Cultures and Religions

The course is composed of a general part and a monographic part in which a specific typology of texts or a literary composition of ancient Mesopotamian literature will be deepen. The general part topics are : 1. Introduction ⁃ Sources; languages, geographical context ⁃ Catalogues and colophons ⁃ Canon and series ⁃ Oral tradition ⁃ Circulation of literary compositions ⁃ Literary genres, style, metric 2. Myths 3. Epic 4. Hymns and prayers 5. Wisdom literature 6. Other compositions

None, but a background on Ancient Near East (a previous course on assyriology as well as on archaeology or history of the ANE) is welcome; in case of no knowledge of the ANE, the reading of L. Verderame, Introduzione alle culture dell'antica Mesopotamia, Le Monnier / Mondadori, 2017, is warmly suggested.

Textbook: L. Verderame, Letterature dell'antica Mesopotamia, Le Monnier / Mondadori, 2016 Anthologies: Bottéro-Kramer, Uomini e dèi della Mesopotamia, Einaudi, 1992 Castellino, Testi sumerici e accadici, Torino, 1977 Material for the monographic part of the course will be provided during the lessons and will be available on the website eLearning (elearning2.uniroma1.it). Readings for those who will not attend the lessons : 1) L. Verderame, Letterature dell'antica Mesopotamia, Le Monnier/Mondadori Education, 2016 (+ translations online on the Mondadori website) 2) Bottéro-Kramer, Uomini e dèi della Mesopotamia, Einaudi, 1992 3) Castellino, Testi sumerici e accadici, UTET, 1977, choose between: a) Sumerian part from p. 1 to p. 379, b) Akkadian part from p. 379 to p743 4) per chi non ha frequentato altri corsi o sostenuto esami sul Vicino Oriente: a) L. Verderame, Introduzione alle culture dell'antica Mesopotamia, Le Monnier/Mondadori Education, 2017 or b) Gilgameš (Pettinato (Rusconi/Mondadori) in Italian or George (Penguin) in English; in both cases the reading of the entire volume (the Epic and the Sumerian narratives) is meant!)

Lesson attendance is recommended, but not compulsory. An alternative list of readings is available for those who will not attend lessons.

Students learning will be assessed during the course through discussion, quizzes, and small group works. Final exam will be based on quizzes from the main courses and the list of supporting readings.

L. Verderame, Letterature dell'antica Mesopotamia, Le Monnier/Mondadori Education, 2016 G.R. Castellino, Testi sumerici e accadici, UTET, 1977 Bottéro-Kramer, Uomini e dèi della Mesopotamia, Einaudi, 1992 B. Foster, Before the Muses, CDL, 2005 For those who have no basic knowledge on ancient Near East or Mesopotamia the following volume is warmly suggested: L. Verderame, Introduzione alle culture dell'antica Mesopotamia, Le Monnier / Mondadori, 2017

The course organized on classroom lessons of two hours each will be based on lectures with a part dedicated to discussion. For the second part of the course small groups works are planned. Lectures will be supported by PPT presentations. The PPT files as well as other didactic material will be available for the students on the web portal eLearning (elearning2.uniroma1.it).