511344 - LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

1. General part Overview of the languages ​​of the Syro-Mesopotamian area between the 3rd and 1st millennium BC. The cuneiform script and the Sumerian language. Diachronic overview of the written traditions of Mesopotamia and Syria between the 3rd and 1st millennium BC: the different textual categories and the main written compositions. 2. The Akkadian language Akkadian in the Near Eastern linguistic scenario; Akkadian and other Semitic languages; the main grammatical features; dialectal differences between Babylonian and Assyrian; Akkadian as a language of diplomacy and peripheral Akkadian dialects. Reading of passages from Old Babylonian and Standards Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. 3. The Hurrian language Hurrian in the Near Eastern linguistic scenario; Hurrian and Urartian; the main grammatical features; the Hurro-Akkadian dialect. Reading of passage from the Letter of Mittani (EA 24). This part of the course is supported by a 10-hour Seminario didattico with translation exercises of Hurrian texts (Letter of Mittani, poem Song of Release). Attending the seminar is mandatory for students of the Near Eastern curriculum and strongly recommended for all other students. The texts analyzed in class will be read in transliteration. Students who are not interested in parts 2 and 3 of the course and in learning the Akkadian and Hurrian languages ​​are asked to contact the teacher to arrange an alternative reading program.