REL 301 Ancient Near Eastern Religions & Cultures

Origins

Reading questions for January 22 and 24:

As you read the assignment, consider the following issues:

1. How did the political histories of early Near Eastern cultures seem to influence the form and themes of their literatures?

2. Do you detect similarities in literary theme, structure, or form between texts from different ancient cultures (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Ugaritic, Israelite)?

3. Can you detect cultural differences that seem to mark off Egyptian literatures from Mesopotamian or Ugaritic or Biblical texts?