(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 four meaningful parts the long history of Mesopotamia from ca. 6000 to ca. 539 BCE. Anyone interested specifically in the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires or the transitional period from the Bronze to the Iron Age can enroll straight to this third 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: 

Week 1 and 2: The End of the Bronze Age and the so-called Second Dynasty of Isin, successors of the Kassites in the 12th and 11th c. BCE. We will focus on the most forceful and ambitious ruler of the Second Dynasty of Isin, Nebuchadnezzar I (1125-1104 BCE). This is the period where most probably the famous epic poem Enuma Elish takes its form.

Weeks 3 to 10: For the following eight weeks we will move firmly to north Mesopotamia, to see the Rise and Fall of the first world empire that managed to bring under one king Egypt and Mesopotamia, that of the Neo-Assyrians (10th to 7th c. BCE). The exploits of their agressive, warlike kings will be combined with the stories of their major warrior gods (Assur - Adad - Inana - Ninurta). We will explore the four-winged benevolent demon called apkallu, as well as other spirits (like pazuzu) and demons (like lamasthu) as they dominated private and official Neo-Assyrian art. Additionally, we will learn about the earliest accounts of the Tree of Life, an Assyrian motif which represented the king as dominating nature. We will visit the great palace of king Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–859 BCE) at Nimrud and that of king Sargon II (721-705 BC) at Khorsabad, as well as the great Library of Ashurbanipal, an unprecedented repository of ancient wisdom. 

Weeks 11 and 12: An important accomplishment of the Neo-Assyrian empire is its empire-wide project for the acculturation of its periphery. Most of the material comes from the Levant (Syria, Phoenicia, Cyprus and Judaea) where the archaeological and epigraphic evidence bear witness to the ever-lasting impact of the Assyrians.

Weeks 13 and 14: For two weeks we will move once more south, to discuss the history of the Chaldean Babylonia, as well as the period of direct Neo-Assyrian domination over Babylonia.
The Chaldeans are a new people arriving in Mesopotamia the first millenium BCE to settle primarily along the Euphrates in the south and keep in control of most of the Babylonian countryside, proving themselves a formidable force of resistance against the Neo-Assyrian advance south.  
Thus, the history of central and south Mesopotamia from the 10th to the 7th c. BCE will be marked by a series of short, interchanging periods of Assyrian and Chaldean/Babylonian dominion. In this unstable and turbulent period the kings of Babylon would be sometimes a family member of the Assyrian king, sometimes a native Babylonian, placed on the throne by Assyrian kings as vassal, or sometimes a native Babylonian or Chaldean, independent from Assyrian rule.

Week 15: The sixteenth week will be dedicated to the Rebellion of Shamash-shum-ukin.
Shamash-shum-ukin was king of Babylon as a vassal of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 668 BCE to his death in 648 BCE. 
Born into the Assyrian royal family, Shamash-shum-ukin was the son of king Esarhaddon and the elder brother of Esarhaddon's successor Ashurbanipal. Despite being the elder son, Shamash-shum-ukin was for unknown reasons bypassed as heir to Assyria. He was, instead, designated heir to Babylonia. 
Although Esarhaddon specified that Shamash-shum-ukin was to swear an oath of allegiance to Ashurbanipal, the clear primary heir, Shamash-shum-ukin was also referred to as Ashurbanipal's "equal brother" and Ashurbanipal was to stay out of his affairs. 
In 652 BCE, as resentment gradually grew between them due to Ashurbanipal's overbearing control, Shamash-shum-ukin revolted, inspiring the Babylonians to join him and recruiting Chaldeans, and Arameans, as well as the kings of Gutium, Amurru and Meluhha (which might actually refer to the new group on Zagros, the Medes). 

Weeks 16 and 17: These two weeks will showcase the wealth and prestige of the greatest city in ancient times, Babylon. Under two great kings, Nabopolassar (626-605 BCE) and Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BCE) who would create the last great Mesopotamian empire, the Neo-Bablyonian, the city of Babylon would reach its peak (the Esagila temple of Marduk, the impressive city gate of Ishtar, the 12-day Babylonian Spring New Year Festival etc). The Neo-Babylonians would put an end to the Assyrian rule and would become masters of most of Near and Middle East for almost a century.

Weeks 18 and 19: These two weeks will be dedicated to the fabulous Neo-Babylonian World outside Babylon. We will visit the marvelous art and architecture f the Beo-Bbaylonians in other major urban centers around Babylonia (e.g. Borsippa, Sippur) as well as their royal patronage in the south (Nippur and Ur).

Week 20: This last week will refer to the conclusion of the ancient history of Mesopotamia with the last Babylonian king, Nabonidus, who would go down in history as the one defeated by the Persian leader Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE. This event will mark the end of the independent Mesopotamian states and the area, after millenia of continuous history, will be reduced for the first time into a simple province within a non-Mesopotamian empire, that of the great Persian Empire.