RELS 3000
Comparative Ancient Near Eastern Mythology
MWF 11:00-11:50
Dr. John C. Reeves
108A Macy
Office hours: MW 1:00-2:00; or by appointment

Course description: This course focuses upon the epic and religious literature recovered from various select civilizations of the ancient Near Eastern world, particularly those of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Canaan, Israel, and Greece. Primary emphasis is given to mythological and ritual literature in order to acquire some appreciation for the religious concepts and behavior of these ancient cultures. Moreover, considerable attention will be directed to the comparative study of parallel motifs contained in these early myths alongside those found in the Hebrew Bible, Christian literature, Greek mythology, and even Islamic folk traditions (e.g., 1001 Nights).

Texts: Required are:

S. Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia (Oxford)
M.D. Coogan, Stories from Ancient Canaan (Westminster)
B.B. Powell, Classical Myth (Prentice-Hall)

Optional:

R. Seltzer, et al., Religions of Antiquity (Macmillan)

Supplementary readings will be assigned or distributed by the instructor as needed

Course requirements:

a) Two (2) 1-hour written examinations which each comprise 20% of the course grade. The tentative dates for these exams will be Friday, February 28, and Friday, April 4. These exams are subjective in format, and will draw equally upon assigned readings and class discussion for their content.

b) Two (2) brief (3-5 pages) analytic papers, each worth 15% of the final course grade. Special descriptive handouts enclosed herein provide further details about these papers.

c) One (1) formal research project to be presented in both oral and written form (8-10 pages) that focuses upon the comparative study of a mythical narrative sequence, tale-type, or motif (e.g., the combat-myth, flood-hero as priest, ascent to heaven, magical weapons, etc.). In consultation with the instructor, the student should select a topic that permits examination in a variety of literary contexts. While not restricted to material covered in class, it is expected that the paper will be informed by the semester's activities. The final draft of the paper is due Monday, April 28, and is worth 20% of the course grade. Preliminary versions of the paper will be presented orally in class on Monday, April 23, and Wednesday, April 25; these presentations will comprise 10% of the course grade.

d) Informed participation in class discussions, presentations, analyses, etc. Specific assignments will sometimes be announced in class, and students are expected to contribute to the public analysis and discussion of any assigned topic. Mastery of the assigned readings and diligent class attendance are necessary prerequisites for the successful completion of this course. Each student is responsible for all lectures, class discussions, assignments, and announcements, whether or not he/she is present when they occur. While there is no formal attendance requirement mandated for this course, common sense dictates that steady attendance possesses significant, even tangible, advantages over sporadic visits and/or sightings for the purpose of course evaluation.

Miscellaneous information:

a. The grading scale used in this course is as follows: 91-100 A; 81-90 B; 71-80 C; 61-70 D; and 0-60 F.

b. One of the requirements of this course is to complete the work of the course on time. Sometimes there are legitimate reasons for late work -- an illness or other emergency. "Emergency," however, does not include your social involvements, travel plans, job schedule, disk and/or printer failures, the state of your love life, your obligations to other courses, or general malaise over the state of the world. The world has been in a mess as long as anyone can remember, and most of the world's work is done by people whose lives are a mass of futility and discontent. If you haven't learned yet, you had better learn now to work under the conditions of the world as it is. Therefore:

1) All examinations and presentations will take place only upon their announced dates and times. In other words (and please note well!), there will be NO MAKEUP EXAMS OR PRESENTATIONS scheduled. All missed exams or presentations and unwritten papers will be averaged as a 0 in the computation of the course grade. No exceptions will be considered or granted. Students who fail to use "blue-books" when taking exams will have their exam penalized 5 points.

2) The student may elect to "drop" one (1) of the previous exam scores (presumably the lowest). If this option is exercised, the student must sit for a comprehensive final examination at the time and date officially decreed by the administration for the relevant class section. The score of this "final exam" will then replace the earlier exam grade for the purposes of course evaluation. Students who are satisfied with their semester's work are not obligated to sit for this exam.

3) All papers are due on the dates scheduled. Late papers will bear the following penalties: one day late/one letter grade; two days late/two letter grades; three or more days late/F. Please note: these are calendar days, not class meeting days. For accounting purposes, letter grades bear the following values: A=95; B=85; C=75; D=65; F=30. An untyped paper automatically receives the grade F, as do those typed papers which violate the required parameters or which the instructor deems physically unacceptable and/or grammatically incomprehensible.

c. Assistance and solicitation of criticism is your right as a member of the class. It is not a privilege to be granted or withheld. Do not hesitate to request it nor wait too late in the course for it to be of help.

