The Age of Empires: The Ancient Near East in the First Millennium BC

The first millennium BC saw a series of empires vying for control of the Near East: the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, and the Greeks of Alexander the Great and his successors. The course will explore the political, social and cultural history of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East under these empires, using evidence drawn from archaeology and ancient texts (in translation).