Religions of Ancient Near East 3600-KWS-RWS-OW
Sources for study of religions of Ancient Near East: main ideas and research methods. History of religions of Ancient Near East: review of beliefs and cults of the Sumerians, the Babylonians and the Assyrians, the Elamites, peoples of ancient Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine, religions of the Medes and Persian.
Themes:
1. Definitions; schools; religious studies and theology
2. Myth; magic, cult
3. The concept of the Ancient Near East; the birth of the gods; sources for knowing the religions of the Ancient Near East, god
4. Studies of the religions of the Ancient Near East; Religions of the Sumerians; concepts: ME, ME-LAM, NAM-TAR
5. Beliefs of the Sumerians; Sumerian deities
6. Monsters, demons; god and man; priests of the Sumerians; the cosmology of the Sumerians; human fate after death; magic of the Sumerians, historical changes
7. Religions of Babylonia and Assyria
8. Frontier of Mesopotamia and Syria (Amorites); Gutians, Kassites, Lullubi, Arameans, Assyrians; Myths of Babylonia and Assyria
9. Cult of the dead; the underworld; god-man relationship; home cult; divine characters
10. Priests; prophets; magic and divination; prostitution; Berossos
11. Religions of Elam
12. Religions of Syria
13. Religions of Syria in the first mill., Phoenician religion; Syrian cults; Philistine religion
14. Religions of Edom, Moab, Ammon; Old Arabic, Nabataeans
15. Religion of Israel
Type of course
Mode
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes:
Knowledge:
- knows sources for study of religions of Ancient Near East, research terminology, methods and schools,
- knows basic foundation and practice of cult of individual religions, is oriented in history of this religions, knows the periods of their development and is able to indicate the distinguish features from other people of antiquity;
Skills:
- is able to identify elements of religions of Ancient Near East and sight them features particular, coherence and differences on general background of social development in antiquity;
Social competences:
- is able to evaluate the hypothesis presented in publications critically, so can deal with scientific new work, articles etc.,
- has a consciousness of meaning of culture and religions of Ancient Near East.
Assessment criteria
Following criteria will be considered:
- attendance control (3 unexcused absences allowed in a semester),
- result of examination
Oral examination
Bibliography
K. Pilarczyk, J. Drabina (red.), Religie Starożytnego Bliskiego Wschodu, Kraków 2008,
K. Banek, Historia religii. Religie niechrześcijańskie, Kraków 2007.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: