The World of the Babylonians and Assyrians in the Age of the Empires
In this 20-week class students will be introduced to the World of Assur and Babylon in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age (14th to 8th c. BCE), as well as the remarkable scientific & artistic achievements of the Assyrians and Babylonians.
Spyridon (Spiros) Loumakis
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:(784)
What's included
20 live meetings
20 in-class hoursHomework
1 hour per week. At certain points students will have to read carefully primary sources from ancient Near Eastern literature in English translation (chosen and distributed by me in advance), related to certain weeks' topic, in order to enrich class discussion, with the purpose of introducing the student in the skill of critical thinkingAssessment
An optional Mid-Term quiz for classes 1 to 10 will be distributed during the 11th week, and a second optional Final quiz for classes 11-20 at the end of the course.Grading
I do not believe that a letter grade is meaningful for an one-on-one tutorial. However, as I often do with my camps, which are small classes (up to 6 students), I communicate with the parents and the children directly, providing my personal comments, private feedback and an informal assessment. If students choose to do the quiz, this is a great opportunity to communicate directly in an indiividual level for personal feedback.Class Experience
US Grade 8 - 10
Intermediate Level
(A) Required Experience: This is a class for beginners or preferably for those who have a basic knowledge on ancient Mesopotamian history and religions, and wish to refresh or enrich their knowledge on the material culture, the literary and artistic production, as well as the history of people and beliefs in Mesopotamia. N.B.: I have broken into five meaningful parts the long history of Mesopotamia from ca. 6000 to ca. 539 BCE. Anyone interested specifically in the Babylonians and the Assyrians in the Late Bronze Age period can enroll straight to this part without missing anything. (B) Teaching style and students interaction: The learning process of this class is based on a combination of a power-point presentation, a lecture that asks students to participate, class dialogue, questions based on the ongoing lecture, and new ideas based on the participants. There is not one universal solution to teach. Rather I combine techniques to achieve the maximum of my strengths and of my students. Having taught so far young kids, teenagers, University students and mature learners, I know that teachers need to approach students with understanding. After all, such a small class has the advantage of making the combined technique of ppt presentation-lecture-dialogue feasible and efficient. Thanks to Zoom, engaging students and interacting with them is always possible. (C) Specific topics to be covered Per Week: Day 1) The mysterious Mitanni - Rise of Assyria - rule of king Assuruballit I [1363-1328 BCE] Day 2) Babylonian Kassite state apparatus [from c. 1595 BCE to c. 1155 BCE] Day 3) Nippur and Ur in the Kassite period Day 4) Struggle between Babylonians and Assyrians Day 5) Recapture of Babylon by the Kassites - Sack of Babylon by the Elamites [1155 BCE] Day 6) Middle Assyrian Dominance and Imperial Ideal - rule of king Tukulti-Ninurta I [1243-1207 BCE] Day 7) Middle Assyrian Empire under king Tukulti-Ninurta I Day 8) The End of Bronze Age - Collapse of Palatial States and the mysterious Sea People Day 9) Middle Assyrian Epilogue - Tiglath Pileser I [1115-1076 BCE] Days 10) and 11) The Second Dynasty of Isin [1157-1026 BCE] - Babylonia supreme god Marduk Day 12) Local Chaldean Dynasties of Babylon [ca. 1025-850 BCE] Day 13) Imperial Revival in Assyria - rule of king Assurnasirpal II [883-859 BCE] Day 14) King Shalmaneser III of Assur [858-824 BCE] - Battle of Qarqar against the united Amorite kingdoms [853 BCE] Day 15) Assyro-Babylonian Coexistence - king Marduk-zakir-sumi of Babylon [850-825 BCE] Day 16) The new Assyrian imperial capital at Kahlu (Nimrud) - Imperial Administration Day 17) Gods and Demons in the cities of Kahlu and Assur Day 18) Relief Wall Panels at NW Palace, Kahlu Day 19) Assyrian Interlude [823-745 BCE] - The kingdom of Urartu Day 20) Rise of Tiglath-Pileser III [744-727 BCE]
Learning Goals
In this course the students will be able to appreciate the beauty and importance of the study of history. Having studied myself history at a graduate and postgraduate level, and trained in archaeological excavations, ancient languages, and the use of various aspects of ancient material culture (art, architecture, coins etc), I want to bring this full picture to my classes.
