Universidad de Jaén

Theme 1: Introduction to the Ancient History. Introduction to the Ancient Near East.

Introduction to the Ancient History: Spacial.Chronological limits of the discipline and sources for its study. Ancient Near East: chronology and periodization; Geographical regionalisation. Specific sources of the Ancient History in the Near East and Egypt.

Theme 2: Definition of Oriental Studies and Egyptology. The Biblical studies and the classic authors. The decipherment of the cunneiform and the hitite hieroglyphs. The decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing.

Theme 3: The rising of the first Estates.

Fromthe Neolithic Revolution to the Urban Revolution. The origin of writing in the earliest Estates in Mesopotamia: Summerians and the Land of Summer. The earliest Estate in Egypt.

Theme 4: The third millennium BC Early Bronze.

Mesopotamia during the first half of the 3rd millenium BC. Akkad and the Akkadian "Empire". The 3rd Dynasty of Ur and the amorreans. Ebla and Syria. The Early Dynastic in Egypt. The Old Kingdom. The Herakleopolitan Period (First Intermedaite Period).

Theme 5. The first half of the 2nd millenium BC. Middle Bronze.

The Paleo-Babylonian in Mesopotamia: The kingdoms of Isin and Larsa. The Assyrian Old Kingdom. Mari and the Kingdom of Yamkhad. The Babylonia of Hammurabi. The Indoeuropeans. The Hitite Old Kingdom. The Egyptian Middle Kingdom. The Second Intermediate Period.

Theme 6. The second half of the 2nd millennium BC The Late Bronze.

Introduction. The Egyptian New Kingdom: the territorial expansion. The great kingdoms of the Near East: Mitanni and Hitite. Canaan and the Syrian kigdoms. The Mesopotamian states: The Cassites in Babylonia and the Assyrian Middle Kingdom. The Sea-People and the crisis in 1200 BC.

Theme 7. The impires and the small Estates during the first millennium BC.

The Syro-Palestinian Coast: Judah, Israel and the Phillisteans; the Phoenicians Towns. The Neo-Hitites and Arameans Kingdoms. The unification of the indoarians tribes: Urartu and the Median Kingdom. The Universal Empires: Assyria, Babylonia and Peria. The Late Period in Egypt.

Each theme will be followed by a practice activity, which, in the case of the present subject, will focus on the analysis of ancient texts related to the theoretical theme studied before.

The collective tutorship will organized at the end of each week, after self re-view of the theoretical and practical contents by the student, once he/she has asked his/her questions and have expressed his/her opinions before the lecturer and fellows.

Students with special educational needs should contact the Student Attention Service (Servicio de Atención y Ayudas al Estudiante) in order to receive the appropriate academic support

The student marks will be the result of a theoretical-practical exam, which will be up to the 70% of the mark and will be completed with the notes of the teacher (10%) and a personal essay, which will be evaluated according to its quality of references, its originality and structure.