Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations


Faculty List

Professors Emeriti
A. K. Grayson, MA, PhD, FRSC
R. J. Leprohon, MA, PhD
A. Pietersma, BD, PhD
D. B. Redford, MA, PhD, FRSC
J. A. Reilly, MA, PhD
R. F. G. Sweet, MA, PhD

Associate Professors Emeriti
H. Dajani-Shakeel, MA, PhD
L. Garshowitz, MA, PhD
B. T. Lawson, MA, PhD
L. S. Northrup, MA, PhD
R. Sandler, MA, PhD

Assistant Professor Emerita
A. Porter, MA, PhD

Senior Lecturer Emeritus
R. T. Lutz, MA

Associate Professor and Chair 
M.-A. Pouls Wegner, PhD 

Professors
P.-A. Beaulieu, MA, PhD, FRSC
H. Fox, MS, PhD
A. Harrak, MA, PhD
T. P. Harrison, MA, PhD
R. D. Holmstedt, MA, PhD
S. Metso, MA, DTh (UTM)
W. Saleh, MA, PhD
J. Schipper, PhD
M. E. Subtelny, PhD
M. Tavakoli-Targhi, MA, PhD (UTM)

Associate Professors
H. D. Baker, MPhil, DPhil
K. Goebs, MA, DPhil
J. P. Hanssen, MPhil, DPhil (UTM)
T. Meacham, MA, PhD
J. Miller, MA, PhD
N. Moumtaz, MA, PhD
V. Ostapchuk, PhD
E. Raffaelli, MA, PhD (UTM)
C. Reichel, MA, PhD

Associate Professors, Teaching Stream
A-K. Ali, MA, PhD
A. Hojatollah Taleghani, MA, PhD

Assistant Professors
H. Bahoora, MA, PhD
L. Hare, PhD
R. Kana'an, PhD
M. B. Methodieva, MA, PhD
A. A. Razzaque, MA, PhD
L. Welton, PhD
A. Zakar, MA, PhD

Assistant Professors, Teaching Stream
A. Ali, MA, PhD
G. Mercan, MPhil, DPhil

FEZANA Professor
M. Á. Andrés-Toledo, PhD

Royal Ontario Museum (Status Only)
L. V. Golombek, MA, PhD, FRSC, Professor Emerita
K. A. Grzymski, MA, PhD, Associate Professor
R. Mason, MA, PhD, Associate Professor
F. Suleman, MSt, DPhil, Assistant Professor
K. Sunahara, MA, PhD, Assistant Professor

Introduction

The Department is concerned with the interdisciplinary study of the civilizations and cultures of the Near and Middle East from Neolithic times until the present, including their archaeology, history, mythology, religion and thought, art and architecture, and language and literature (Akkadian, Ancient Egyptian, Arabic, Aramaic, Coptic, Ge’ez, Hebrew, Persian, Sumerian, Syriac, and Turkish). The Department’s programs provide students with a unique opportunity to study non-Western complex societies and civilizations.

The term Near East has been used in scholarship to refer to the region of Southwest Asia at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, including the Levant, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Anatolia, from ancient times until the advent of Islam in the seventh century AD. The term Middle East refers to a broader geographical area stretching from North Africa to West and Central Asia. Although Islam became the predominant religious culture and remains so to the present day, the Middle East has been home to many religious communities, including Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and others. And while Arabic functioned as the interlanguage in much the same way as Latin did in the Christian West, many other languages and cultures (notably Persian and Turkish) contributed to the formation of Islamic civilization.

The Department welcomes students of all academic backgrounds who wish to learn about the Near and Middle East. Many courses do not require knowledge of the languages of the region. However, the Department strongly believes that a deeper understanding of the cultures of the Near and Middle East can be achieved through the study of one or more of its languages.

Additional information about programs and courses offered in a particular year, as well as about the NMC Students’ Union, can be found on the Department’s website: www.nmc.utoronto.ca. Undergraduate enquiries should be directed to the Associate Chair, Undergraduate, Bancroft Building, 4 Bancroft Ave., Rm. 200 (nmc@utoronto.ca).

Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Programs

Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Specialist (General) (Arts Program) - ASSPE1019

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

Completion Requirements:

(11.0 credits, including at least 4.0 credits at the 300+ level, of which 1.0 credit must be at the 400-level.)

At least 9.0 credits must be NMC and/or NML courses. Others may be taken only from a list of pre-approved courses offered by other departments.

1. First Year: 1.0 credit from NMC101H1/​ NMC102H1/​ NMC103H1/​ NMC104H1.

2. 4.0 credits in one or two primary source languages (with NML designator) from among the following languages: Akkadian, Ancient Egyptian, Arabic, Aramaic, Coptic, Ge'ez, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac, Turkish.

3. Higher years: 3.0 credits from NMC241H1, NMC245H1, NMC248H1, NMC267H1, NMC270H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC278H1, NMC280H1, NMC281H1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1 NMC342H1, NMC343H1, NMC344H1, NMC346H1, NMC347H1, NMC355H1, NMC356H1, NMC358H1, NMC359H1, NMC365H1, NMC370H1, NMC372H1, NMC373H1, NMC375H1, NMC376H1, NMC378H1, NMC379H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC446H1, NMC447H1, NMC449H1, NMC452H1, NMC454H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC473H1, NMC475H1, NMC476H1, NMC477H1, NMC478H1, NMC479H1 (History & Society courses) and JHM307H1, JMH385H1, JRN301H1, NMC247H1, NMC254H1, NMC257H1, NMC271H1, NMC284H1, NMC289H1, NMC330H1, NMC331H1, NMC380H1, NMC381H1, NMC384H1, NMC484H1 (Religion & Thought courses).

2.0 credits from NMC260H1, NMC261Y0, NMC262H1, NMC263H1, NMC264H1, NMC265H1, NMC266H1, NMC267H1, NMC268H1, NMC360H1, NMC361H1, NMC364H1, NMC365H1, NMC366H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC369H1, NMC398Y0, NMC445H1, NMC461H1, NMC462H1, NMC463H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC466H1, NMC467H1, NMC468H1, NMC469Y1, NMC470H1, NMC474H1 (Archaeology courses) and NMC243H1, NMC244H1, NMC246H1, NMC251H1, NMC252H1, NMC253H1, NMC255H1, NMC256H1, NMC258H1, NMC259H1, NMC315H1, NMC316H1, NMC350H1, NMC351H1, NMC352H1, NMC353H1, NMC354H1, NMC357H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC396H1, NMC450H1, NMC480H1, NMC491H1 (Art, Architecture, & Literature courses).

4. 1.0 credit of NMC or NML courses or those from a list of pre-approved courses offered by other departments.

Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Specialist (Ancient) (Arts Program) - ASSPE2665

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

Completion Requirements:

(11.0 credits, including at least 4.0 credits at the 300+ level, of which 1.0 credit must be at the 400-level.)

At least 9.0 credits must be NMC and/or NML courses. Others may be taken only from a list of pre-approved courses offered by other departments.

1. First Year: 1.0 credit from NMC101H1/​ NMC102H1/​ NMC103H1/​ NMC104H1.

2. 4.0 credits in one or two primary source languages (with NML designator) from among the following languages: Akkadian, Ancient Egyptian, Aramaic, Coptic, Ge'ez, Hebrew (Biblical, Middle), Persian (Old Persian, Avestan, Pahlavi), Syriac.

3. Higher years:

3.0 credits from NMC245H1, NMC248H1, NMC267H1, NMC270H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC343H1, NMC344H1, NMC346H1, NMC347H1, NMC359H1, NMC365H1, NMC370H1, NMC446H1, NMC447H1, NMC449H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1 (History & Society courses) and JRN301H1, NMC247H1, NMC254H1, NMC257H1, NMC289H1, NMC330H1, NMC331H1, NMC380H1 (Religion & Thought courses).

