Unit ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE NEAR EAST

Course
Archaeology and history of art
Study-unit Code
GP003439
Curriculum
Generico
Teacher
Andrea Polcaro
Teachers
  • Andrea Polcaro
Hours
  • 36 ore - Andrea Polcaro
CFU
6
Course Regulation
Coorte 2021
Offered
2022/23
Learning activities
Affine/integrativa
Area
Attività formative affini o integrative
Academic discipline
L-OR/05
Type of study-unit
Obbligatorio (Required)
Type of learning activities
Attività formativa monodisciplinare
Language of instruction
Italian
Contents
The course regards the history and archaeology of ancient Mesopotamia. During the lessons will be highlighted the cultural connections between the first civilization in Southern Iraq with the later cultures of the ancient Orient during the millennia. The chronology of the course spans from the Fifth to the First Millennium BCE.
Reference texts
- D. Nadali, A. Polcaro, Archeologia della Mesopotamia Antica, Carocci Editore 2015.
- P. Matthiae, Prima Lezione di Archeologia Orientale, Laterza 2015, 4 ed.
During the lessons supplementary texts and eventually further texts for non-attending students will be uploaded on the Unistudium web site.
Educational objectives
The course is intended to give a basic knowledge on the archaeology and the history of art of the Near East, particularly regarding the ancient Mesopotamia, since the first urban period till the great empires of the Iron Age.
Prerequisites
N/A
Teaching methods
Frontal lessons. The course, if possible, will foresee a guide tour to one of the national museums hosting collections from the ancient Orient.
Other information
The participation to the course will give the possibility to advance participation proposal for the archaeological expedition to Jebel al-Mutawwaq, in Jordan, to the Nigin Expeditin, in Iraq, and to the Madaba Regional Archaeological Museum Project in Madaba, Jordan.
Learning verification modality
Frontal exams or telematic system in base of the dispositions of the university.
Extended program
The course is finalized to transmit a basic knowledge on the archaeology and history of art of the ancient Near East. In particular, the course is focalized on the ancient Mesopotamia, the region between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. The development of architecture, art and material culture from the Fifth to the First Millennium BCE. The lessons foresee for each period taken into account a general view of the historical context. After a general introduction on the geography and history of studies concerning Near Eastern Archaeology, the topic of the birth of the first city-states of Sumer, from Uruk, the first city of Lower Mesopotamia, to the development of the territorial states will be discussed. Particular importance will be given to the State of Lagash during the First and Second Dynasty and to the State of Ur, during the Third Dynasty. The development of the Mesopotamian culture will be analyzed for the Old Babylonian Period, with the passage of Babylon to a great urban centre. After that, it will be analyzed the development of the Assyrian state, from its beginning to the apogee of the Assyrian Empire. The urbanism and architecture of the Assyrian capitals, Assur, Nimrud, Khorsabad and Ninive, will be also taken into account. The course will end with the study of the cultural influences of the ancient Near Eastern civilizations to the later Neobabylonian and Persian Empires.
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