This course explores some of the world’s oldest literature, including the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Babylonian Epic of Creation. It surveys the major genres from ancient Mesopotamia, including epics, myths, lyrical poetry, wisdom literature, and humorous tales.

Survey of the intellectual life in the Ancient Near East from the emergence of writing in Mesopotamia and Egypt at the end of the third millennium BCE until the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Covers issues of orality vs. literacy, state and scribal control, notions of progress, origins and purpose of knowledge, as well asareas such as taxonomy of the natural world, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, divination.

A survey course on the evolution of bureaucracies in the ancient Near East (Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey, the Levant) and Egypt. Covering the period from 9,000 to 600 B.C.E, the course will track the development from simple storage and accounting procedures in Neolithic villages to administrative complexities in urban settings, leading to the advent of writing systems.

Introduces students to the culture of ancient Egypt through the study of 'functional' textual materials, including domestic, religious (including funerary and ritual), historical, and scientific texts, to paint a rich picture of the daily life and experiences of the ancient Egyptians. No knowledge of Egyptian required; all texts read in translation.

An introduction to the critical study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and the related literature of ancient Jewish communities (Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls). English translations used; no knowledge of Hebrew is required. (Offered alternate years)

Explores Egyptian mythical writings, starting with the myths contained in the Pyramid Texts of the 3rd Millennium BCE and ending with the narrative mythical tales of the 1st Millennium BCE and beyond. Definitions and historical developments will be discussed. All texts will be read in translation.

This course explores the significance of mummies in contexts ranging from ancient Egyptian to modern, tracing the development of Egyptian mummification techniques and the roles and uses of mummies as transformative elements allowing access to the afterlife, sources of information about ancient individuals, characters in literature and film, and objects for display in museums.

Students read closely classic works in translation, through class discussion, in-class exercises, and short essays. Readings include: narratives like Kalila wa-Dimna and Ibn Hazm's love treatise; poems by Labid, Jarir, Abu Nuwas, al-Mutanabbi, and Ibn Nubata; and an obscene shadow play by Ibn Daniyal.

Reveals how the 1001 Nights was created, transformed, and disseminated. We consider the politics and aesthetics of medieval and modern adaptations - manuscripts, films, ballet, novels, and short stories produced around the world. Builds toward a final project -- either a creative project or an essay.

An introduction to the history and culture of modern Turkey through readings of modern Turkish literature in translation. Topics such as cultural revolution, migration, identity and gender, production and transmission of literature in today's literary market will be discussed. Readings will include a variety of genres, notably the short story, poetry, and the novel.

The Persian Book of Kings, or Shahnameh, composed in the 11th century by Ferdowsi, is the most important book in Iranian national culture and one of the great works of world literature. The course examines the book’s presentation of the history of the pre-Islamic kings of Iran, the exploits of Iran’s heroes, and the myths and legends of ancient Iran, which were frequently illustrated in manuscript copies over the centuries.

This course explores the shared world of myth and ritual between Zoroastrianism and Hinduism and examines the contours of early Iranian thought. The course will survey mythoepic literature in translation from the archaic Avesta through the late antique Middle Persian (Pahlavi) corpus. The course will include a broad introduction to ancient and late antique Iran.

This is an experiential course that asks what it would have been like for people in the ancient Near East as their world underwent the profound changes wrought by domestication, farming, urbanism, and state formation. We focus on the sensory experiences of the body, and their effect upon the mind, by reconstructing and using spaces and objects that have come to define the archaeological periods from 10,000 to 2500 BCE. From circular communal buildings and the constraints and possibilities they offer, to replastering skulls and making hand-held figurines, to the performance of a ritual text, we link traditional teaching with walking a mile in ancient footwear. Participation in this course requires an active imagination and a willingness to get physical.

Participation for 4 - 7 weeks during the summer in an approved archaeological excavation in the eastern Mediterranean/Middle East. This experience is then critiqued in a previously assigned essay researched and written under guidance upon return. Departmental permission is required in December-February prior to the fieldwork. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

From 2500 to 333 BCE, the ancient Near East saw the world’s first empire, the birth of international diplomacy, burgeoning sea-trade and piracy, perennial warfare and the emergence of new ethnic identities like the Philistines and Israelites. Explore the archaeological evidence for these events in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia and the Levant.

This class investigates archaeological traces of human interaction with the supernatural world in the ancient Near East, including figurines, temples, skulls, statues, and cylinder seals. In order to contextualize different ways of thinking about other worlds, we also look at cross-cultural comparisons ranging from Africa to the Americas.

Discover how the structure of animal skin enables the making of leather and tattoos; why mighty kings boasted about tree-cutting expeditions; how chariots, stirrups, and gunpowder changed the very structure of contemporary societies; why spears are better than swords. Understand and appreciate the materials in the world around you.

Focusing on Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, this course raises some controversial issues in coming to grips with the impact of war on retrieving, interpreting, and preserving the past. Find out the many ways we can work to preserve the history and culture of places at risk, now and in the future.

What does archaeological evidence tell us about political and social power? Explore the origins and rise of leadership in the Near East from the Neolithic period to the famous kings and military commanders of Sumer, Assyria and Babylon.

