City and the Festival: Cult Practices and Architectural Production in the Ancient Near East: Weekly Schedule

General weekly strategy
(open to change all the time depending on the week- also first two weeks are exceptional): Exploring ten cities, a city per week, we will spend:

Mondays with Omur's presentation on the historical and geographical context of the city in question along with a presentation of relevant texts.
Wednesdays we will look at the archaeology of the city. Group presentations (creative site reports) on particular cities will take place on Wednesdays, followed by discussion.
Fridays we will dedicate the whole class to an interpretive discussion in the light of the specific spatial / urban / social theory we read that week.

This syllabus will be updated and changed over the course of the semester, please check weekly.

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View Document Icon Syllabus (pdf) | Our helpful librarians | Nota Bene on E-books | Wiki Home

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Week 1. Introduction

Wed Jan 24: Introduction: scope of the course: the cities where we grow up. Cities, urban space, its festivities.

Start reading:
Calvino, Italo; 1974. Invisible cities. Harcourt: New York.

Friday January 26: Cities and new imaginations: what is a city.

Mumford, Lewis; 1937. “file:729035 What is a city],” in The city reader. R.T. Gates and F. Stout (eds.). London: Routledge, 184-9 (also handout and the book is on reserve).

Massey, Doreen; John Allen and Steve Pile; 1999. City worlds. Oxon: Routledge and The Open University, read pages 4-19; 100-113. (This is an e-book and can be read and printed online, but copies of this are also available outside Omur's Door-Joukowsky Institute 70 Waterman Room 202). Nota Bene on E-books

Week 2. Theories of the city and urban space: formation of the urban fabric, public sphere.

Mon Jan 29: Urban space: city as image, city as palimpsest.

Kostof, Spiro; 1991. The city shaped: urban patterns and meanings through history. New York: Bulfinch Press, 9-41.

Kostof, Spiro; 1992. The city assembled: the elements of urban form through history. London: Thames and Hudson, 123-136.

Lynch, Kevin; 1960. file:851542 "The city image and its elements"] in The image of the city. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press, 46-90. The book is also in the library, here

Wed Jan 31: Approaching ancient cities: classical models of planned cities, “the non-west” and some methodological dilemmas.

Favro, Diane; 1999. "Meaning and Experience: Urban History from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period" Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 58/3: 364-373.

Çelik, Zeynep; 1999. "New Approaches to the "Non-Western" City" The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 58/3: 374-381.

Smith, Monica L.; 2003. “file:852640 Introduction: The Social Construction of Ancient Cities]” in The social construction of ancient cities. M.L. Smith (ed.). Washington D.C. : Smithsonian, 1-36.

Fri Feb 2: Ancient Mesopotamian city: an overview.

Van de Mieroop, M.; 1997. “City and society in ancient Mesopotamia” The ancient Mesopotamian city. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1-22.

Oppenheim, A. Leo; 1964. file:866322 “The City” and “Urbanism”] in Ancient Mesopotamia: portrait of a dead civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 109-142. The book is on Rock Reserve as well

Stone, Elizabeth C.; 2005. “Mesopotamian cities and countryside,” in A companion to the Ancient Near East. Daniel C. Snell (ed.). Malden MA: Blackwell, 141-154. E-book and Hard copy on Rock reserve. --->Nota Bene on E-books

Week 3. Cities and Desire I: Uruk.

Mon Feb 5: Urbanization, social complexity and the problem of the first city.

Soja; Edward; 2000. “file:911384 Putting cities first: remapping the origins of urbanism],” in A companion to the city. Gary Bridge and Sophie Watson (eds.). Malden MA: Blackwell, 26-34.

Emberling, Geoff; 2003. “file:912555 Urban social transformations and the problem of the ‘first city’: new research from Mesopotamia]” in The social construction of ancient cities. M.L. Smith (ed.). Washington D.C. : Smithsonian Books, 254-268. Rock Reserve.

Van de Mieroop, M.; 1997. “The origins and the character of the Mesopotamian city,” The ancient Mesopotamian city. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 23-41.

Wed Feb 7: Late Uruk Period in Southern Mesopotamia and the Archaeology of Uruk: the formation of the city as a ceremonial center.
Assignment I: Visualizing Calvino’s Invisible Cities due

Van de Mieroop 2006: “Origins: The Uruk phenomenon,” in A history of the ancient Near East : ca. 3000-323 BC, 19-40.

Roaf, Michael; 1996. file:909045 Cultural atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East]. Oxfordshire, 58-63. Rock Reserve.

Moortgat, Anton; 1969. file:913944 The Art of Ancient Mesopotamia: The Classical Art of the Near East]. Phaidon: London and New York, 1-7. Rock Reserve.

Fri Feb 9: The city as a theater of social action: Uruk, urban drama and the cult of Inanna.

Mumford, Lewis; 1968. “file:910178 The nature of the ancient city]” City in history: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects. Harvest Books: 94-118. Rock Reserve. Also a copy on our Joukowsky Institute Library Bookshelf (70 Waterman 3rd Floor).

Bahrani, Zainab; 2002. “file:908728 Performativity and the image: narrative, representation and the Uruk vase],” in Leaving no stones unturned: essays on the Ancient Near East and Egypt in honor of Donald P. Hansen. E. Ehrenberg (ed.), Eisenbrauns: Winona Lake, Indiana, 15-22.

Falassi, Alessandro; 1967. “Download
View Document Icon Festival: definition and morphology” in Time out of time: essays on the festival. A. Falassi (ed.). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1-10.

Week 4. Cities and everyday life. Spatial practices of the inhabitants.

Mon Feb 12: Rhythms of the city: spaces of the everyday life.

Amin, Ash and Nigel Thrift; 2002. file:969619 "Introduction" and "The legibility of the everyday city"] in Cities: reimagining the urban. Polity Press; Malden MA, 1-30.

Wed Feb 14: Walking in the city.

De Certeau, Michel; 1984. “file:967988 Walking in the city]” in The practice of everyday life. S. Rendall (trans.), University of California Press: Berkeley, 91-110.

Crang, Mike; 2001. "file:966327 Rhythms of the city: temporalized space and motion]" in Timespace: geographies of temporality. Jon May and Nigel thrift (eds.). Routledge, London and New York, 187-207.

Fri Feb 16: Assignment 2: City walk: Providence.
Use logbooks. (Ömür’ is at the College Art Association Meetings in New York, Thursday through Saturday).

Week 5. Trading Cities: Ur.

Mon Feb 19. Long weekend: No class.

Wed Feb 21. The archaeology of the city-state in Early Mesopotamia: the case of Ur.

Van de Mieroop 2006: “Competing city-states: the Early Dynastic period,” in A history of the ancient Near East : ca. 3000-323 BC, 41-62.

Westenholz, Joan Goodnick; 1996. “Ur – The capital of Sumer,” in Royal cities of the Biblical world. J.G. Westenholz (ed.). Jerusalem: Bible Lands Museum.

Fri Feb 23. Mesopotamian urban economies.

Van de Mieroop, M.; 1997. “Feeding the citizens,” and “Craft and commerce” in The ancient Mesopotamian city. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 142-176.

Berdan, Frances F.; 1989. "file:1011377 Trade and markets in precapitalist states]" in Economic anthropology. S Plattner (ed.) Stanford, CA. : Stanford University Press, 78-107.

Optional and further reading:

Liverani, Mario; 2005. "file:1092333 The Near East: The Bronze Age]," in The ancient economy : evidence and models. J.G. Manning and Ian Morris (eds.), Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 47-57.

Week 6. Cities and imagination: Nippur.

Mon Feb 26. Nippur as the supra-regional ceremonial center.

Bottero, J; 1992. “file:1010684 The religious system]” in Mesopotamia: writing reasoning and the gods. Z. Bahrani and M. Van de Mieroop (trans.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 201-231.

Optional and further reading:

Van de Mieroop, M.; 1997. “Cities as centers of religion and learning” in The ancient Mesopotamian city. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 215-228.
Lambert, Wilfred G.; 1992. “Download
ViewNippur in ancient ideology,” in Nippur at the centennial. M. deJong Ellis (ed.), Occasional Publications of the Samuel Noah Kramer Fund 14: Philadelphia, 119-126.

Wed Feb 28. The archaeology of Nippur.

Zettler, Richard L.; 1987. “file:1009703 Enlil’s city, Nippur, at the end of the late third millennium B.C.]” Bulletin of the Society of Mesopotamian Studies 14: 7-19.

Gibson, McGuire; 1993. “Download
View Document Icon Nippur, sacred city of Enlil, supreme god of Sumer and Akkad,” Al-Rāfidān 14: 1-18.

Optional and further reading:

Gibson, McGuire; 1992. “Download
ViewPatterns of occupation at Nippur,” in Nippur at the centennial. Papers read at the 35e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Maria deJong Ellis (ed.), Occasional Publications of the Samuel Noah Kramer Fund, 14: Philadelphia, 33-54.
Keith, Kathryn; 2003. “file:1124233 The spatial patterns of everyday life in Old Babylonian neighborhoods]” in The social construction of ancient cities. M.L. Smith (ed.). Washington D.C. : Smithsonian, 56-80.

Fri March 2. The cattlepen and the sheepfold: early Mesopotamian religion and the imagination of the sacred city.

Bridge, Gary and Sophie Watson; 2000. “file:1093753 City imaginaries],” in A companion to the city. Gary Bridge and Sophie Watson (eds.). Malden MA: Blackwell, 7-17.

Tinney, Steve; 1996. file:1091700 The Nippur Lament: royal rhetoric and divine legitimation in the reign of Išme-Dagan of Isin (1953-1935 BC)]. Occasional Publications of the Samuel Noah Kramer Fund, 16: Philadelphia. (Read the translation of the whole poem 97-123, and Tinney’s introductory sections "Genre and city laments" 11-25; "Nippur, Enlil and royal power" 55-62).

Optional and further reading:

Van de Mieroop, M.; 1997. “City and countryside: the Mesopotamian view,” The ancient Mesopotamian city. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 42-62.

Week 7. Cities and spectacle I: Hattusha.

Mon March 5. Hittites and the Late Bronze Age in Anatolia.

Gorny, Ronald L.; 1989. “Environment, archaeology and history in Hittite Anatolia,” Biblical Archaeologist 52: 78-96. Download file:1120089 Part 1] and file:1121136 Part 2].

Hawkins, John David; 1996. “file:1126339 The Hittites and their empire],” in Royal cities of the Biblical world. Joan G. Westenholz (ed.); Jerusalem: Bible Lands Museum, 69-79.

Wed March 7. The archaeology of Hattusha.

Neve, Peter J.; 1993. “file:1125301 Hattusha, the city of the gods and temples: results of excavations in the Upper city],” Proceedings of the British Academy 80: 105-132.

Singer, Itamar; 1998. “file:973135 A city of many temples: Hattuša, capital of the Hittites],” in Sacred space: shrine, city, land. Banjamin Z. Kedar and R.J. Zwi Werblowsky (eds.); New York: New York University Press, 32-44.

Take a look at: Hattusha/Bogazkoy archaeological project website.

Optional and further reading:

Bryce, Trevor R.; 2002. “The capital” in Life and society in the Hittite world. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 230-256.

Fri March 9. KI-LAM: Festival of the Gatehouse and the making of Hattusha: cult festival as urban spectacle.

Bergman, Bettina; 1999. “Download
View Document Icon Introduction: the art of ancient spectacle,” in The art of ancient spectacle. B Bergmann and C Kondoleon (eds,). Washington : National Gallery of Art ; London : Yale University Press , 9-36.

Bryce, Trevor R.; 2002. “Festivals and rituals” in Life and society in the Hittite world. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 187-210.

Hawkins, J.D.; 1998. “file:1122953 Hattusa: home to the thousand gods of Hatti],” in Capital cities: urban planning and spiritual dimensions. J. G. Westenholz (ed.), Bible Lands Museum: Jerusalem.

Optional and further reading:

Blake, Emma; 2004. “Download
ViewSpace, spatiality and archaeology,” in A companion to social archaeology. Lynn Meskell and Robert W. Preucel (eds.). Malden MA: Blackwell Publishing, 230-254.

Week 8. Cities and memory: Karkamish.

Mon March 12. The Early Iron Age in North Syro-Mesopotamia: the Syro-Hittite states. Assignment 2: City walk: Providence due. Please post your assignments here.

Akkermans, Peter M.M.G. and Glenn M. Schwartz; 2003. “Iron Age Syria” in The archaeology of Syria: from complex hunter-gatherers to early urban societies (ca. 16,000-300 BC). Cambridge World Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 360-397.

Wed March 14. The archaeology of Karkamish

Hawkins, John David; 2000. “file:1199273 Karkamiš]” in Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions. (3 vols) De Gruyter: Berlin.

Hawkins, John David; 1995. “file:1201137 Karkamish and Karatepe: Neo-Hittite City-States in North Syria]” in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. J.M. Sasson (ed.); New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, vol. II, pp. 1295-1307.

Fri March 16. Social memory, urban space and cult practice at Karkamish.

Alcock, Susan E.; 2002. “file:1200148 Archaeologies of memory]” in Archaeologies of the Greek past: landscape, monuments, and memories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1-35.

Mazzoni, Stefania; 1997. “Download
View Document Icon The gate and the city: change and continuity in Syro-Hittite urban ideology,” in Die orientalische Stadt: Kontinuität, Wandel, Bruch. G. Wilhelm (ed.), SDV Saarbrücker Druckerei und Verlag: Saarbrücken: 307-338.

Optional and further reading:

Bonatz, Dominik; 2001a. “file:1203292 Mnemohistory in Syro-Hittite iconography],” in Historiography in the cuneiform world. T. Abusch et.al. (eds.), CDL Press: Bethesda, Maryland, 65-77.

Week 9. Cities and eyes: Kalhu (Nimrud).

Mon March 19. The Early Iron Age in Assyria: From Middle Tigris to the Upper Tigris. Construction of new landscapes.

Van de Mieroop 2006, “The rise of Assyria” in A history of the ancient Near East : ca. 3000-323 BC, 229-246.

Postgate, J. Nicholas; 1992. “The Land of Assur and the Yoke of Assur” World Archaeology 23/3.: 247-263.

Optional and further reading:

Joffe, Alexander; 1998. "Disembedded Capitals in Western Asian Perspective" Comparative Studies in Society and History 40/3: 549-580.

Wed March 21. The archaeology of Kalhu.

Reade, Julian; 1982. “file:1317196 Nimrud]” in Fifty years of Mesopotamian discovery. J Curtis (ed.). London: The British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 99-112.

Optional and further reading:

Oates, Joan and David Oates; 2001. file:1318411 Nimrud: an Assyrian imperial city revealed]. British School of Archaeology in Iraq: London, pages 13-35.

Fri March 23. City as social event: urban foundation as festival. Texts: the Banquet Stele and the Ninurta Temple inscription.

Van de Mieroop, M.; 1997. “The urban landscape,” The ancient Mesopotamian city. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 63-100.

Blais, Myriam; 1999. “file:1315367 Invention as a celebration of materials],” in Chora 3: Intervals in the philosophy of architecture. Alberto Pérez-Gómez and Stephen Parcell (eds.); Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1-24.

Optional and further reading:

Novak, Mirko; 2005. “From Ashur to Nineveh: The Assyrian town-planning programme” in Nineveh: Papers of the XLIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale. Volume 1. London: British school of Archaeology in Iraq, 177-186.

Mar 24-Apr 1 Saturday through Sunday. Spring recess.

Week 10. Cities and landscapes: Ninua (Nineveh).

Mon April 2.Landscapes of Assyria in the Iron Age: urban and rural worlds.

Van de Mieroop 2006, “Assyria’s world domination” in A history of the ancient Near East : ca. 3000-323 BC, 247-269.
Barbanes, Eleanor; 2003. “file:1391761 Planning an empire: city and settlement in the Neo-Assyrian period],” Bulletin of the Canadian Society of Mesopotamian Studies 38: 15-22.

Optional and further reading:

Wilkinson, Tony J; Jason Ur and Jesse Casana; 2004. file:1403921 “From Nucleation to Dispersal: Trends in Settlement Pattern in the Northern Fertile Crescent”] in Side-by-Side Survey: Comparative Regional Studies in the Mediterranean World. Susan E Alcock and John F Cherry (eds.). Oxbow Books.

Wed April 4. The archaeology of Nineveh.

Stronach, David and Stephen Lumsden; 1992. “UC Berkeley’s excavations at Nineveh” The Biblical Archaeologist 55/4: 227-233.
Lumsden, Stephen; 2005. "Download
ViewThe production of space at Nineveh," in Nineveh: Papers of the XLIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, London 7—11 July 2003. D. Collon and A. George (eds). London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 187-197.

Optional and further reading:

Russell, John Malcolm; 1991. Sennacherib’s palace without rival at Nineveh, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Fri April 6. Nineveh’s urban landscape: orchards, “the hanging gardens” and ferocious bulls. Assignment 3: The urban landscape of the Ancient Near Eastern city due.

Knapp, A. Bernard and Wendy Ashmore; 1999. “file:1409891 Archaeological landscapes: constructed, conceptualized, ideational,]” in Archaeologies of landscape: contemporary perspectives. W. Ashmore and A.B. Knapp (eds.), Blackwell: Malden MA, 1-30.
Russell, John Malcolm; 1987. “Bulls for the palace and order in the empire: The sculptural program of Sennacherib’ Court VI at Nineveh,” Art Bulletin 69: 520-539.

