AKKD

AKKD 40200 War, Trade, and Curses: Akkadian Treaties

Treaties written in Akkadian are one of the oldest surviving witnesses of international law. Furthermore, those texts give an insight in the organization of international trade, the treatment of fugitives, and state organization. The curse – an integral part to protect the legal arrangements – give us furthermore information about religion, fears and believes, and forms of divine punishments. In this class we will read and discuss selected treaties from different periods of Mesopotamian history: we will start with Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian documents, read texts from the so-called “International Age”, and end with the Neo-Assyrian Succession Treaty of Esarhaddon.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites: One year of Akkadian and Intermediate Akkadian.

2018-2019 Spring

AKKD 10503 Introduction to Babylonian 3

Selected readings of Akkadian texts in the Standard Babylonian dialect of the 1st millennium BC.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites: AKKD 10501 and AKKD 10502

2018-2019 Spring

AKKD 10502 Introduction to Babylonian 2

This course is the second quarter of the annual introductory sequence to the Babylonian language and the Cuneiform script. Students will further explore the grammar of Babylonian in its Old Babylonian dialect (19th–16th c. BCE) and read ancient inscriptions (especially the Laws of Hammu-rabi) in the Old Babylonian monumental script. The reference grammar used for this course is John Huehnergard's A Grammar of Akkadian (third edition), 2011.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites: Introduction to Babylonian 1

2018-2019 Winter

AKKD 10501 Introduction to Babylonian 1

This class provides an introduction to the Babylonian language (Akkadian), a Semitic language spoken and written in Mesopotamia from 2250-50 BCE. The participants will be introduced to grammar of the Old Babylonian period (ca. 19th to 16th BCE) and learn how to read cuneiform script. The reference grammar used for this course is John Huehnergard's A Grammar of Akkadian (third edition).

2018-2019 Autumn

AKKD 20603 Intermediate Akkadian: Neo-Assyrian Royal Inscriptions

(AKKD 30603)

This course is specifically aimed at students having completed the first year of Elementary Akkadian (AKKD 10101–10103), but can be taken by more advanced students as well. Building on the knowledge acquired in the Elementary sequence, this course will further explore the Standard Babylonian dialect and Neo-Assyrian Cuneiform scripts, through a detailed analysis of the Annals of king Sennacherib (704–681 BCE) as they are represented in the ‘Chicago Prism' acquired by J. H. Breasted in 1920 and currently on display in the Assyrian gallery of the Oriental Institute Museum. These include, among other military and building exploits of the king, his campaign to the Levant against Ezekiah, king of Judah — an episode also recounted in the Hebrew Bible (books of Second Kings, Isaiah and Chronicles) and Josephus' Judean Antiquities.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites: One year of Elementary Akkadian/Intro to Babylonian

2018-2019 Autumn

AKKD 30375 Akkadian Literature: Late Period

This course explores a variety of key issues in ancient narrative, by means of investigating the role of literature as history in the Erra Epic, features of orality or aurality such as verse, meter, and prosody in The Poor Man of Nippur, as well as the appropriation and reinterpretation of metaphors and other figurative imagery in Marduk's Address to the Demons and its ancient commentary.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites: One year of Akkadian.

2018-2019 Winter

AKKD 44000 Advanced Akkadian Syntax

This class is designed to provide an advanced grammar course focusing on syntactic topics for students who have intermediate or advanced knowledge of Akkadian. The class will read texts from different periods and genres to compare the treatment of certain syntactic structures.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites: Intermediate Akkadian.

2018-2019 Winter

AKKD 30820 Readings in the letters from Tell el-Amarna

In this course, we will read Akkadian letters from the correspondence found at Tell el-Amarna, Egypt, that date to the 14th century BCE. We will read letters from various locations, including Babyonia, Assyria, Mitanni and Hatti, although the main focus of the class will be on the letters sent from Canaan. In all these corpora we will look at features that mark the language as different from core Babylonian and that reveal substrate influence from the native languages of the scribes.

Prerequisites

Advanced knowledge of Akkadian. Knowledge of Hebrew or Aramaic would be an asset.

2017-2018 Winter

AKKD 30326 Akkadian Medical Texts

This course consists of readings in cuneiform texts on therapeutic prescriptions, incantations, and rituals, pharmacopoeia, the Diagnostic Handbook, medical commentaries, and medical astrology, along with scholarly articles on various ancient medical topics. 

Prerequisites

1 year of Akkadian (but allow for exceptions when permission is given)

2017-2018 Winter

AKKD 10102 Elementary Akkadian-2

Readings from the Code of Hammurapi, in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian.

Prerequisites

AKKD 10102

Ami Huang
2017-2018 Winter
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