The course will introduce students to the Christian communities living in the Middle East since the distant past, identified by ecclesiastical and or ethnic terms, including Armenian, Copt, Greek-Melkite, Maronite, and Syriac. The course will discuss the plurality of their cultural, literary, and theological traditions, the social and intellectual roles of their monasteries, the contributions of their top religious authorities in diplomacy between Byzantium and the Sassanians, their position in the Islamic world and contributions to Islamic culture, philosophy, sciences, and theology, interreligious dialogues and polemics with Islam. (Offered in alternate years)

Builds a solid foundation in Middle East & Islamic Studies, giving students an understanding of major themes and events, movements and individuals in early Islamic history and an awareness of the tools and sources available for study, problems historians have encountered in using them, and interpretive approaches to these sources.

Explores the roles of Turks as raiders, migrants, slave-soldiers, and empire-builders in the formation of the Islamic world prior to the Ottomans (1300). Readings include primary sources in translation on the Islamization of the Turks in Central Asia and their gradual takeover of Iranian and Arab lands.

The rise of the Mongols and creation of their world empire and its role in the making of the modern world. Political, military, cultural, and economic aspects of the formation and disintegration of the largest land empire in world history (1200-1800).

Topics vary from year to year, depending on instructor.

Topics vary from year to year, depending on instructor.

The emergence of modern states in the Middle East, against a background of empire, world wars, and national and religious movements. Students will learn why the modern map looks the way it does, and how Middle Eastern peoples' self-identifications have changed over the past 200 years.

The period of time covered by the course is from shortly before the birth of Islam in the 7th century to the present: God, Prophethood, Holy Book, Community, the Individual, the Shari‘a, the mystical tradition, art and science, social institutions, family life, women in Islam, modernity and the impact of the West. Lectures, assignments and workshops will be framed by the close identification between “religion” and “civilization”.

Explores the interaction between Jewish religious and secular movements and feminism, focusing on conflicts between Jewish law (halakhah) and ideas of egalitarianism, particularly in legal disabilities for women connected to marriage and divorce, lack of access to high-level Torah study, and discrimination in public religious roles. Examines competition among the movements to include women in Torah study has led to, and the extent to which inclusion and egalitarianism have become a complement in Judaism. (Offered in alternate years, topic changes)

Concern is mainly with the sacred character of the Quran (koran), its preeminence in Islam. Topics include: the idea of the sacred book, the Quran and the Bible, the influence of the Quran on Islamic spirituality, literature, theology, law, philosophy, and the various apporaches taken in interpreting the Quran. Knowledge of Arabic is not required. (Offered in alternate years)

This course is a continuation of NMC285H1. Students will be required to engage directly with the text in English or French translation, to discuss and write on major and minor quranic topics and themes and to study the works of other astute readers of the text. Arabic is not required or expected.

Overview of the history of the Copts from political, religious, social and economic perspectives. Literary and documentary sources will illustrate these different aspects of Coptic Civilization. The focus on Coptic Monasticism will underline the role of monasteries as conservers of the Coptic Orthodox Church tradition.

This course investigates formal properties of Arabic language. It provides students with an in-depth knowledge of the grammar of the language focussing on the areas of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and the interaction between phonology and morphology.

Explores the cultural politics of encounter, narrative, and representation in modern Arabic narrative. Examines literary, historical, anthropological, and visual texts to consider how Arab writers have imagined and documented their cultural and political encounters with difference both in and outside the Arab world.

Presents an historical overview on the origins of Egyptian monasticism based on written sources. Comparison of written sources with archaeological artifacts reveals the relation between spiritual and material aspects of monastic life. Literary sources produced for different monastic orders -- such as sermons, canons and biographies -- will be studied.

Exploration of the primary archaeological, architectural, and inscriptional sources, questioning and analyzing ideas about Egypt's development from farming communities at the dawn of history to an early state that built great pyramids for its kings, collapsed into civil war, and grew to become a colonizing power in the Middle Kingdom.

Exploration of the primary archaeological, architectural, and inscriptional sources, questioning interpretations and analyzing how Egypt confronted foreign domination and developed into a major empire in the New Kingdom under Thutmose III, Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, and Ramesses II, then fragmented politically in the Third Intermediate Period and ultimately became a colony itself.

The political and cultural history of the peoples of ancient South-Western Asia from 3000 BCE to the destruction of Babylon by the Hittites ca. 1600 BCE. (Offered in alternate years)

Traces the political development and cultural history of Mesopotamia, from the territorial states of the Late Bronze Age to the world’s first empires in the first millennium BC (Assyria, Babylonia, Achaemenid Persia).

Examines the political history and cultural legacy of the Sasanian empire and transmission of Persian concepts of kingship, administration, and social organization into Islamic civilization, Perso-Islamic cultural synthesis under the Samanids, the interaction between nomadic and sedentary cultures under the rule of Turkic and Turko-Mongolian dynasties, and the Safavid state.

The history and culture of the Achaemenid empire, from its emergence out of the former Elamite kingdom and its rise under Cyrus II in 559 BCE to the reign of Darius III and its fall in 330 BCE. The Persian idea of court and kingship, religion, and organization of the empire will also be investigated.

