Admission requirements
This course is open to all MA and research MA students in Classics and Ancient Civilizations with a basic grasp of Akkadian or of Middle Egyptian.
Description
From the ancient societies of Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley come the world’s earliest examples of medical practices recorded in writing, but what is ‘medicine’ from the perspective of these peoples? Who practiced it, and how? Which ideas were unique to these areas, and which were shared? Why are answers to these questions useful for the anthropology of medicine?
This class will combine the format of a traditional reading seminar—during which students can hone their skills in reading and editing ancient texts in Akkadian and Egyptian—with that of an interdisciplinary lecture series. During weekly meetings, students will translate, discuss, and compare perspectives of the body, sickness, and treatment strategies directly from the original sources. In Egyptian, texts will be selected from a corpus of hieratic and demotic literature (TBD); in Akkadian, tablets from the library of Assurbanipal at Nineveh will be read. Prescribed secondary readings will combine state-of-the-art publications from ancient studies with those from the fields of medical history, anthropology, and ethnomedicine.
Course objectives
Students will gain a firmer grasp on translating either Akkadian or Egyptian, and will learn how to engage with scientific texts from these cultures in a way which is consistent with Assyriological, Egyptological, and anthropological standards. They will become accustomed to conducting cross-cultural comparative research, as well as interdisciplinary and collaborative projects with colleagues from more diverse specialisations.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
25% participation in seminar meetings
25% (group) presentation
50% research paper (5,000 words)
Weighing
25% participation in seminar meetings
25% (group) presentation
50% research paper (5,000 words)
Resit
If the overall mark is unsatisfactory, the paper can be revised after consultation with the lecturer. The marks for the oral presentation and the class participation will still count in such a case.
Inspection and feedback
Students will receive individual feedback on their presentations and research papers. There will be the possibility to hand in a draft of the paper before its final submission. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
A reading list will be made available to students.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Student administration Arsenaal
Remarks
Not applicable.