2.0 credits from NMC260H1, NMC261Y0, NMC262H1, NMC263H1, NMC264H1, NMC265H1, NMC266H1, NMC267H1, NMC268H1, NMC360H1, NMC361H1, NMC364H1, NMC365H1, NMC366H1, NMC369H1, NMC398Y0, NMC445H1, NMC461H1, NMC462H1, NMC463H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC466H1, NMC467H1, NMC468H1, NMC470H1, NMC474H1 (Archaeology courses) and NMC246H1, NMC251H1, NMC252H1, NMC253H1, NMC259H1, NMC351H1, NMC352H1, NMC450H1, NMC480H1, NMC491H1 (Art, Architecture, & Literature courses).

4. 1.0 credit in Medieval or Modern stream courses or those from a list of pre-approved courses offered by other departments.

Medieval Stream:
NMC255H1, NMC256H1, NMC258H1, NMC259H1, NMC261Y0, NMC264H1, NMC270H1, NMC271H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC280H1, NMC281H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1, NMC342H1, NMC350H1, NMC353H1, NMC354H1, NMC357H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC372H1, NMC374H1, NMC375H1, NMC376H1, NMC384H1, NMC385H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC396H1, NMC399Y1, NMC454H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC469Y1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC480H1, NMC484H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1, JHM307H1

Modern Stream:
NMC195H1, NMC198H1, NMC241H1, NMC243H1, NMC244H1, NMC261Y0, NMC264H1, NMC270H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC278H1, NMC284H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC315H1, NMC316H1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1, NMC353H1, NMC355H1, NMC356H1, NMC358H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC372H1, NMC373H1, NMC378H1, NMC379H1, NMC381H1, NMC384H1, NMC385H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC399Y1, NMC452H1, NMC454H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC473H1, NMC475H1, NMC476H1, NMC477H1, NMC478H1, NMC479H1, NMC480H1, NMC484H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1, JMH385H1

Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Specialist (Medieval) (Arts Program) - ASSPE2667

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

Completion Requirements:

(11.0 credits, including at least 4.0 credits at the 300+ level, of which 1.0 credit must be at the 400-level.)

At least 9.0 credits must be NMC and/or NML courses. Others may be taken only from a list of pre-approved courses offered by other departments.

1. First Year: 1.0 credit from NMC101H1/​ NMC102H1/​ NMC103H1/​ NMC104H1.

2. 4.0 credits in one or two primary source languages (with NML designator) from among the following languages: Arabic, Aramaic, Coptic, Ge'ez, Hebrew (Biblical, Middle), Persian, Syriac, Turkish.

3. Higher years:

3.0 credits from NMC270H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC280H1, NMC281H1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1, NMC342H1, NMC372H1, NMC375H1, NMC376H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC454H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1 (History & Society courses) and JHM307H1, NMC271H1, NMC289H1, NMC330H1, NMC331H1, NMC384H1, NMC385H1, NMC484H1 (Religion & Thought courses).

2.0 credits from NMC261Y0, NMC264H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC469Y1 (Archaeology courses) and NMC255H1, NMC256H1, NMC258H1, NMC259H1, NMC350H1, NMC353H1, NMC354H1, NMC357H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC396H1, NMC480H1 (Art, Architecture, & Literature courses).

4. 1.0 credit in Ancient or Modern stream courses or those from a list of pre-approved courses offered by other departments.

Ancient Stream:
NMC196H1, NMC197H1, NMC199H1, NMC245H1, NMC246H1, NMC247H1, NMC248H1, NMC251H1, NMC252H1, NMC253H1, NMC254H1, NMC257H1, NMC259H1, NMC260H1, NMC261Y0, NMC262H1, NMC263H1, NMC264H1, NMC265H1, NMC266H1, NMC267H1, NMC268H1, NMC270H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC330H1, NMC331H1, NMC343H1, NMC344H1, NMC346H1, NMC347H1, NMC351H1, NMC352H1, NMC359H1, NMC360H1, NMC361H1, NMC362Y1, NMC364H1, NMC365H1, NMC366H1, NMC369H1, NMC370H1, NMC380H1, NMC382Y1, NMC398Y0, NMC399Y1, NMC445H1, NMC446H1, NMC447H1, NMC449H1, NMC450H1, NMC461H1, NMC462H1, NMC463H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC466H1, NMC467H1, NMC468H1, NMC470H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC474H1, NMC480H1, NMC491H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1, JRN301H1

Modern Stream:
NMC195H1, NMC198H1, NMC241H1, NMC243H1, NMC244H1, NMC261Y0, NMC264H1, NMC270H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC278H1, NMC284H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC315H1, NMC316H1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1, NMC353H1, NMC355H1, NMC356H1, NMC358H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC372H1, NMC373H1, NMC378H1, NMC379H1, NMC381H1, NMC384H1, NMC385H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC399Y1, NMC452H1, NMC454H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC473H1, NMC475H1, NMC476H1, NMC477H1, NMC478H1, NMC479H1, NMC480H1, NMC484H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1, JMH385H1

Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Specialist (Modern) (Arts Program) - ASSPE2669

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

Completion Requirements:

(11.0 credits, including at least 4.0 credits at the 300+ level, of which 1.0 credit must be at the 400-level.)

At least 9.0 credits must be NMC and/or NML courses. Others may be taken only from a list of pre-approved courses offered by other departments.

1. First Year: 1.0 credit from NMC101H1/​ NMC102H1/​ NMC103H1/​ NMC104H1.

2. 4.0 credits in one or two primary source languages (with NML designator) from among the following languages: Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish.

3. Higher years:

3.0 credits from NMC241H1, NMC270H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC278H1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1, NMC355H1, NMC356H1, NMC358H1, NMC372H1, NMC373H1, NMC378H1, NMC379H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC452H1, NMC454H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC473H1, NMC475H1, NMC476H1, NMC477H1, NMC478H1, NMC479H1 (History & Society courses) and JMH385H1, NMC284H1, NMC289H1, NMC330H1, NMC331H1, NMC381H1, NMC384H1, NMC484H1 (Religion & Thought courses).

2.0 credits from NMC261Y0, NMC264H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1 (Archaeology courses) and NMC243H1, NMC244H1, NMC315H1, NMC316H1, NMC353H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC480H1 (Art, Architecture, & Literature courses).

4. 1.0 credit in Ancient or Medieval stream courses or those from a list of pre-approved courses offered by other departments.

Ancient Stream:
NMC196H1, NMC197H1, NMC199H1, NMC245H1, NMC246H1, NMC247H1, NMC248H1, NMC251H1, NMC252H1, NMC253H1, NMC254H1, NMC257H1, NMC259H1, NMC260H1, NMC261Y0, NMC262H1, NMC263H1, NMC264H1, NMC265H1, NMC266H1, NMC267H1, NMC268H1, NMC270H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC330H1, NMC331H1, NMC343H1, NMC344H1, NMC346H1, NMC347H1, NMC351H1, NMC352H1, NMC359H1, NMC360H1, NMC361H1, NMC362Y1, NMC364H1, NMC365H1, NMC366H1, NMC369H1, NMC370H1, NMC380H1, NMC382Y1, NMC398Y0, NMC399Y1, NMC445H1, NMC446H1, NMC447H1, NMC449H1, NMC450H1, NMC461H1, NMC462H1, NMC463H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC466H1, NMC467H1, NMC468H1, NMC470H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC474H1, NMC480H1, NMC491H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1, JRN301H1

Medieval Stream:
NMC255H1, NMC256H1, NMC258H1, NMC259H1, NMC261Y0, NMC264H1, NMC270H1, NMC271H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC280H1, NMC281H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1, NMC342H1, NMC350H1, NMC353H1, NMC354H1, NMC357H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC374H1, NMC375H1, NMC376H1, NMC384H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC396H1, NMC399Y1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC469Y1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC480H1, NMC484H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1, JHM307H1

Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Major (General) (Arts Program) - ASMAJ1019

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

Completion Requirements:

(6.0 credits including at least 2.0 credits at the 300+ level, of which 1.0 credit must be at the 400-level)

At least 5.0 credits must be NMC and/or NML courses. 1.0 credit may be taken from a list of pre-approved courses offered by other departments or in consultation with the Undergraduate Coordinator.

