Law and Ethics in the Ancient Near East (Spring 2020)

This page has information on my Spring 2020 offering of the course, and is under construction. Check back for updates.

Spring 2020 Reading List:

• Laws of Ur-Namma (Wikipedia | Ancient History Encyclopedia)
• Laws of Lipit-Ishtar (Wikipedia)
• Laws of Eshnunna (Wikipedia)
• Laws of Hammurabi (Wikipedia) | Text at Avalon Project | Ancient History Encyclopedia)
  
• Middle Assyrian Laws
• The Covenant Code (Exodus)
• The Holiness Code (Leviticus)
• The Ten Commandments (Exodus | Hebrew and English text | Wikipedia)
• The Ritual Decalogue (Exodus 34:11–26 | Hebrew and English text | Wikipedia)
• The Instruction of Ptahhotep
• The Instruction Addressed to King Merikare
• The Eloquent Peasant
• The Instruction of Amenemope
• Aḥiqar
• Proverbs (selections)
• Psalms (selection)
• The Book of Amos
  
• Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
• The Community Rule (aka Serekh ha-Yahad aka 1QS | Images | Wikipedia)
• The Sermon on the Mount
• The Epistle to the Galatians
• The Epistle of James
• The Ethics of the Fathers (aka Pirkei Avot)
  
• The Shepherd of Hermas (selection)
• The Didache (Wikipedia)

Course description:
This course traces the history of a question through several ancient civilizations: how should we live our lives, as individuals and as members of a society? We will read legal, ethical, and wisdom texts from ancient Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia, and Israel (Hebrew Bible), as well as several classics of early Judaism and Christianity, including selections from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Apocrypha, the New Testament, rabbinic literature, and Christian patristic literature. The course counts toward the Phronesis minor.