We will discuss together in class not just about events and personnalities of ancient Near Eastern history, but also about major Mesopotamian monuments, artifacts, literary and scientific texts in English translation, so as to understand the greatness of this region's very long history in its entirety. The epistemological approach according to which History means facts based on reliable primary sources, remains still relevant for me, if not necessary today.
Ancient History means also appreciating ancient cultures, respecting them, learning from their mistakes, and admiring them for their accompishments. History can be also used as a point of reference or a measure of comparison between an ancient pre-modern society and our contemporary post-modern world.
For students who are taking History classes in general at their school, this class can be used as a supplementary class to strengthen their general knowledge, advance their understading of history and sharpen their critical thinking.
Other Details
Pre-Requisites
This class is the sequence of “The Sumerian Empire of Ur and the Old-Babylonian Empire of Hammurabi ”. Students are strongly advised (but not obliged) to have taken this class in advance, unless they are already strong students of history
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Sources
Throughout the class and in the form of homework, students will discuss in class under my guidance and read at home before class illuminating sources that servive in ancient Mesopotamian languages (Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian). They are all provided by me in English translations. This is important so that students may understand Mesopotamian history from authentic Mesopotamian sources and the civilization of the Mesopotamian people by its own creators, and not from external sources which are biased and have minimal historical value, like the portrait of some of the Neo-Assyrian and Babylonian kings in the Hebrew Bible.
In addition, archaeology, art, architecture, epigraphy and the study of ancient cylinders and seals will be used, whenever relevant, to enlighten aspects of ancient Near Eastern history that are not so apparent in the Mesopotamian historical accounts listed above. My background in all these fields will guide students through these peculiar sub-fields of history, in order to be abe to "read" them and complete their knowledge.
The goal is to apprehend the bigger picture of ancient history in the Near East, and open the mind of modern learners by including aspects of so many different cultures and civilizations that shared the same geographical area in ancient Mesopotamia.
Finally, the class is not only based on my 10-years of experience in the scientific study of this era, but also on a long list of modern sources, of which a good sample is the following one:
A History of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3000-323 BC by Marc Van De Mieroop (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015)
A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75 by Paul-Alain Beaulieu (Wiley-Blackwell, 2018)
Mesopotamian Civilization: The Material Foundations by Daniel T. Potts (Cornell University Press, 1996)
The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture by Karen Radner and Eleanor Robson, eds. (Oxford University Press, 2020)
Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation by Mark W. Chavalas (Wiley-Blackwell, 2006)
A Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Mythology by Gwendolyn Leick (Routledge, 1998)
The Heavenly Writing: Divination, Horoscopy, and Astronomy in Mesopotamian Culture by Francesca Rochberg (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Ancient Babylonian Medicine: Theory and Practice by Markham J. Geller (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)
Religion and Ideology in Assyria by Beate Pongratz-Leisten (de Gruyter, 2017)
Assyria. The Imperial Mission by Mario Liverani (Eisenbrauns, 2017)
From the Mari Archives. An Anthology of Old Babylonian Letters by Jack M. Sasson (Eisenbrauns, 2015)
Ancient Kanesh. A Merchant Colony in Bronze Age Anatolia by Mogens Trolle Larsen (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
as well as on a careful and comprehensive use of archaeological data through the official reports of excavators published online or in physical copy by major University Press Publications or their official educational websites managed by the archaeological teams working in the related places (e.g. the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures by University of Chicago; the Anthropology and Archaeology Museum of the University of Pennsylvania; the French or the German Archaeological School in Near East; the British School of Archaeology in Iraq; the American Oriental Society)
Joined March, 2020
4.9
784reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
I have a B.A. and M.A. in Ancient History and Archaeology, as well as an M.A. in History and Philosophy of Religions. I have excavated in ancient sites, I speak ancient languages and I am currently finishing my PhD. Reviews
Live Group Class
$24
weekly1x per week, 20 weeks
60 min
Completed by 5 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 12-15
3-6 learners per class