1. First Year: 0.5 credit from NMC101H1/​ NMC102H1/​ NMC103H1/​ NMC104H1.

2. Higher years:

3.0 to 4.0 credits from any NMC courses

1.0 to 2.0 credits in language (NML courses)

Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Major (Ancient) (Arts Program) - ASMAJ2665

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

Completion Requirements:

(6.0 credits including at least 2.0 credits at the 300+ level, of which 1.0 credit must be at the 400-level)

At least 5.0 credits must be NMC and/or NML courses. 1.0 credit may be taken from a list of pre-approved courses offered by other departments or in consultation with the Associate Chair.

1. First Year: 0.5 credit from NMC101H1/​ NMC102H1/​ NMC103H1/​ NMC104H1.

2. Higher years:

2.0 to 3.0 credits from Group A and 1.0 credit from Group B/Group C.

1.0 to 2.0 credits in Ancient Stream languages: Akkadian, Ancient Egyptian, Aramaic, Coptic, Ge'ez, Hebrew (Biblical, Middle), Persian (Old Persian, Avestan, Pahlavi), Syriac.

Group A (Ancient Stream)
JRN301H1, NMC196H1, NMC197H1, NMC199H1, NMC245H1, NMC246H1, NMC247H1, NMC248H1, NMC251H1, NMC252H1, NMC253H1, NMC254H1, NMC257H1, NMC259H1, NMC260H1, NMC261Y0, NMC262H1, NMC263H1, NMC264H1, NMC265H1, NMC266H1, NMC267H1, NMC268H1, NMC270H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC330H1, NMC331H1, NMC343H1, NMC344H1, NMC346H1, NMC347H1, NMC351H1, NMC352H1, NMC359H1, NMC360H1, NMC361H1, NMC364H1, NMC365H1, NMC366H1, NMC369H1, NMC370H1, NMC380H1, NMC398Y0, NMC399Y1, NMC445H1, NMC446H1, NMC447H1, NMC449H1, NMC450H1, NMC461H1, NMC462H1, NMC463H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC466H1, NMC467H1, NMC468H1, NMC470H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC474H1, NMC480H1, NMC491H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1

Group B (Medieval Stream)
NMC255H1, NMC256H1, NMC258H1, NMC259H1, NMC261Y0, NMC264H1, NMC270H1, NMC271H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC280H1, NMC281H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1, NMC342H1, NMC350H1, NMC353H1, NMC354H1, NMC357H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC372H1, NMC374H1, NMC375H1, NMC376H1, NMC384H1, NMC385H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC396H1, NMC399Y1, NMC454H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC469Y1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC480H1, NMC484H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1, JHM307H1

Group C (Modern Stream)
NMC195H1, NMC198H1, NMC241H1, NMC243H1, NMC244H1, NMC261Y0, NMC264H1, NMC270H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC278H1, NMC284H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC315H1, NMC316H1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1, NMC353H1, NMC355H1, NMC356H1, NMC358H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC372H1, NMC373H1, NMC378H1, NMC379H1, NMC381H1, NMC384H1, NMC385H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC399Y1, NMC452H1, NMC454H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC473H1, NMC475H1, NMC476H1, NMC477H1, NMC478H1, NMC479H1, NMC480H1, NMC484H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1, JMH385H1

Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Major (Medieval) (Arts Program) - ASMAJ2667

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

Completion Requirements:

(6.0 credits including at least 2.0 credits at the 300+ level, of which 1.0 credit must be at the 400-level)

At least 5.0 credits must be NMC and/or NML courses. 1.0 credit may be taken from a list of pre-approved courses offered by other departments or in consultation with the Associate Chair, Undergraduate.

1. First Year: 0.5 credit from NMC101H1/​ NMC102H1/​ NMC103H1/​ NMC104H1.

2. Higher years:

2.0 to 3.0 credits from Group B and 1.0 credit from Group A/Group C.

1.0 to 2.0 credits in Medieval Stream languages: Arabic, Aramaic, Coptic, Hebrew (Biblical, Middle), Persian, Syriac, Turkish.

Group A (Ancient Stream)
NMC196H1, NMC197H1, NMC199H1, NMC245H1, NMC246H1, NMC247H1, NMC248H1, NMC251H1, NMC252H1, NMC253H1, NMC254H1, NMC257H1, NMC259H1, NMC260H1, NMC261Y0, NMC262H1, NMC263H1, NMC264H1, NMC265H1, NMC266H1, NMC267H1, NMC268H1, NMC270H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC330H1, NMC331H1, NMC343H1, NMC344H1, NMC346H1, NMC347H1, NMC351H1, NMC352H1, NMC359H1, NMC360H1, NMC361H1, NMC362Y1, NMC364H1, NMC365H1, NMC366H1, NMC369H1, NMC370H1, NMC380H1, NMC382Y1, NMC398Y0, NMC399Y1, NMC445H1, NMC446H1, NMC447H1, NMC449H1, NMC450H1, NMC461H1, NMC462H1, NMC463H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC466H1, NMC467H1, NMC468H1, NMC470H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC474H1, NMC480H1, NMC491H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1, JRN301H1

Group B (Medieval Stream)
JHM307H1, NMC255H1, NMC256H1, NMC258H1, NMC259H1, NMC261Y0, NMC264H1, NMC270H1, NMC271H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC280H1, NMC281H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1, NMC342H1, NMC350H1, NMC353H1, NMC354H1, NMC357H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC372H1, NMC375H1, NMC376H1, NMC384H1, NMC385H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC396H1, NMC399Y1, NMC454H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC469Y1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC480H1, NMC484H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1

Group C (Modern Stream)
NMC195H1, NMC198H1, NMC241H1, NMC243H1, NMC244H1, NMC261Y0, NMC264H1, NMC270H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC278H1, NMC284H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC315H1, NMC316H1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1, NMC353H1, NMC355H1, NMC356H1, NMC358H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC372H1, NMC373H1, NMC378H1, NMC379H1, NMC381H1, NMC384H1, NMC385H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC399Y1, NMC452H1, NMC454H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC473H1, NMC475H1, NMC476H1, NMC477H1, NMC478H1, NMC479H1, NMC480H1, NMC484H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1, JMH385H1

Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Major (Modern) (Arts Program) - ASMAJ2669

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

Completion Requirements:

(6.0 credits including at least 2.0 credits at the 300+ level, of which 1.0 credit must be at the 400-level)

At least 5.0 credits must be NMC and/or NML courses. 1.0 credit may be taken from a list of pre-approved courses offered by other departments or in consultation with the Associate Chair, Undergraduate.

1. First Year: 0.5 credit from NMC101H1/​ NMC102H1/​ NMC103H1/​ NMC104H1.

2. Higher years:

2.0 to 3.0 credits from Group C and 1.0 credit from Group A/Group B.

1.0 to 2.0 credits in Modern Stream languages: Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish.