Optional and further reading:

Dalley, Stephanie; 1993. “Ancient Mesopotamian Gardens and the Identification of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon Resolved” Garden History 21/1: 1-13.

Week 11. Cities and festival: Babylon.

Mon April 9. The Neo-Babylonian kingdom:

Van de Mieroop 2006, “The Neo-Babylonian Dynasty” in A history of the ancient Near East : ca. 3000-323 BC, 276-285.

Van de Mieroop, Marc; 2003. "Reading Babylon" American Journal of Archaeology 107.2: 257-275.

Optional and further reading:

George, Andrew R.; 1997. “ ‘Bonds of the lands’: Babylon, the cosmic capital,” in Die orientalische Stadt: Kontinuität, Wandel, Bruch. G. Wilhelm (ed.), SDV Saarbrücker Druckerei und Verlag, Saarbrücken: 125-145.

Wed April 11. The archaeology of Babylon.

George, Andrew R.; 1993. “file:1410578 Babylon revisited: archaeology and philology in harness],” Antiquity 67: 734-46.

Kuhrt, Amélie; 2001. “file:1469861 The palace(s) of Babylon],” in The royal palace institution in the First Millennium b.c.: regional development and cultural interchange between East and West. Inge Nielsen (ed.); Monographs of the Danish Institute at Athens: Athens, 77-94.

Fri April 13. Babylon and the akitu festival.
Final paper proposals with bibliography due

Black, Jeremy A.; 1981. “file:468198 The new year ceremonies in ancient Babylon: ‘taking Bel by the hand’ and a cultic picnic],” Religion 11: 39-59.

Sommer, Benjamin D.; 2000. “file:469573 The Babylonian akitu festival: Rectifying the king or renewing the cosmos?]” The Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 27: 81-95.

Bell, Catherine; 1997. file:1412138 Ritual: perspectives and dimensions]. Oxford University Press, 1-22.

Week 12. Cities and spectacle II: Persepolis.

Mon April 16. The Persian Empire: a heterogenous state and a world assembly at Persepolis

Van de Mieroop 2006: “The Persian Empire,” in A history of the ancient Near East : ca. 3000-323 BC, 286-301.

Briant, Pierre; 2002. “file:1484803 Images of the World]” in From Cyrus to Alexander : a history of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, pages 165-203.

Optional and further reading:

Stronach, David; 1997. “file:712059 Anshan and Parsa: Early Achaemenid history, art and architecture on the Iranian plateau],” in Mesopotamia and Iran in the Persian period: Conquest and imperialism 539-331 B.C. J. Curtis (ed.), British Museum Press: London; 35-53.

Wed April 18. The archaeology of Persepolis.

Roaf, Michael; 1990. “file:1485764 Sculptors and designers at Persepolis]” in Investigating Artistic Environments in the Ancient Near East, Ann C. Gunter (ed.), Washington DC: 105-114.

Oriental Institute, Chicago webiste on Persepolis.

Optional and further reading:

Schmidt, Erich Friedrich, 1953-1970. Persepolis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Fri April 20. New Year's Festival at Persepolis and City Dionysia at Athens: urban spectacles compared.

Cahill, Nicholas; 1985. “The Treasury at Persepolis: Gift-Giving at the City of the Persians” American Journal of Archaeology 89/3: 373-389.

Root, Margaret Cool; 1985. "The Parthenon Frieze and the Apadana Reliefs at Persepolis: Reassessing a Programmatic Relationship" American Journal of Archaeology 89/1: 103-120.

Optional and further reading:

Miller, Margarite C.; 2004. “The Odeion of Perikles and imperial expression” in Athens and Persia in the Fifth Century BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 218-242.

Goldhill, Simon; 1987. “The Great Dionysia and civic ideology” The Journal of Helenic Studies 107: 58-76.

Week 13. Cities and conflict: Jerusalem.

Mon April 23. Jerusalem: "space of frustrated desire"

Wharton, Annabel Jane; 1995. file:970057 "Jerash and Jerusalem"] in Refiguring the post classical city : Dura Europos, Jerash, Jerusalem and Ravenna. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 64-104, pay close attention to especially 85-100.

Optional and further reading:

Bernbeck, Reinhard and Susan Pollock; 2004. “The political economy of archaeological practice and the production of heritage in the Middle East,”in A companion to social archaeology, Lynn Meskell and Rober Preucel. Malden MA: Blackwell, 335-352.

Wed April 25. Final discussion. Final paper drafts due. To be returned with comments by Monday 30th.

May 11. Final papers due.

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