Survey of various literary genres from works produced by Armenian, Coptic, Maronite, Melkite, and Syriac authors between the 3rd and the 19th centuries CE. Genres include theology in poetry, biblical commentaries, historiography and chronicles, hagiography, songs and epics, apologetics, and travel accounts.

This course provides an examination of the historical and cultural context in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were authored and copied, the types of writings included in the Scrolls, and the ancient Jewish groups behind these texts. It also discusses the significance of the Scrolls for understanding the textual development of the Hebrew Bible, ancient scriptural interpretation, and the thought world of the Jews during the period that gave birth to both Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity. No knowledge of Hebrew or Aramaic is required. (Offered alternate years)

The last phase of the Ottoman empire has long been viewed by Orientalists and Middle East nationalists as a period of inevitable decline. More recently, cultural historians of the Middle East have framed the long 19th. century as a period of grand reforms - or Tanzimat. This course seeks to critically examine the notions of reform of the state and reform of the individual between Sultan Mahmud IIs accession and the defeat of the Ottoman empire in World War I. Focusing largely on Istanbul and the Ottoman capitals political relations with the Arab provinces, we will relate economic, social and intellectual transformations to state laws and policies, Mediterranean capitalism and the rise of sectarianism and nationalism in the Middle East.

Combines theoretical reflections on an anthropology of Islam with ethnographic readings on Muslim practices in communities around the world.

Students read translations of Arabic literary texts: texts composed by women, and texts that deal with gender, homoeroticism, and sexuality. Class discussion considers debates in the field about how to analyze these texts in their historic context and in a theoretically grounded manner.

Examines questions of gender and sexuality in modern Arabic literature from the colonial period to the present through readings of literary and cultural texts, including novels and essays. Focuses on intersections of Arab feminist thought and literary and artistic constructions of gender and sexuality. Taught in English.

Using ancient archaeological and textual sources as well as modern ethnographies and political theories, this class takes a critical look at the role of mobile populations in Near Eastern history from the fourth to first millennium BCE, assessing modern perspectives as well as the ancient evidence.

The archaeology of Syria-Palestine from prehistoric times until the end of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1200 BCE), with a special emphasis on the development of complex society, and inter-relations with the neighboring regions of Egypt and Syro-Mesopotamia. Attention will also be given to the history of archaeological research in the region, current field techniques and methods of archaeological analysis, and the relationship between archaeological evidence and contemporary written records, including the Hebrew Bible. (Offered in alternate years)

The archaeology of Syria-Palestine from the collapse of the Late Bronze Age until the Persian Period, with a special emphasis on the emergence of Israel and the small territorial nation-states of the eastern Mediterranean seaboard. Particular attention will be given to the relationship between the archaeological evidence and contemporary written records, including the Hebrew Bible. (Offered in alternate years)

Detailed examination of significant sites for the understanding of ancient Egyptian cultural development, encompassing the study of spatial organization, architecture, artifactual material, and archaeological evidence from each site. (Offered in alternate years)

 Comprehensive survey class on the archaeology of Mesopotamia (Sumer, Assyria, Babylon) from the Neolithic period to time of Alexander the Great (10,000 – 333 BC). Focuses on the area of modern-day Iraq but also includes western Iran, eastern Syria, and southeastern Turkey. 

Discover the wonders of Syria’s past, from 10,000 year-old burials to the world heritage sites of Palmyra and the Citadel of Aleppo. Explore headless skeletons, royal marriages, desert castles and Roman streetscapes.

A survey of Islamic archaeology, covering the rise of Islam from 7th century to the end of the Fatimid period in 1171, examining sites in the Middle East, North Africa and Andalusia through the archaeological record, artifacts evidencing history, art history, urbanism and socio-ecology of early Muslim communities.

An overview of late antique Greek, Arab and Persian material culture, as seen through the archaeological record of Syria, Iraq, and Iran.

Underlines the role of some Egyptian monasteries as active institutions carrying out numerous economic activities, and reveals the forces that enabled their survival and changing function. Exploration of these rich sites of cultural exchange, as manifested in their architecture and religious art and written material.

A survey of Coptic art, archaeology and architecture. The course will cover aspects of the religious, civil and daily life of the Copts: their houses, religious architecture, funerary monuments, art and artefacts

The political and cultural history of ancient Israel from the origin of the Hebrews to the exile and restoration in the Persian period. (Offered every 3 years)

The history and culture of ancient Iran in the Seleucid and Parthian periods. Lectures and discussion will engage the complex question of Hellenism in the East and the levels of cultural, religious and political interactions between Greeks and Persians, as well as the formation of the Bactrian kingdom and of the Parthian empire. 

An introduction to the religion, culture, and society of the Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE) in late antique Iran. We will discuss the transformation of Zoroastrianism into an official religion of state, the emergence of Manicheism, and Jewish-Zoroastrian interactions. We will end the term by examining the Islamic conquest of Iran.

Explores the political, social, and religious history of modern Iran from pre-modern times to the 21st century. After a brief overview of political developments in the 18th century from the fall of the Safavids until the establishment of the Qajar dynasty, we will discuss the Constitutional movement of 1906 and the subsequent establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty, and focus on the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the making of a modern theocratic state.

