Ebla (24th century BC) and Mari (18th century BC) texts reading in cuneiform and transcription, with examination of their grammar and lexicon, and analysis of their historical and cultural framework.
N. Ziegler, Le Harem de Zimri-Lim, Florilegium Marianum IV, Mémoires de NABU 5 (1999), Capitolo I, La notion de harem, pp. 5-20.
B. Lafont, Les femmes du palais de Mari, initiation à l'Orient ancien. De Sumer à la Bible présenté par Jean Bottéro (1992), pp. 170-182.
“Ebla”, A. Catagnoti, in R. Westbrook (ed.), A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law, I, Leiden-Boston 2003, pp. 227-239.
Further bibliography will be provided during the course.
The details of the texts to be read will be provided in class.
Learning Objectives
The course aims at consolidating the skills acquired through the first module (Assyriology I), both with regards to the grammar and the epigraphy of the Akkadian, and to provide the students with a knowledge of the Ebla language and a deepening of the Mari Old Babylonian, with attention to the social and political structures of the two periods.
Prerequisites
A good knowledge of Akkadian is recommanded.
Teaching Methods
Lectures.
Texts to be prepared and discussed in class.
Exposure by students of scientific articles in-depth in relation to the topics discussed in the course.
Further information
On the Moodle Platform, the slides shown during the course will be provided.
Type of Assessment
Oral exam.
The student must demonstrate knowledge of cuneiform writing and the grammatical rules.
The expositions held during the course will be part of the final evaluation.
Course program
The course includes reading, translation and grammatical commentary of selected cuneiform letters from Mari, and administrative texts from Ebla and Mari. These are used to illustrate the structure and the social life of the court in two different historical periods of ancient Syria, which emerge from the Ebla archive of the third millennium BC and from that of Zimri-Lim of Mari in the second millennium BC.