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REL 301 Paper Topics Assignment: For each paper, find another ancient Near Eastern text older than the 4th century BCE that deals in some way with one of the main topics of this course (see lists in the next paragraph). This must be a text not assigned on the class syllabus. You must then compare this text with those assigned readings on the same topic (both from the anthologies and from the other textbooks and web readings) to determine how including this text changes one's evaluation of the interaction of religion with ancient culture. Each new text you introduce must be placed in its proper historical and geographic context and your conclusions about the interaction between religion and culture must be framed historically by reference to the assigned readings on ancient history. Write a 6-10 page research paper on the basis of this comparison. Topics: For the First Paper
(due March 25th in class), the topics that the texts must address will
involve one of the following areas: art, music, history, landscape, politics,
justice, prophets and/or economic relationships and transactions. For the Second
Paper (due April 24th in class), the topics that the texts must address
will involve one of the following areas: human nature, love and gender,
education and wisdom, magic, prayer, death and afterlife. General Instructions: Both papers must be properly documented using
either in-text references in parentheses or footnotes, and must include a
bibliography citing all works consulted. You should minimize your use of
quotations, but ALL quotations that remain must appear inside quotation marks
and be followed by citation of the source. ALL ideas gathered from other
sources and presented in your own words (i.e. "paraphrased") must
also cite their sources. The papers must be typed and carefully proof-read
for spelling and grammatical errors. |
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Anthologies of Ancient Texts
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