Engages with fundamental themes of Islamic civilization that played out in the Mamluk sultanate of Egypt and Syria: slavery, plague, the role of women, military patronage, global trade networks, the emergence of a “discourse” society, science and medicine, material culture and architecture, and the impact of Crusades and Mongol invasions.

Muslim conquest of North Africa and Spain, history of Spain under Muslim rule to 1492. Attention given to institutional and cultural development, Islamic Spains relations with the Islamic east and neighbours in Europe. (Offered every 3 years)

A survey of the Ottoman Empire from its late 13th/early 14th century origins as a border principality through the classical age of Mehmed the Conqueror and Süleyman the Magnificent when as a mature Islamic empire it ruled lands in Europe, Asia, and Africa, to the internal and external challenges faced by the empire during the 17th and 18th centuries when it underwent substantial transformation. Coverage includes topics in Ottoman institutions, economy, society, and culture. (Offered in alternate years)

A thematic treatment of the Arab lands of the Middle East and North Africa from 1700 onward, focusing on the Ottoman and colonial periods.

Primary sources from Mesopotamia, Syria and the Levant reveal profound awareness of the human condition. What do they tell us about religion in the ancient Near East, and why do Judaism, Christianity and Islam share some stories? Takes a critical approach to the ways we read texts and reconstruct beliefs.

Survey of major intellectual trends in the Islamic tradition, particularly those identified with Middle Eastern Muslim thinkers, from the early 19th century to the present. Topics include reformism, modernism, hermeneutics, feminism, Islamism, and liberal and progressive trends in contemporary Muslim thought. Readings in English translation.

Religious belief and practice in ancient Egypt. The course will focus on gods and mythology, which will be studied through primary sources in translation. (Offered in alternate years)

The course explores Jewish attitudes to various personal status issues, utilizing material from biblical and rabbinic sources to modern Jewish positions. The specific topics covered vary from year to year.

The course surveys the history, theory, and doctrines of Islamic law, and addresses issues that are at the center of public debate across the world. Students will closely read primary sources, provide oral and written responses, and reflect on their own positionality viz debates on Islamic law. The course introduces students to the dynamics of Islamic legal reasoning in a historical and comparative perspective.

This course explores the relations among the various ethno-religious communities in the Ottoman Empire from the 14th century until 1922.

Mysticism and spirituality in Islam: the Quran; doctrine; prayer; Sufism; Irfan (Shii mysticism). Themes include love, knowledge, authority, being, interpretation.

Subjects covered include the rise and development of the Shii version of Islamic orthodoxy from the mid-7th to the mid-13th centuries CE. Distinctive Shii interpretations of the Quran will be examined.

This course continues the study of Shiism from 1258 to the present day and will include the history and teachings of the various members of the Shii family of Islamic religion.

Monumental architecture, whether for secular or religious purposes, played a special role in Muslim societies, particularly in major centres such as Isfahan, Samarkand and Delhi. Beginning with the Taj Mahal (1632) the best-known elements of Islamic architecture the double dome, the pointed arch, glazed tiles are traced retroactively in Iran, Central Asia, and India, and their social context is studied. (Offered every three years)

A survey of the arts of the Islamic world from the 7th century to the Mongol conquest in the mid-13th century. Studying objects in the ROM collections of Islamic art.

A continuation of NMC393H1, covering art and material culture in the eastern Islamic lands from the late 13th century CE to the modern period. Studying objects in the ROM collections of Islamic art..

Architectural studies, historical sources and archaeological research are used to examine the physical and social morphology of the pre-industrial Islamic city from Central Asia to North Africa and Spain, from the 7th to the 17th centuries.

Examines the physical form of the Babylonian city in the first millennium BC as the setting for the daily activities of its inhabitants. The focus is on critical evaluation of archaeological and historical sources, and on investigating the relationship between city form and contemporary social structure.

Investigates how one of the world’s first empires worked. Topics include Assyrian kingship, imperial administration, and daily life as reflected in the written sources (royal inscriptions, official correspondence, and everyday documents) and archaeological evidence.

The history of Persia after the fall of the first Persian empire and its conquest by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. We will discuss the problems of the Greek-Macedonian conquest of Iran and the impact Hellenism had on Iran and the emerging Bactrian kingdom, as well as the different ways Alexander was regarded in the early islamic traditions.

Examines Mesopotamian society and economy from third to first millennium BC, using everyday cuneiform documents in translation. Focuses on the key institutions (palace, temple, private household), tracing their changing organisation and economic role over the course of Mesopotamian history. Examines theoretical approaches to the study of ancient society and economy.

A seminar focusing on the critical analysis of the Hebrew Bible and related ancient Jewish texts. Literary genre and critical topics will vary according to instructor’s research interests. Focus will be given to developing research skills by working with accepted critical methodologies. Not eligible for CR/NCR option. (Offered every 3 years)

Explores competing narratives of the Constitutional Revolution (19061911), particularly the transformation of public and private spheres and their corresponding modes of collective and personal self-presentation. Students explore revolutionary legacies, and the ways in which competing political, religious and ideological forces have attempted to shape the Revolutions memory. (Offered in alternate years)

This course explores competing conceptions of Iranian modernity within a comparative historical framework on “multiple modernities.”  A major theme is the exploration of the temporality and historicity in discussions of Iranian modernity.