ROUGH COURSE OUTLINE

1. Introduction: historical, geographical, linguistic, and cultural overview, including folktale analysis

2. Stories of origins -- cosmogonic myths
a. Heliopolis
b. Memphite Theology
c. Theogony of Dunnu
d. Enuma elish
e. Greek traditions

3. The story of a universal Flood

4. Stories featuring human heroes
a. Gilgamesh
b. Aqhat
c. Kirta
d. Odysseus and Polyphemus

5. Stories featuring divine heroes/heroines
a. Dumuzi and Enkimdu
b. Anzu
c. Erra

6. Dying-and-rising deities
a. Isis-Osiris cycle
b. Demeter-Persephone
c. Descent of Inanna/Ishtar
d. Nergal and Ereshkigal
e. Baal
f. Aphrodite and Adonis

7. Popular tales and motifs
a. Sargon birth-story
b. Adapa
c. Etana
d. The Shipwrecked Sailor
e. Perseus
f. Herakles

SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR RELS 3000

In response to student requests for recommendations regarding useful and enlightening discussions of certain topics, themes, and personalities that are presented in class and/or readings, I offer the following suggestions for further study at the student's leisure. I confine myself to materials available at Atkins Library. Nota bene: Atkins Library is particularly weak in the area of ancient Near Eastern mythology and religions. Serious students may wish to make occasional pilgrimages to other area academic libraries (e.g., Davidson, Winthrop) in order to locate needed resources.

It is often helpful for the student to begin with appropriate articles in the general encyclopaedias devoted to religious studies. At present, the standard one is The Encyclopaedia of Religion, 16 vols. (ed. M. Eliade; New York: Macmillan, 1988). The Seltzer volume is a handy anthology of its general thematic articles. Older but by no means less useful is Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, 12 vols. (ed. J. Hastings; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1908-21). There exist more specific encyclopaedias and/or dictionaries of mythology, myth, etc. which are shelved in the reference area, but I find them to be of limited value.

Those with access to the WWW should take a look at the resources indexed in ABZU: Guide to Resources for the Study of the Ancient Near East Available on the Internet. Its URL is:

http://babylon-orinst.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/RA/ABZU/ABZU.HTML

General Studies and Collections

J.B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament 3rd edition (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969). The standard English-language collection of ancient Near Eastern literature.
T.H. Gaster, The Oldest Stories in the World (New York: Viking Press, 1952). Selection of Babylonian, Hittite, and Canaanite myths.
*H. Frankfort (et al.), Before Philosophy: The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man (repr. Baltimore: Penguin, 1961).
*H. Frankfort, Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948).
*S.N. Kramer (ed.), Mythologies of the Ancient World (Garden City: Doubleday, 1961).
*S.H. Hooke, Middle Eastern Mythology (Baltimore: Penguin, 1963).
*G.S. Kirk, Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970).
*H. McCall, Mesopotamian Myths (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990).
G. Leick, A Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Mythology (London: Routledge, 1991).
J.A. Black, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992).

Egypt

M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Readings (3 vols.; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975-80). Atkins owns volumes 1 and 2 only.
W.K. Simpson (ed.), The Literature of Ancient Egypt (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973).
J.H. Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1912). Outdated but still a classic.
*H. Frankfort, Ancient Egyptian Religion: An Interpretation (repr. New York: Harper, 1961).
*S. Morenz, Egyptian Religion (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1973).
*E. Hornung, Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982).
*A.R. David, The Ancient Egyptians: Religious Beliefs and Practices (London: Routledge, 1982).

Sumer

T. Jacobsen, The Harps That Once ...: Sumerian Poetry in Translation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987).
*S.N. Kramer, Sumerian Mythology (rev. ed.; New York: Harper, 1961).
*S.N. Kramer, The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963).
*S.N. Kramer & J. Maier, Myths of Enki, the Crafty God (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).
*D. Wolkstein & S.N. Kramer, Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth (New York: Harper & Row, 1983).
*H.E.W. Crawford, Sumer and the Sumerians (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
*S.N. Kramer, In the World of Sumer: An Autobiography (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1986). Recounts his labors in almost singlehandedly recovering the literature of Sumer.

Babylonia and Assyria

*S.H. Hooke, Babylonian and Assyrian Religion (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963).
*T. Jacobsen, The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976).
A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels (2d ed.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949).
A. Heidel, The Babylonian Genesis (2d ed.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963).
*A.L. Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization (rev. ed.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977).
*H.W.F. Saggs, The Greatness That Was Babylon (New York: Hawthorn, 1962).
*H.W.F. Saggs, The Might That Was Assyria (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1984).
H.W.F. Saggs, Babylonians (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995).
*J. Bottero, Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992).

Hittites

*O.R. Gurney, The Hittites (2d ed.; New York: Penguin, 1990).
H.A. Hoffner, Jr. & G.M. Beckman, Hittite Myths (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990).

Canaan

*P.C. Craigie, Ugarit and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1983).
*J. Gray, The Canaanites (London: Thames and Hudson, 1964).
J. Gray, The Legacy of Canaan: The Ras Shamra Texts and Their Relevance to the Old Testament (2d rev. ed.; Leiden: Brill, 1965).
*C.H. Gordon, Ugarit and Minoan Crete (New York: Norton, 1966).

Israel

R. Graves and R. Patai, Hebrew Myths (New York: Doubleday, 1964).
R. Patai, Robert Graves and the Hebrew Myths: A Collaboration (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1992).