Group A (Ancient Stream)
NMC196H1, NMC197H1, NMC199H1, NMC245H1, NMC246H1, NMC247H1, NMC248H1, NMC251H1, NMC252H1, NMC253H1, NMC254H1, NMC257H1, NMC259H1, NMC260H1, NMC261Y0, NMC262H1, NMC263H1, NMC264H1, NMC265H1, NMC266H1, NMC267H1, NMC268H1, NMC270H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC330H1, NMC331H1, NMC343H1, NMC344H1, NMC346H1, NMC347H1, NMC351H1, NMC352H1, NMC359H1, NMC360H1, NMC361H1, NMC362Y1, NMC364H1, NMC365H1, NMC366H1, NMC369H1, NMC370H1, NMC380H1, NMC382Y1, NMC398Y0, NMC399Y1, NMC445H1, NMC446H1, NMC447H1, NMC449H1, NMC450H1, NMC461H1, NMC462H1, NMC463H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC466H1, NMC467H1, NMC468H1, NMC470H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC474H1, NMC480H1, NMC491H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1, JRN301H1

Group B (Medieval Stream)
NMC255H1, NMC256H1, NMC258H1, NMC259H1, NMC261Y0, NMC264H1, NMC270H1, NMC271H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC280H1, NMC281H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1, NMC342H1, NMC350H1, NMC353H1, NMC354H1, NMC357H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC374H1, NMC375H1, NMC376H1, NMC384H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC396H1, NMC399Y1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC469Y1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC480H1, NMC484H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1, JHM307H1

Group C (Modern Stream)
JMH385H1, NMC195H1, NMC198H1, NMC241H1, NMC243H1, NMC244H1, NMC261Y0, NMC264H1, NMC270H1, NMC274H1, NMC275H1, NMC276H1, NMC277H1, NMC278H1, NMC284H1, NMC289H1, NMC299Y1, NMC315H1, NMC316H1, NMC340H1, NMC341H1, NMC353H1, NMC355H1, NMC356H1, NMC358H1, NMC367H1, NMC368H1, NMC372H1, NMC373H1, NMC378H1, NMC379H1, NMC381H1, NMC384H1, NMC386H1, NMC388H1, NMC389H1, NMC394H1, NMC395H1, NMC399Y1, NMC452H1, NMC454H1, NMC464H1, NMC465H1, NMC471H1, NMC472H1, NMC473H1, NMC475H1, NMC476H1, NMC477H1, NMC478H1, NMC479H1, NMC480H1, NMC484H1, NMC495Y1, NMC496H1, NMC497H1, NMC499Y1

Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Minor (Arts Program) - ASMIN1019

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

Completion Requirements:

4.0 credits, including at least 1.0 credit at the 300+ level. All 4.0 credits must be NMC and/or NML courses.


Faculty of Arts & Science Language Citation

The Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations participates in the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Language Citation for Arabic, modern Hebrew, Persian, Turkish, Biblical Hebrew, and Ancient Egyptian. The study of languages is a demanding and intellectually rewarding educational experience that provides access to the varieties of human culture and expression. The Language Citation requires the completion of 3.0 credits and recognizes a significant level of achievement in the advanced study of a language.

The Citation in Arabic is available to students who, having completed the introductory course in Arabic (NML110Y1 or the equivalent prerequisite training), earn a grade of at least B- in two additional credits in Arabic language (NML210Y1, NML310Y1, or NML410Y1).

The Citation in modern Hebrew is available to students who, having completed the introductory courses in modern Hebrew (NML155H1 and NML156H1 or the equivalent prerequisite training), earn a grade of at least B- in two additional credits in modern Hebrew language (NML255H1, NML256H1, NML355H1, and NML356H1).

The Citation in Persian is available to students who, having completed the introductory Persian language course (NML260Y1 or the equivalent prerequisite training), earn a grade of at least B- in two additional credits in Persian language/literature (NML360Y1, NML460H1NML461H1, NML462H1, NML463H1NML466H1, NML467H1, or NML468H1).

The Citation in Turkish is available to students who, having completed the introductory course in Turkish (NML270Y1 or the equivalent prerequisite training), earn a grade of at least B- in two additional credits in Turkish language (NML370Y1, NML371H1, and NML470Y1).

The Citation in Biblical Hebrew is available to students who, having completed the introductory course in Biblical Hebrew (NML250Y1 or the equivalent prerequisite training), earn a grade of at least B- in two additional credits in Biblical Hebrew language (NML350H1, NML351H1, NML450H1, and NML459H1).

The Citation in Ancient Egyptian is available to students who, having completed the introductory course in Ancient Egyptian (NML240Y1 or the equivalent prerequisite training), earn a grade of at least B- in two additional credits in Ancient Egyptian language/literature (NML340Y1, NML440H1, NML441H1, and NML442Y1).

Students should note that, as explained in the About Programs of Study section of this Calendar, the Language Citation is not equivalent to an academic program for purposes of degree completion; however, language courses taken as part of the Requirements for an NMC Program of study may count towards a Language Citation in the relevant language(s).

Regarding Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Courses

Not all courses are taught every year. Please check the Faculty of Arts & Science Timetable for the list of courses offered in 2023–2024. Courses with the designator NML indicate courses devoted to the study of the languages of the Near and Middle East (at Introductory, Intermediate, and Advanced levels), as well as courses that study texts written in the original languages. The Department reserves the right to place students in the course level best suited to their linguistic preparation.

First-Year Foundations Courses

First-Year Foundations Seminars are open only to newly-admitted Faculty of Arts & Science students. They offer the opportunity to explore interesting and often controversial topics in a small-group setting with professors who are among the Faculty’s leading scholars. Students engage in academically rigorous discussions and develop strong written and oral communication skills in the process. The Department offers six FYF Seminars on topics ranging from the ancient to the modern. First-Year Foundations Seminars:

  • Count as 0.5 of the 20.0 credits required for an Hon BA, Hon BSc or BCom.
  • First-Year Foundations Seminars may count towards your Program. Please check with your college registrar or the NMC Department for further details.
  • Can be counted towards the breadth requirement.

For the list of NMC First-Year Foundations Seminars see the Faculty of Arts & Science Calendar.

Gateway Courses

These courses are designed to introduce students to the major civilizations and cultures of the Near and Middle East—ancient, medieval, and modern—and to present students with the range of possibilities for further study in their chosen area of interest. These courses provide an opportunity for students to improve their writing skills under the supervision of the Writing Integrated Teaching (WIT) program of the Faculty of Arts & Science. Students pursuing any one of the NMC Specialist Programs are required to take two of these Gateway courses, whereas students opting to do any one of the Major Programs are required to take only one.

Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Courses

NMC First-Year Foundations

NMC195H1 - Rebels, Misfits, and Outcasts in Modern Arabic Literature

NMC195H1 - Rebels, Misfits, and Outcasts in Modern Arabic Literature
Previous Course Number: NMC242H1
Hours: 36S

This course examines modern Arabic literary texts that portray marginalized social figures and groups who have been excluded from a protective system of resources and privileges. Students will read novels and short stories by prominent Arab authors who have represented marginal social groups in their fiction, including representations of the urban poor, the peasantry, the delinquent, the prostitute, sexual minorities, women who reject normative roles, and the political rebel. These fictional texts address issues such as political resistance and rebellion, economic precarity, and social exclusion. Students will engage with these texts by critically examining the role of literature in narrating unspoken and suppressed histories. The class will also introduce students to theoretical modes of literary analysis and interpretation. All texts will be read in English translation. Authors include Mohamed Choukri, Hanan al-Shaykh, Alifa Rifaat, Sonallah Ibrahim, and Arwa Salih. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Exclusion: NMC242H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC196H1 - Law and Order in the Ancient Near East