The cultures of the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia, separated by the Red Sea,  have long been intertwined. This course explores the history and archaeology from the emergence of the hominids in Ethiopia, to the rise of the Sabean and Axumite kingdoms, until the Middle Ages, highlighting their interactions and the roles they played in the development of their respected cultures. 

A seminar on warfare in the ancient Near East (10,000 – 333 BC) using archaeological data and historical sources. Topic to be covered include origins of conflict, armies and weapons, siege techniques, urban combat, and of war.

Hands-on analysis of actual materials from the Middle and Near East, including Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Students learn the techniques by which archaeologists understand objects from the past: what they are made of, how they were made, and what they reveal about the people who made them.

A survey of methods of classification and analysis (form, fabric and style) involved in the study of archaeological ceramics, and the use of ceramics to infer patterns of production, distribution, and social organization; linking research questions with appropriate analytical techniques.

An introduction to the basic corpus of Near Eastern ceramics, from the invention of pottery production in the Neolithic until the Persian period, utilizing existing collections at the University and in the Royal Ontario Museum.

Seminar focuses on the social and cultural development of Egypt from the Predynastic Period through the Middle Kingdom, engaging with major theories regarding social complexity, state formation, urbanism, social organization, and regionalism. An independent research project and hands-on experience with artifacts at the ROM are important features of the course. (Offered every 3 years.)

Seminar focuses on the social and cultural development of Egypt from the Middle Kingdom through the Ptolemaic Period, engaging with major theories regarding urbanism, ethnicity, core-periphery relationships, cultural interaction, and social organization. An independent research project and hands-on experience with artifacts at the ROM are important features of the course. (Offered every 3 years.)

An introduction to the ceramics of the Middle or Near East from the time of Alexander until recent times. A particular emphasis will be the elite glazed wares of the mediaeval and Islamic periods. Apart from providing a history of the production of ceramics and their social and archaeological context, this course is intended to train archaeologists and art-historians in the fundamental field recognition and identification of the various types and their production origins, and the course will rely heavily on the collections of the ROM.

An advanced seminar organized around readings on a topic selected by the instructor.

Examines current theoretical and methodological trends in the study of the Near/Middle East. A seminar course, it consists of presentations, discussions, lectures, guest speakers, and documentaries. No previous knowledge of methodology required. Special attention will be paid to the politics, culture, political economy, gender, and ethics of various research practices. Intended for 4th year students only.

The course is designed to re-examine the role of intellectuals in the Arab world and political events that shaped their thinking. It introduces the life and thought of some leading thinkers of the Arab world and relates their thought to the lived experience of political, social, economic and cultural change in the Middle East. Intended for upper year students. (Offered in alternate years)

This is an intensive education in the archaeology of death. Working as a study group, the participants in this class will examine in detail the primary archaeological data for mortuary practices in the third millennium in the Big Bend region of the Euphrates River.

This course probes the contemporaneous formation of modern Oriental Studies in Europe and the emergence of discourses on Europe (Ifranj/Farang) in the Middle East from the eighteenth century to the present. Special emphasis will be devoted to encounters between scholars in Western Europe, Iran, India, and the Ottoman Empire. This seminar-style course explains that Orientals gazed and returned the gaze, and in the process of cultural looking, they, like their Occidental counterparts, exoticized and eroticized the Farangi-Other. In the interplay of looks between Orientals and Occidentals, there was no steady position of spectatorship, no objective observer, and no aperspectival position. Intended for upper year students.

This course examines the role nineteenth and twentieth-century archaeology played in Middle Eastern politics, the culture of colonialism and in nationalist struggles. The course will first familiarize the students with the diplomatic and intellectual context of the formation of archaeology as a field of study in Europe and analyse the role archaeology played in the production of knowledge about the Middle East. Next, the course will examine the archaeological practices on the ground (and underground) and inquire what happens in the contact zone between foreign and local archaeologists. Finally, we will trace the ways in which emergent nationalist discourse challenge, appropriate and imitate the historical narratives of Western archaeology.

This seminar examines the history and politics of Turkey since 1923.  It explores issues such as the Ottoman roots of Turkey’s early leadership, the establishment of the republic, Ataturk’s reforms and legacy, internal political and social transformations, and the country’s changing geopolitical role.  The course also explores some aspects of Turkish literature and culture.  No knowledge of Turkish is required.

A seminar built around thematic readings of social and economic history of the modern Arab world. Offered every other year.

A seminar that critically examines the types and varieties of national expression in Arab societies of the Middle East and North Africa, through a reading of common texts and students' individual research projects. (Offered in alternate years)

This course will present for study a different prominent figure each year: Hallaj, Ghazali, Suhrawardi, Ibn Arabi, Rumi, Mulla Sadra, and so on. Attention will be given to their respective social and historical milieux, their modes of expression and experience, and the nature of their literary productions. There is no prerequisite, but students must be advanced undergraduates in the Humanities.

