Learning outcomes
The course offers a general introduction to the religious systems and the main mythological texts of the ancient Near East (Anatolia, Syria, Mesopotamia) from the third to the first millennium BC.
Course contents
A) General introduction
The sources for the reconstruction of the religious systems in the ancient Near East; the ancient Near Eastern polytheism and the main deites; the relationship between man and god; the main myths.
B) The Gilgamesh Epic.
C) Seminar (optional): reading of religious and mythological texts in Akkadian (ca 6-8 h.).
Reccomended or required readings
Religion:
I. Hruša, Ancient Mesopotamian Religion. A Descriptive Introduction, Münster 2015.
P. Xella, Religione e religioni in Siria-Palestina. Dall'Antico Bronzo all'epoca romana, Roma 2007.
M. Dogan-Alparslan, M. Alparslan (eds.), Hittites. An Antolian Empire, Istanbul 2013 (chapters by S. de Martino, D. Schwemer, A. Ünal, I. Singer on Hittite religion).
Literature:
L. Verderame, Letterature dell'antica Mesopotamia, Firenze 2016.
J. Botteró, S.N. Kramer, Uomini e dèi della Mesopotamia, Torino 1992.
B. Foster, Before the Muses. An Anthology of Akkadian Literature, 3rd ed., Bethesda, Maryland 2005.
F. Pecchioli Daddi, A.M. Polvani, La mitologia ittita, Brescia 1990.
H.A. Hoffner, Hittite Myths, 2nd ed., Atlanta, Georgia 1998.
Gilgamesh Epic:
A. George, The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic (2 voll.), Oxford 2003.
Decoding Gilgamesh: Proceedings of a Conference Held on 12th-14th April 2010 at St. John's College, Cambridge, in: KASKAL 9 (2012).
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