Greece

The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949); 2nd edition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970).
F.M. Cornford, From Religion to Philosophy (repr. New York: Harper, 1957).
W. Burkert, Greek Religion (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985).
W. Burkert, "Oriental and Greek Mythology: The Meeting of Parallels," Interpretations of Greek Mythology (ed. J. Bremmer; Totowa, NJ: Barnes and Noble Books, 1986) 10-40.
*W. Burkert, The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992).
R. Mondi, "Greek Mythic Thought in the Light of the Near East," Approaches to Greek Myth (ed. L. Edmunds; Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990) 141-98.
T. Gantz, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1993).
R. Buxton, Imaginary Greece: The Contexts of Mythology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
J. Stetkevych, "The Arabian Golden Bough and Kindred Branches: Frazer, Vergil, Homer, and Gilgamesh," in his Muhammad and the Golden Bough: Reconstructing Arabian Myth (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996) 83-105.

1001 Nights

E. Littmann, "Alf Layla wa-Layla," Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edition (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1960- ) 1.358-64.

Folktale Studies

S. Thompson, Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends (Rev. and enl. ed.; 6 vols.; Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1955-58). The bible for motif and tale analysis.
S. Thompson, The Folktale (repr. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977). See especially the Appendices.
A.A. Aarne, The Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography (2d revision; Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1961).
V. Propp, Morphology of the Folktale (2d ed., rev.; Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968).
A. Olrik, Principles for Oral Narrative Research (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992).
D.L. Ashliman, A Guide to Folktales in the English Language: Based on the Aarne-Thompson Classification System (New York: Greenwood Press, 1987).
T.H. Gaster, Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament (New York: Harper & Row, 1969). Updates yet does not supplant the classic study of Frazer.
J.G. Frazer, Folk-lore in the Old Testament (3 vols.; London: Macmillan and Co., 1919).
S. Dalley, "Gilgamesh in the Arabian Nights," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1991) 1-17.
S. Dalley, "The Tale of Buluqiya and the Alexander Romance in Jewish and Sufi Mystical Circles," in Tracing the Threads: Studies in the Vitality of Jewish Pseudepigrapha (ed. J.C. Reeves; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994) 239-69.
N. Forsyth, "Appendix: Methods and Terms," in his The Old Enemy: Satan & the Combat Myth (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987) 441-55.

RELS 3000 COMPARATIVE ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN MYTHOLOGY
GUIDE TO PREPARATION OF ANALYTIC PAPER #1

Topic: The critical study and assessment of previous scholarship

In this syllabus, you will find a section entitled "Supplementary Bibliography for RELS 3000" which consists of a list of books, anthologies, and articles that are significant and/or useful for the study of ancient Near Eastern religion. Select one of the starred (*) books or articles (not an anthology!), and after carefully reading and reflecting upon its contents, prepare a descriptive essay that also imparts your assessment of and reaction to this work. Then (and only then) locate and read at least two critical reviews of the work selected which were published in scholarly journals. Devote the final part of your paper to a comparison of your remarks with those of the academic reviewers. What are their criteria for assessment? Do they correspond to yours?

Length of paper: Three to five (3-5) pages of text, typed and double-spaced. Papers violating these parameters automatically receive the grade F.

Due date: The paper will be handed in during class on Wednesday, February 12.

Trouble: Should any questions or problems arise in the course of this assignment, please do not hesitate to consult the instructor.

RELS 3000 COMPARATIVE ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN MYTHOLOGY
GUIDE TO PREPARATION OF ANALYTIC PAPER #2

Topic: A tentative typology of "dying-and-rising deity" narratives and its possible relevance for early Christian mythology.

Since the late 19th-century, scholars have been fascinated with what has been dubbed the "dying-and-rising deity" pattern, a persistent tale-type that recurs throughout ancient Near Eastern mythology. Its formal characteristics (or "typology") emerge from a close examination of the myths included in section 6 of the "Rough Course Outline" of this syllabus. On the basis of a careful study of these myths, previous sections of the present class have produced the following skeletal framework (typology) for this narrative:

1. an innocent character
2. of "attractive charms"
3. arouses a "possessive impulse"
4. the character is tricked
5. and carried off ("dies")
6. significant other(s) begin search for character and
a. after one or more "adventures"
7. eventually succeed(s) in locating the "dead" character
8. character rejuvenated ("rises")
9. but with qualifications

After studying the myths listed in section 6 and carefully considering and analyzing this tentative typology, compose an essay which systematically identifies and expounds the common motifs that can be discerned among our list, the mythical narratives undergirding it, and the New Testament gospel narratives of the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. For your convenience, these are roughly as follows: Matthew 26-27; Mark 14-15; Luke 22-23; and John 18-20. Please recognize that the pattern outlined on our list (or in the dying-and-rising deity narratives) may not conveniently transfer to the passion-narrative(s) in every particular, so that you may need to adjust, revise, or otherwise customize our chart of motifs to the task at hand.

Length of paper: Three to five (3-5) pages of text, typed and double-spaced. Papers violating these parameters automatically receive the grade of F.

Due date: The paper will be handed during class on Monday, March 24.