The beginnings of civilization – history and culture of early Mesopotamia

elective courses
general courses

Classroom

This lecture introduces the background and development of the first urbanized civilizations in the Near East in the period from 4000 to 2000 BC. In the first half of this course, will be discussed ancient peoples, historical lands and the earliest village communities in the "fertile crescent" (i.e., the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia). The second half of this course focuses on the history of Ancient Mesopotamia e.g. on the invention and development of writing, as well on the economic, social and cultural transformations that took place during the development from simple, village-based communities to the emergence of the urbanized civilizations of the Sumerians and their neighbors in the fourth and third millennia BC.

The lectures will cover the earliest history of Mesopotamia, one of the oldest fully developed human civilisations, viewed on a comparative backdrop of the other areas in the Fertile Crescent of the time. It will cover the Mesopotamian political, social, and economic history, as well as selected questions of its culture and religion, such as:

- ethnic and linguistic affiliation of peoples representing the culture of the Fertile Crescent;

- chronology of the history of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East

- invention of writing;

- main written sources of Mesopotamian history;

- urban revolution;

- polity of the oldest Sumerian city-states;

- religion, politics, and tradition;

To pass the course, it is enough to know the material presented during the lecture.

G. Roux, Mezopotamia, Warszawa 1998 (and later editions);

H. W. F. Saggs, Wielkość i upadek Babilonii, Warszawa 1975;

M. Van De Mieroop, Historia starożytnego Bliskiego Wschodu: ok. 3000 – 323 p.n.e., Kraków 2008.

After completing the course, students are expected to know the early history of Mesopotamia and understand its cultural ties with the rest of the Fertile Crescent.

Methods - lectures and presentations.

Criteria - the assessment is based on the lecture attendance and, in some cases, passing a short written test.