NMC196H1 - Law and Order in the Ancient Near East
Hours: 24S

Are human beings basically evil or good? What creates order in society? Coercion? Religion? Can societies operate without law? This course explores different systems of authority and control through ancient texts, focusing on the very first ideas of law in human history. We examine actual law codes, court cases on real estate disputes and conspiracy to commit murder and rape, as well as alternative means of regulating communities such as ideology, ritual and magic. While most courses on ancient law approach the topic from the perspective of modern concerns, this course situates the first law in its own historical, social and political context. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC197H1 - Myth and History in the Bible

NMC197H1 - Myth and History in the Bible
Hours: 24S

Reading the Bible is easy, but reading it well isn’t. Should we read its stories as history? All of it? Or perhaps only part of it? If so, which parts? And if some parts aren’t meant to be read as history, then what are they? Was Jonah really swallowed by a large fish? Did the sun and moon stand still for Joshua? Did Moses really part the Red Sea? Did Jesus really raise Lazarus from the dead? Are miracles necessarily fiction? In this seminar, we will read together many of the most colourful stories of the Bible, sometimes alongside similar stories from the cultural context of ancient Israel, and discuss what genre (history, myth, legend, folktale) they belong to and how this affects our reading of these texts. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC198H1 - Iranian Women Reveal Their Lives: The First Generation

NMC198H1 - Iranian Women Reveal Their Lives: The First Generation
Hours: 24S

Persian women born in the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century were products of a period of major social and cultural change. For the first time, an educated female could envision a life beyond the conservative ideal of a woman's proper place in the home. We will use memoirs of women who were able to contribute to Iranian society and interviews with women whose ambitions were inhibited or repressed by the dominance of patriarchal culture. Poems by women of this early generation vividly reveal both anger and hopes for the future. Memories of a Persian Childhood helps us to appreciate the important role of the family and childhood experience in the lives and ambitions of the first generation of Persian women to be unveiled and have access to a modern education. Both the Course Readings and Seminar Discussions are crucial to this course for exploring Persian women as individuals who grappled with the challenge of government initiatives and social conservatism. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC199H1 - Babylon: Fact vs. Fiction

NMC199H1 - Babylon: Fact vs. Fiction
Hours: 24S

The ancient city of Babylon, now a vast archaeological site in Iraq about 100km south of Baghdad, has captured people’s imagination up to this day. Who has not heard of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Biblical Tower of Babel, or the sci-fi TV series Babylon 5? Yet, how much of that reflects the reality of ancient Babylon? This course will explore the city of Babylon through its texts and archaeology and contrast this data with the way the city has been remembered over the past two thousand years. However, the goal of the course is not only to investigate how myths about Babylon have been constructed throughout the centuries. It will also look at the shortcomings of contemporary academic research on Babylon, and how difficult it is to reconstruct humankind's distant past. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

JRN199H1 - Exodus and Enslavement

JRN199H1 - Exodus and Enslavement
Hours: 24S

Popular conceptions of enslavement in North America have influenced how we frequently imagine enslavement in Exodus and related biblical and related texts from the ancient Near East. Yet, depictions of enslavement in these ancient texts may be strikingly different from our ideas of enslavement in North America. This course explores similarities and differences between enslavement in these different historical contexts. It also examines how biblical texts were utilized in debates over and revolts against enslavement primarily in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew is required. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

Gateway Courses

NMC101H1 - Land of the Pharaohs

NMC101H1 - Land of the Pharaohs
Hours: 24L/12T

Egypt is one of the oldest known civilizations on the African continent. Deeply embedded within early African history, Egypt was also inextricably linked with the history of many civilizations in the Ancient Near East. From pyramids to mummies and from King Tut to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the course will trace the history of ancient Egypt from its foundation around 3050 BCE to its incorporation into the Roman Empire in the 1st Century BCE. The focus will be on various aspects of Egyptian culture, including the institution of kingship, the role of women, and the characteristic features of Egyptian art, literature, and religion. Emphasis will be placed on the methods by which knowledge about this ancient civilization can be obtained.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC102H1 - Heartland of Ancient Empires

NMC102H1 - Heartland of Ancient Empires
Hours: 24L/12T

Mesopotamia and the ancient Near East—the area of modern Iraq and adjacent regions—witnessed the rise of the first cities in the fourth millennium BC and the emergence of the world’s first empires in the first millennium BC. This course traces Mesopotamian history from the beginnings of agriculture through to the earliest cities, following the trajectory of political development from city states, to territorial states, and finally to the great empires of Assyria, Babylonia, and Achaemenid Persia and their aftermath. It studies the peoples and polities of the ancient Near East, including the Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. It also examines their cultural contributions, from the development of cuneiform writing to their achievements in law, administration, science, art and architecture, religion, and literature.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC103H1 - The Islamic World

NMC103H1 - The Islamic World
Hours: 24L/12T

A broad introduction to Islam, including the history, culture, and religion of the people and places that came to be influenced by Islam and that constitute a world civilization. What makes something (an empire or state, or a work of art or music) Islamic? When and how did that which we think of today as Islamic come about? How has “the Islamic” changed over time? With these questions in mind, this course introduces students to major figures, events, themes, institutions, and intellectual currents in Islamic history, from its beginnings in the 7th century to the modern period. Key topics to be covered include the rise and spread of Islam, the Qur’an and the role of Arabic, political thought, law and society, and literary and artistic expressions. Attention is paid to the geographical and ethno-linguistic scope of the Muslim world, demonstrating the diversity of peoples and traditions that make up Islamic civilizations.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC104H1 - The Biblical World

NMC104H1 - The Biblical World
Hours: 24L/12T

Examine the history, lands, peoples, religions, literatures and cultures that produced the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Topics to be covered include an overview of the geography and history of Ancient Israel and Judea, the role of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages, the literary genres reflected in biblical and some contemporary non-biblical texts, and the scholarly methods by which the Bible is studied.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

Culture and Civilization Courses

NMC241H1 - Anthropology of the Middle East

NMC241H1 - Anthropology of the Middle East
Hours: 24L

This course aims to familiarize students with the anthropological study of the contemporary Middle East. It introduces key questions and concepts for anthropological study: who speaks for the Middle East? What is culture? What is ethnography? It analyzes systems of power and exclusion, and everyday life and relations in countries like Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Kuwait. The course will provide critical perspectives on gender, religion, family relations, national belonging, migrant workers, and refugees. Students will apply anthropological methods learned in class to do an independent project.

Exclusion: RLG355H1
Recommended Preparation: NMC278H1/ ANT207H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC243H1 - The Arabic Novel

NMC243H1 - The Arabic Novel
Hours: 24L

This course focuses on the origins and development of the novel genre in the modern Arabic literary tradition. The course examines the aesthetic qualities of the novel as an artistic form as well as the ways it has represented and intervened in the modern social, political, and cultural upheavals that have shaped the Arabic-speaking world from the mid 19th century to the 21st century. Students will read literary criticism that addresses the Arabic novel’s emergence and consolidation as a major literary form and will engage with contemporary methods of literary analysis and interpretation. Topics addressed in the course include textual representations of colonialism and post-colonialism, gender and sexuality, representations of the peasantry, the nation-state and Arab nationalism, and discourses of progress and modernity. Authors include Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, Yahya Haqqi, Naguib Mahfouz, Tayeb Salih, Latifa al-Zayyat, Mohamad Choukri, and Hanan al-Shaykh. Readings of novels and criticism in English translation.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC244H1 - The Arab Spring and Cultural Production

NMC244H1 - The Arab Spring and Cultural Production
Hours: 24L

This course examines the Arab revolutions that began in 2011 and their ongoing repercussions through the lens of cultural production. How have Arab writers and artists contributed to and reflected upon the Arab revolutions known as the Arab Spring? How has cultural production mediated the demands, aspirations, and struggles of the Arab peoples during and after these transformative revolutionary struggles? The cultural texts examined in this course range from those that mediate the euphoric optimism heralded by the revolutions to those that narrate and reflect upon the dystopian aftermath after revolutionary failure, including fiction and art that considers the reassertion of authoritarian rule, the violence of civil war, and the homelessness of exile. Through novels, poetry, music, art, and film, the course will broadly consider the role of culture as an alternative mode of narrating and historicizing the Arab revolutions.