Abortion, rape, family violence and similar topics from the perspective of historical and legal development, scientific theory, socio-ethical attitudes and anthropological comparison in the Bible and other ancient Near Eastern sources, through Jewish legal texts to modern responses. (Offered in alternate years)

This course focuses on a comprehensive introduction and discussion of Mesopotamian artwork from the Neolithic to the Iron Age periods (ca. 6000 - 300 BCE). Following an introduction of major artifact classes (including sculpture, relief, and glyptics [seals and sealings]), students will learn to describe and catalogue works of Mesopotamian art, allowing them to critically use and evaluate primary and secondary publications. Systematic descriptions and labels for key characteristics such as the object materials, size, iconography, genre, style, and theme will be established to show how meaningful artifact typologies can be constructed. The potential as well as limitations of art-historical approaches for archaeological work, especially for the chronology and interpretation of archeological contexts, will be discussed and examined on selected cases. Several classes will be taught at the Royal Ontario Museum to demonstrate the handling and physical analysis of artifacts.

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/course/rop. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

An instructor-supervised group project in an off-campus setting. Details at http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/course/rep. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/course/rop. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Provides students with training in the use of polarized-light microscopy in the examination of archaeological materials, particularly pottery (ceramic petrology). Students will apply the knowledge they gain from lectures to hands-on work with materials in the lab, covering instruction in crystallography, optics, mineralogy, lithology, and other aspects of the petrology of ceramics and other materials. Labs comprise eight three-hour sessions during the term, working with the polarized-light microscope to examine and analyze thin-sections. No prior knowledge of geology is required.

Explores further applications of polarized-light microscopy in the examination of archaeological materials, particularly pottery (ceramic petrology). The focus is on seminal case-studies of materials from around the world, and in particular on material from the Middle East, Central America, and East Asia that UofT researchers have studied, ranging in date from Neolithic to modern. Labs comprise eight three-hour sessions during the term, working with the polarized-light microscope to examine and analyze thin-sections. No prior knowledge of geology is required.

Open only when an NMC full-time faculty member is willing and available to supervise. Student must find an appropriate NMC supervisor for the desired topic and obtain the approval of the departmental Associate Chair/Undergraduate Coordinator. Obtain details and a course form from the Department Undergraduate Administrator. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Open only when an NMC full-time faculty member is willing and available to supervise. Student must find an appropriate NMC supervisor for the desired topic and obtain the approval of the departmental Associate Chair/Undergraduate Coordinator. Obtain details and a course form from the Department Undergraduate Administrator. Not eligible for CR/NCR option. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Open only when an NMC full-time faculty memeber is willing and available to supervise. Student must find an appropriate NMC supervisor for the desired topic and obtain the approval of the departmental Associate Chair/Undergraduate Coordinator. Obtain details and a course form from the Department Undergraduate Administrator. Not eligible for CR/NCR option. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

A 40-60 page (15,000-20,000 word) research paper (100% of the final mark) written under the supervision of a full-time NMC faculty member.  Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Focuses on analysis of examples of the different genres of ancient Egyptian literary texts, including wisdom literature, poetry, literary narratives, and mythical tales. We question how to define literature and discuss how literary texts developed in pharaonic Egypt. No knowledge of ancient Egyptian is required; all texts read in translation.

Arabic speculative fiction from the medieval to the modern period, discussed with attention to early Arabic novel’s adaptation of the medieval maqama genre, and the relation between speculative fiction and political and social critique. Texts include al-Ma`arri, Ibn Shuhayd, maqamat, al-Muwaylihi, science fiction, and dystopic novels and conceptual art.

This course is designed for students with no prior knowledge of Arabic. It places equal emphasis on the development of all language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The learning philosophy underlying this approach is that proficiency in a foreign language is best achieved through consistent, deliberate, and systematic practice. From the outset, students are strongly encouraged to develop the habit of consistently practicing learned material.

See MHB155H1 in Religion.

See MHB156H1 in Religion.

This course assumes active knowledge of the content covered in NML110Y. It places equal emphasis on the development of all language skills. As the course progresses, students are introduced to the fundamentals of Arabic morphology and syntax. This is achieved through analysis of texts covering a wide range of topics. By the end of the course, students are expected to achieve upper intermediate level of proficiency.

This course introduces heritage speakers to the fundamentals of Modern Standard Arabic morphology and syntax. This is achieved through analysis of written texts covering a wide range of genres. By the end of the course, students are able to read texts of general interest and write coherent paragraphs.

Building on NML 211H, this course strengthens the students' literacy skills. It expands their knowledge of sentence structure and morphological patterns and introduces them to different writing styles. By the end of the course, students are able to read sophisticated texts and write with grammatical accuracy.

Introduction to Aramaic grammar. Readings from biblical Aramaic. (Offered in alternate years)

Introduces the student to the last stage of the Egyptian language, written mostly in Greek characters. The course will first concentrate on the grammar of the language and go on to read short texts.

A continuation of NML230H1.

Grammar and reading of selected hieroglyphic texts.