Prerequisite: 3.0 credits at the 100-level
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC245H1 - Women in the Ancient Near East

NMC245H1 - Women in the Ancient Near East
Hours: 24L

The course examines written and archaeological sources to discuss the status and role of women in the ancient Near East, focusing in particular on the first millennium BCE.

Recommended Preparation: NMC101H1, NMC102H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC246H1 - Sumerian and Babylonian Literature in Translation

NMC246H1 - Sumerian and Babylonian Literature in Translation
Hours: 24L

This course explores some of the world’s oldest literature, including the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Babylonian Epic of Creation. It surveys the major literary genres from ancient Mesopotamia, including epics, myths, lyrical poetry, wisdom literature, and humorous tales. It covers literary compositions written in the Sumerian and Babylonian languages using the cuneiform script, ranging in date from the third millennium BC through to the first millennium BC. The course also examines the scholarly and cultural context in which these works were created and preserved for posterity, including the role of scribal training, the nature of Mesopotamian scholarship, royal sponsorship, and the formation of ancient libraries.

Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC247H1 - The Intellectual History of the Ancient Near East

NMC247H1 - The Intellectual History of the Ancient Near East
Hours: 24L

Survey of the intellectual life in the Ancient Near East from the emergence of writing in Mesopotamia and Egypt at the end of the third millennium BCE until the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Covers issues of orality vs. literacy, state and scribal control, notions of progress, origins and purpose of knowledge, as well as areas such as taxonomy of the natural world, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, divination.

Recommended Preparation: NMC101H1, NMC102H1, or NMC104H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC248H1 - Ancient Bureaucracies

NMC248H1 - Ancient Bureaucracies
Hours: 24L

Where were taxes first collected? When was the first receipt issued? What did the first account ledgers look like? This course offers an introduction to the development of early bureaucracies in ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq), Iran and Syria. Find out how accounting procedures evolved after 6,500 BC, from closing storage containers in Neolithic villages with seals and sealings to complex recording procedures in urban settings that ultimately led to the development of writing on clay tablets around 3,100 BC. Learn how different patterns of irrigation in river-based agricultural societies such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China led to similar yet distinct systems of resource management and administration, using different writing materials (e.g. clay tablets, papyrus) based on available raw materials. And see how bureaucratic procedures, while helping to maximize efficiency in an ancient society, could also create a lack of flexibility, ultimately leading to political decline or collapse.

Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC251H1 - Voices from Ancient Egypt

NMC251H1 - Voices from Ancient Egypt
Hours: 24L

This course introduces students to the culture of ancient Egypt through the study of “functional” textual materials. After a brief introduction to the Ancient Egyptian language and writing system, we will read texts from domestic, religious (comprising funerary and ritual), historical, and scientific backgrounds to paint a rich picture of the daily life and experiences of the ancient Egyptians. By way of example, we will illustrate Egyptian funerary beliefs on the basis of texts found in tombs, such as autobiographies, offering formulae, and letters left there for the dead by their families; or the role of the pharaoh for the Egyptian state by studying monumental inscriptions left on temple walls, boundary stelae, and in the tombs of the Egyptian elite. No knowledge of Ancient Egyptian required; all texts read in translation.

Recommended Preparation: NMC101H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC252H1 - Hebrew Bible

NMC252H1 - Hebrew Bible
Hours: 24L

An introduction to the critical study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and the related literature of ancient Jewish communities (Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls). English translations used; no knowledge of Hebrew is required.

Recommended Preparation: NMC104H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC253H1 - Egyptian Myths

NMC253H1 - Egyptian Myths
Hours: 24L

This course explores ancient Egyptian mythical writings and representations, starting with the myths contained in the Pyramid Texts of the 3rd millennium BCE and ending with the narrative mythical tales of the 1st millennium BCE and beyond. Definitions and theories of ancient Egyptian myth as well as historical developments will be discussed, and we will attempt to explain why religious beliefs and stories changed. The course is structured systematically, focusing in particular on mythical accounts that elucidate Egyptian cosmic, royal, and funerary beliefs as well as the intersection of these domains. All texts read in translation.

Recommended Preparation: NMC101H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC254H1 - The Mummy: Technology and Transformation

NMC254H1 - The Mummy: Technology and Transformation
Hours: 24L

This course explores the significance of mummies in contexts ranging from ancient Egyptian to modern, tracing the development of Egyptian mummification techniques and the roles and uses of mummies as transformative elements allowing access to the afterlife, sources of information about ancient individuals, characters in literature and film, and objects for display in museums.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NMC255H1 - Love, Battle, and Wit: Classics of Premodern Arabic Literature

NMC255H1 - Love, Battle, and Wit: Classics of Premodern Arabic Literature
Hours: 24L

This course surveys the premodern Arabic literary heritage, from pre-Islamic poetry to literature of the Mamluk period, focusing on texts that remained influential sometimes until the present day. Students read classic works in translation each week, while discussion focuses on social context and close reading. Throughout, we note the development of literary forms over time, and the way authors reference previous works. Readings include: the animal fable book Kalila wa Dimna, excerpts from anecdote collections (adab), multilingual Andalusi songs (muwashshah), the linguistically playful trickster tales called maqamat, an obscene shadow play by Ibn Daniyal, popular epic, and some of the most famous poems by Labid, Jarir, Abu Nuwas, Abu Tammam, al-Mutanabbi, and Ibn Nubata.

Recommended Preparation: 1.0 credit in Humanities/BR=1 or 2
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC256H1 - 1001 Nights Around the World

NMC256H1 - 1001 Nights Around the World
Hours: 24L

The 1001 Nights has had many lives, in many languages, and across many media. This course starts off with a detailed reading, in translation, of one of the oldest surviving Arabic versions of the text, with consideration of its literary and social context, and its sources. We then move forward in time to examine how the 1001 Nights was expanded, adapted, and disseminated from then until today. A key transformation moment occurred between 1704-1717 with the publication of Antoine Galland’s French version, composed with the input of Syrian storyteller Hanna Diab. This version was widely disseminated and became a basis for most subsequent modern adaptations. We consider adaptations both before and after this turning point, including manuscripts, translations, novels, ballets, short stories, and films produced around the world. Throughout, we consider the politics and aesthetics of these historical translations, adaptations, and transformations.

Recommended Preparation: 1.0 credit in Humanities/BR=1 or 2
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC257H1 - Vice and Virtue in Biblical Traditions

NMC257H1 - Vice and Virtue in Biblical Traditions
Hours: 24L

This course examines the formation and development of ancient Jewish literary traditions, centering around complex narrative and poetic figures such as Eve, Abraham, Moses, David, Esther, Job, and Lady Wisdom. Traditions to be studied will be selected from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and from early Jewish interpretive writings: the apocrypha, pseudepigrapha, and Dead Sea Scrolls.