An introduction to biblical Hebrew prose. Grammar and selected texts. For students with no previous knowledge of Hebrew.

See MHB255H1 in Religion.

See MHB256H1 in Religion.

The fundamentals of modern standard Persian grammar, with emphasis on attaining fluency in reading and writing simple texts. Also serves as a basis for classical Persian. (Offered in alternate years)

This course will survey the language, epigraphy, and political theology of the imperial inscriptions of the Persian Empire (550-330 BCE). By the end of the year students will have acquired a strong understanding of the cuneiform script, grammar, and syntax and be able to comfortably read the entire inscriptional corpus. 

This course covers the essentials of Turkish grammar, and introduces students to reading and translation of passages of elementary difficulty. Designed for students with no previous knowledge of Turkish. This course also serves as a basis for the study of Ottoman Turkish and other Turkic languages.

Introduction to Old Babylonian. Grammar and the reading of selected texts. (Offered in alternate years)

This course assumes active knowledge of the content covered in NML210Y.  As the course progresses, students are introduced to increasingly complex morphological and syntactic patterns of Arabic. This is achieved through analysis of texts covering a wide range of genres. By the end of the course, students are expected to achieve advanced level of proficiency.

An intensive study of various Targumim to the Pentateuch: Onkelos, Pseudo-Jonathan, Neophyti, Samaritan and Fragment Targumim. Differences among them in vocabulary, syntax and verb usage are discussed, as well as their relationship to the Palestinian midrashim. (Offered in alternate years)

Middle Egyptian texts.

A continuation of the study of ancient Hebrew grammar and texts. Focus is given to covering a wide variety of genres, e.g., narrative, chronicle, genealogy, oracle, prayer, hymn, and proverb.

A continuation of the study of ancient Hebrew grammar and texts. Focus is given to covering a wide variety of genres, e.g., narrative, chronicle, genealogy, oracle, prayer, hymn, and proverb.

See MHB355H1 in Religion.

See MHB356H1 in Religion.

An introduction to the exegetical methods of the rabbis in their analysis of biblical texts, with special attention to issues of intertextuality. The textual and thematic topic will vary by year.

Introduction to Mishnah and Tosefta, two of the three foundational documents of Middle Hebrew. In addition to studying specific features of this level of Hebrew, examining these compositions independently, and analyzing their interaction, students will examine current scholarly literature on these documents and their relationship to each other. (Offered in alternate years)

Selections from a tractate in Babylonian Talmud in order to gain facility in the understanding of the dialogic structure of the legal discussions. Practice in the use of classical commentaries and critical aids to allow independent study of the text. (Conducted in Hebrew) (Offered in alternate years)

This course involves reading, grammatical analysis, and translation of representative samples of contemporary Persian prose of intermediate difficulty. The reading materials are selected from a wide range of sources in order to ensure balanced, yet comprehensive exposure to the different usage of the language. The course serves as preparation for courses on both classical and contemporary Persian literature.

This course will survey the grammar and religious concepts found within the Book Pahlavi or Zoroastrian Middle Persian corpus from late antique and early Islamic Iran. By the end of the year students will have acquired a strong understanding of the script, grammar, and syntax of the Pahlavi corpus. Some knowledge of Persian is an advantage.

This course involves reading, grammatical analysis and translation of modern Turkish texts of intermediate difficulty. The reading materials are selected from a wide range of literary genres. Included is a basic review of grammar as well as more advanced grammatical topics. Course serves as preparation for advanced study of Turkish as well as study of Ottoman Turkish language and literature.

This course continues the study of Ge'ez (Classical Ethiopic) grammar and progresses to a survey of classical Ge’ez literature. Linguistic connections to Amharic and Tigrinye will also be introduced.

(Offered in alternate years)

This course assumes active knowledge of the content covered in NML310Y.  Its goal is to strengthen the students reading and writing skills, refine their knowledge of syntax and morphological patterns, and enrich their cultural background. This is achieved through analysis of sophisticated authentic texts covering a wide range of genres. In addition, Classical Arabic literary texts will be incrementally introduced.  By the end of the course, students are expected to reach a superior level of proficiency.

This course familiarizes advanced students of Arabic with structural properties, styles, and discourse features of the language used in the Arabic media.  Class time is devoted to analysis of authentic texts covering a wide range of topics and drawn from various online media outlets.

Students read original Arabic texts representing a rich variety of premodern prose genres. Critical review of scholarly approaches to adab, defined as the historic practice of teaching composition, and the canons used in that pedagogy. Texts include: Kalila wa-Dimna, travel narratives, 1001 Nights, and al-Jahiz.

Every week we read a poem by a new poet, focusing on the most famous and frequently quoted poems of the pre-modern Arabic literary tradition. Students learn how to identify meters and recognize the rhetorical tropes described by Arabic rhetoric. Poets include: Labīd, Abū Nuwās, Abū Tammām, and al-Mutanabbī.

Examines the modern Arabic short story as a literary genre by reading selected works of major figures in the genre, including Yusif Idris, Zakariyya Tamir, Tawfiq al-Hakim, Alifa Rifaat, Ghada al-Samman, and Fu’ad al-Taklarli. Readings focus on the development and evolution of language, style, and form.

The Talmud of the Land of Israel, also called Talmud Yerushalmi or Palestinian Talmud, is written in a mixture of Jewish Western Aramaic and Mishnaic Hebrew. It is the principal document of the Land of Israel in Late Antiquity. The course examines the legal argumentation, terminology and language which differ from those of the Babylonian Talmud. (Offered in alternate years)

This course is primarily a reading course in Syriac literature with reference to specific points in grammar and syntax as contrasted with Aramaic. The texts are read with reference to the history of Syriac literature. (Offered in alternate years)

Texts of significance for the reconstruction and understanding of Egyptian history will be read in the original, and analyzed for content, style, and grammar. The social and archaeological context of these texts will also receive attention.

Readings, analysis, and comparisons of selections from the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, and the New Kingdom mortuary literature; study of cultic, magical, and mythological texts relating to funerary and cultic beliefs and practices.  All texts to be read in the original.

Continuation of the study of Biblical Hebrew language. Combination of reading more advanced texts and Hebrew composition exercises. Introduction to the standard reference works for advanced study of the phonology, morpholoyg, syntax, and semantics of Biblical Hebrew.

Students will be introduced to the problems of text criticism involving variant readings and the redaction of Talmudic texts. Problems of transmission of the text, its relationship to the Palestinian Talmud, Tosefta and other texts will be explored. Use of Medieval Talmudic commentaries will be addressed.

This course familiarizes students with the methodology and terminology of the two midrashic systems: Devei R. Akiba and Devei R. Ishmael. Sections of all the midrashic halakha (Mekhiltot, Sifra and Sifre) are studied and compared to other Tannaitic materials. (Conducted in Hebrew) (Offered in alternate years)

A study of the poetic works of a major modern Hebrew poet. (Conducted in Hebrew) (Offered in alternate years)

A study of an important modern writer of Hebrew fiction. (Conducted in Hebrew) (Offered in alternate years)

This course provides an advanced investigation of selected issues in ancient Jewish texts stemming from the Second Temple Period (5th cent. BCE 1st cent. CE), and includes comparative study of biblical writings, apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and writings of ancient Jewish historians and philosophers. The specific topic for the course varies from one semester to another. The course has a strong research and writing component.

A survey of Persian literature, mainly modern poetry from 19th–21st centuries, focusing on linguistics and literary approaches in modern poetry. The course includes detailed discussion of the influence and effect of western and world poetry on Iranian poets, and critical reflections on works of leading contemporary poets.

A survey of contemporary Persian prose, focusing on fiction, novel and short story. The course includes discussion of main elements of the story such as plot, scene, characters, theme, topic, point of view, etc. and develops the ability to analyze any genres of literary prose through analyzing different Persian short stories.

This interdisciplinary course focuses on chronological development of Persian language from Old Persian (551 BC) to Modern Persian (7th century) with the emphasis on the word formation and grammar. This course also examines the role of language in maintaining cultural identity and civilization through structural analysis of Iranian languages including Farsi, Dari, Tajiki, Baluchi, Kurdish and Pashtu.

An introduction to the Old and Middle Iranian languages, with focus on Avestan and Middle Persian. A brief primer on the principal grammatical features of Avestan and Middle Persian Literature is followed by reading portions of the Avesta and Middle Persian Zoroastrian texts.

This course surveys the grammar and religious concepts found within the Young(er) Avestan corpus of Zoroastrianism from the 2nd to 1st millennium BCE. Students will acquire a strong understanding of phonology, morphology, and syntax, and be able to comfortably read selections from the Avesta by the end of the year. Knowledge of Sanskrit, Greek or Latin is an advantage.

An introduction to theories and techniques involved in English/Persian translation, focusing on translation practice and theoretical discussions on linguistic, cognitive, socio-political, and cultural aspects of translation. Through analysis and application of translation theory, students practice the art of translation and develop awareness of issues that translators face.

Explores iconic masterpieces of classical Persian heroic and romantic epic poetry, including the Persian national epic, Shahnameh, of Ferdowsi; the magisterial odes of Khaqani; and the Khamseh, or Quintet, of Nezami and its many literary responses. Emphasizes close reading and analysis of the texts and their historical and cultural backgrounds.

Explores the ethical works of Sa‘di (Bustan and Gulistan); the mystical Mantiq al-Tayr of ‘Attar and the Masnavi of Rumi; and the ghazals, or mystico-erotic poems, of Rumi and Hafiz. Emphasizes close reading and analysis of the texts and their historical, cultural, and religious backgrounds.

Advanced Turkish language practice designed to enable students to pursue independent work in Turkish and Ottoman studies. Differences between modern Turkish and Ottoman grammar will be pointed out. Elements of Arabic and Persian grammar that occur in Ottoman will be presented.

This course surveys the main literary currents, figures, major themes, and motifs that define modern Turkish literature. Selected readings, including a variety of genres, such as short story, poetry, and the novel, will be used to map out a possible trajectory of modern Turkish literature, ranging from national allegories that pervaded early Republican Period to postmodern orientations.

An advanced language seminar organized around grammatical issues or texts selected by the instructor.