Exclusion: NMC277H1 (Topics in Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations: Valor and Failure in Biblical Traditions), offered in Fall 2019
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NMC258H1 - The Book of Kings: Persian Myth, History, and Art

NMC258H1 - The Book of Kings: Persian Myth, History, and Art
Hours: 24L

The Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, is the single most important book in Iranian national culture and one of the great epics of world literature. Composed in Persian by the poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th–early 11th centuries, it had a deep and lasting impact not only on Iran, but also on those cultures that came under the influence of Persian language, literature, and courtly traditions. The course examines, in English translation, the Shahnameh’s presentation of the history of the mythical dynasties of the ancient kings of Iran from the creation of the world to the Sasanians, the last historical dynasty to rule Iran before the Muslim Arab conquests. As the Shahnameh was frequently illustrated, attention will also be devoted to the manuscript tradition, which exhibits some of the finest examples of medieval Persian painting.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC259H1 - Literature of Ancient and Late Antique Iran

NMC259H1 - Literature of Ancient and Late Antique Iran
Hours: 24L

This course explores the most important texts of the Zoroastrian literature of ancient and late antique Iran and serves as a broad introduction to the mythical and ritual world of Zoroastrianism and the contours of pre-Islamic Iranian thought. The course is divided into two parts: a) Old Iranian literature, such as the Avestan religious literature and the Old Persian inscriptions, and b) Middle Persian (Pahlavi) literature, including epic poetry (Chronicle of Ardakhshir, narrating the deeds of the first Sasanian king), didactic and wisdom literature (Memorial of the Vizier Wuzurgmihr; Explanation of Chess and Backgammon), apocalyptic and visionary literature (Book of the Righteous Wiraz, describing his journey to heaven and hell), texts on cosmology (Primordial Creation), and encyclopaedic works (Acts of the Zoroastrian Religion), as well as specimens of Manichaean literature in Middle Iranian languages. All readings are in English translation.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC260H1 - Why the Ancient Near East? Investigating the Great Transformations in Pre- and Proto- History

NMC260H1 - Why the Ancient Near East? Investigating the Great Transformations in Pre- and Proto- History
Hours: 48L

This is an experiential course that asks what it would have been like for people in the ancient Near East as their world underwent the profound changes wrought by domestication, farming, urbanism, and state formation. We focus on the sensory experiences of the body, and their effect upon the mind, by reconstructing and using spaces and objects that have come to define the archaeological periods from 10,000 to 2500 BCE. From circular communal buildings and the constraints and possibilities they offer, to replastering skulls and making hand-held figurines, to the performance of a ritual text, we link traditional teaching with walking a mile in ancient footwear. Participation in this course requires an active imagination and a willingness to get physical.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC261Y0 - Field Archaeology

NMC261Y0 - Field Archaeology

Participation for 4 - 7 weeks during the summer in an approved archaeological excavation in the eastern Mediterranean/Middle East. This experience is then critiqued in a previously assigned essay researched and written under guidance upon return. Departmental permission is required in December-February prior to the fieldwork. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC262H1 - Why the Ancient Near East? The Historic Periods

NMC262H1 - Why the Ancient Near East? The Historic Periods
Hours: 48L

From 2500 to 333 BCE, the ancient Near East saw the world’s first empire, the birth of international diplomacy, burgeoning sea-trade and piracy, perennial warfare and the emergence of new ethnic identities like the Philistines and Israelites. Explore the archaeological evidence for these events in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia and the Levant.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC263H1 - The Archaeology of Gods, Ghosts, Witches and Demons

NMC263H1 - The Archaeology of Gods, Ghosts, Witches and Demons
Hours: 24L

This class investigates archaeological traces of human interaction with the supernatural world in the ancient Near East, including figurines, temples, skulls, statues, and cylinder seals. In order to contextualize different ways of thinking about other worlds, we also look at cross-cultural comparisons ranging from Africa to the Americas.

Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NMC264H1 - The Archaeology of Stuff

NMC264H1 - The Archaeology of Stuff
Previous Course Number: NMC369Y1
Hours: 24L

Discover how the structure of animal skin enables the making of leather and tattoos; why mighty kings boasted about tree-cutting expeditions; how chariots, stirrups, and gunpowder changed the very structure of contemporary societies; why spears are better than swords. Understand and appreciate the materials in the world around you.

Exclusion: NMC369Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC265H1 - Archaeology in War Zones: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan

NMC265H1 - Archaeology in War Zones: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan
Hours: 24L

Focusing on Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, this course raises some controversial issues in coming to grips with the impact of war on retrieving, interpreting, and preserving the past. Find out the many ways we can work to preserve the history and culture of places at risk, now and in the future.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC266H1 - Archaeologies of Power

NMC266H1 - Archaeologies of Power
Hours: 36L

Who were the first powerful leaders? How did they portray themselves, and what was the source and basis of their power? This course provides a comprehensive survey of the origins and rise of political leadership in the Near East from its beginnings in the Neolithic period to the famous kings and military leaders of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylon. Sources consulted include archaeological data (architecture, monuments, narrative art) as well as historical sources. The course is intended as an introduction to a broader understanding of the mechanisms that result in the formation of political power structures. Although it focuses on the ancient Near East, the course will discuss parallels from other parts of the world, both ancient and modern, that are relevant to understanding manifestations of political power in our present-day world.

Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC267H1 - Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt

NMC267H1 - Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt
Hours: 24L/12T

The course focuses on lived experience for people from many different socio-economic levels in ancient Egypt. Through the analysis of archaeological and mortuary evidence, artifacts, and human, animal, and plant remains we will explore the daily lives of Egyptians over time as the natural, social and technological landscape changed, posing questions such as what they ate, how they made things, what kinds of social connections they formed, how they defined their identities, what kind of houses and village, town, or urban settings they lived in, what things they feared, how they died, and what they might have believed. We will look at remains from settlements like Hierakonpolis, Abydos, Giza, Kahun, Tell el-Dab'a, Amarna, Deir el-Medina, and Thebes in detail to understand aspects of the lives of the people who inhabited them.

Exclusion: NMC362Y1
Recommended Preparation: NMC101H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC268H1 - Data Science Applications in Archaeology

NMC268H1 - Data Science Applications in Archaeology
Hours: 12L/12P/12S

Digital technology and the growth of “big data” are transforming not only the ways in which archaeologists present and communicate their research, but also increasingly the ways they collect and analyze data. This course uses underlying concepts from the emerging field of data science and helps students develop hands-on skills in various critical techniques in archaeological data analysis and modelling, focusing on case studies from the Near East.

Prerequisite: 3.0 credits at the 100-level.
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC270H1 - Christians of the Middle East

NMC270H1 - Christians of the Middle East
Hours: 24L

The course will introduce students to the Christian communities living in the Middle East since the distant past, identified by ecclesiastical and or ethnic terms, including Armenian, Copt, Greek-Melkite, Maronite, and Syriac. The course will discuss the plurality of their cultural, literary, and theological traditions, the social and intellectual roles of their monasteries, the contributions of their top religious authorities in diplomacy between Byzantium and the Sassanians, their position in the Islamic world and contributions to Islamic culture, philosophy, sciences, and theology, interreligious dialogues and polemics with Islam.

Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC271H1 - The Sufi Tradition in Islam

NMC271H1 - The Sufi Tradition in Islam
Hours: 24L

The history of asceticism and mysticism in the Islamic tradition, with particular attention to the formative period as well as the breadth and diversity of Sufism across the Islamic world, from West Africa and Spain, to the Balkans and Central Asia, to China and Southeast Asia. We begin with the origins of the piety movement in early Islam, and the ways in which it responded to late antique Christian monasticism. We then examine the emergence of classical Sufism in the 9th century, its basic concepts and practices, the rise of saints, the formation of Sufi orders, the social and cultural context for key developments, as well as the reasons for the contested legacy of Sufism in the modern world. Major figures for discussion include Rabi'a, Junayd, Hallaj, Ghazali, Ibn Arabi, and Rumi.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NMC274H1 - The Turks in History: From Nomads of the Steppe Frontier to Islamic Rulers

NMC274H1 - The Turks in History: From Nomads of the Steppe Frontier to Islamic Rulers
Hours: 24L

The course examines the roles of Turks and other primarily nomadic peoples as raiders, migrants, slave-soldiers, and empire-builders in the ancient and medieval history of Eurasia (including Central Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe) and in the formation of the Islamic world. Topics covered include long-distance economic and cultural contacts (“silk roads”) facilitated by “steppe empires”; the Islamization of the Turks and their gradual takeover of Iranian, Arab, and other Muslim lands; lifeways (especially pastoral nomadism); the relationship between nomadic and sedentary societies; political structures; steppe warfare; the role of physical geography and the environment. Students explore the histories and landscape geographies of Turks through fascinating primary sources and internet resources. The course illustrates the key role that Turks played in the formation of the modern world on the Eurasian continent.

Exclusion: NMC274Y1
Recommended Preparation: NMC103H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC275H1 - The Mongol Empire and the World It Made

NMC275H1 - The Mongol Empire and the World It Made
Hours: 24L

Most of Eurasia (the Middle East, East and South Asia, Eastern Europe) was once incorporated into the Mongol Empire and greatly influenced by Mongol rule. It may be said that the beginnings of modern history on the Eurasian continent were shaped by the impact of the Mongols and their non-Mongol (mainly Turkic) partners. This course explores the history of the pan-Eurasian empire founded by Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan) in the 13th century and the smaller empires into which it devolved: Yuan China-Mongolia, Chaghatayid Mongolia-Central Asia, Ilkhanid Iran-Anatolia, and the Golden Horde Eastern Europe-Western Siberia. The course also surveys various post-Mongol successor states, such as the Timurid and Mughal Empires, and the Kazakh, Uzbek, and Crimean Tatar Khanates, as well as touches upon important non-Chinggisid successor polities, such as Muscovy-Russia and Slavic Cossacks. Students explore the history and landscape geographies of the Mongol venture through fascinating primary sources and internet resources.

Exclusion: NMC274Y1
Recommended Preparation: NMC103H1, NMC274H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC276H1 - Topics in Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations

NMC276H1 - Topics in Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations

Topics vary from year to year, depending on instructor.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities

NMC277H1 - Topics in Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations

NMC277H1 - Topics in Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations

Topics vary from year to year, depending on instructor.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities

NMC278H1 - Introduction to the Modern Middle East

NMC278H1 - Introduction to the Modern Middle East
Hours: 36L

The emergence of modern states in the Middle East, against a background of empire, world wars, and national and religious movements. Students will learn why the modern map looks the way it does, and how Middle Eastern peoples' self-identifications have changed over the past 200 years.

Recommended Preparation: NMC103H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC280H1 - The Caliphate: Early Islamic History from Ancient Arabia to the Abbasid Empire

NMC280H1 - The Caliphate: Early Islamic History from Ancient Arabia to the Abbasid Empire
Previous Course Number: NMC273Y1
Hours: 24L/12T

The formative period of Islam, including the Prophet and origins of the caliphate. This course surveys the history of the Middle East and its religious, social, and political transformations between late antiquity and the medieval period, from roughly the 6th to the 10th century CE. Starting with the available evidence on pre-Islamic Arabs, we study the making of the Islamic empire from Spain to Central Asia, the early caliphates (Umayyads, Abbasids, and Fatimids), the emergence of competing traditions in Islam (Sunnis, Shi‘is, and Ibadis), and other developments of enduring significance. Particular attention is paid to primary sources and scholarly debates on the challenges of early Islamic historiography.

Exclusion: NMC273Y1
Recommended Preparation: NMC103H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC281H1 - Islamic History from the Crusades to Slave Sultans

NMC281H1 - Islamic History from the Crusades to Slave Sultans
Previous Course Number: NMC273Y1
Hours: 24L/12T

The medieval Islamic world from the decline of the early empire and the fall of Baghdad to the flourishing commonwealth during the lifetime of Ibn Khaldun. This course surveys key developments in religion, politics, and society across the Middle East from the 11th century up to the 15th century CE. Starting with the situation on the eve of the Crusades, we trace broader patterns in Islamic history through the emergence of various sultanates (including the dynasty of Salah al-Din Ayyubi and the Mamluks) as well as regional dynamics from North Africa and Spain in the West to Iran and India in the East.

Exclusion: NMC273Y1
Recommended Preparation: NMC103H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC284H1 - Judaism and Feminism: Legal Issues from Menstruation to Ordination

NMC284H1 - Judaism and Feminism: Legal Issues from Menstruation to Ordination
Hours: 24L

Agitation for change exists in religious practice worldwide in areas of access, status, inclusion, and egalitarianism. Traditional religion is often in conflict with egalitarian modernity. This sometimes results in difficulties with religious identification. This course will explore the interaction between feminism and Judaism. We will examine how Jewish law (halakhah) sometimes conflicts with ideas of egalitarianism particularly in legal disabilities for women such as divorce, lack of access to high-level Torah study, and discrimination in public religious roles. The traditional exemption of women from the obligation of Torah study had great impact on women’s religious responsibility and status. Various movements within Judaism competed in efforts to resolve these difficulties. In this course we will consider to what extent inclusion and egalitarianism have become complementary to traditional Judaism.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NMC289H1 - Introduction to Coptic Studies

NMC289H1 - Introduction to Coptic Studies
Hours: 24L

Overview of the history of the Copts from political, religious, social and economic perspectives. Literary and documentary sources will illustrate these different aspects of Coptic Civilization. The focus on Coptic Monasticism will underline the role of monasteries as conservers of the Coptic Orthodox Church tradition.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

JRN301H1 - Disability in the Hebrew Bible and Related Texts

JRN301H1 - Disability in the Hebrew Bible and Related Texts
Hours: 24L

The Hebrew Bible (sometimes called the Old Testament) has influenced ideas about disability in societies across the globe for thousands of years. Yet, notions of disability in the Hebrew Bible may be strikingly different from what we might imagine. This course explores how some biblical texts and related ancient literature conceptualize disability in relation to issues of ethnicity, sexuality, beauty, age, social class, religious expression and so on. We will examine a number of these issues both in their ancient context and in some more recent interpretations of the Hebrew Bible. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew is required.

Prerequisite: Completion of 4.0 credits
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

JHM307H1 - Islamic Legal History: Formation and Encounters

JHM307H1 - Islamic Legal History: Formation and Encounters
Hours: 24L

This course examines the formation and encounters of Islamic Law with Legal Others from roughly the 8th century CE to the early formation of the Ottoman Empire. The Islamic legal tradition arose in a complex historical context in which legal traditions mapped onto, and gave legal cover to, imperial polities. As the Islamic polity expanded, so too did the imagination of jurists having to contend with new realities (political, geographic, economic, and otherwise). This course will introduce students to the formation of Islamic law in a context of contending legal orders, its ongoing encounters with legal orders in the course of Islamic expansion, and the retraction of Islamic legal orders and institutions as a tradition that anticipated political sovereignty experienced the limits of that sovereignty. Examples will be drawn from the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and South East Asia. The course will introduce students to the disciplinary focus of Law and History through a focus on doctrine, institution, and the implications on both as territory and people are subject to varying waves of imperial designs and local resistance.

Prerequisite: HIS268H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC315H1 - The Structure of Arabic Language

NMC315H1 - The Structure of Arabic Language
Previous Course Number: NML315H1
Hours: 24L

This course investigates formal properties of Arabic language. It provides students with an in-depth knowledge of the grammar of the language focussing on the areas of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and the interaction between phonology and morphology.

Prerequisite: NML210Y1 or LIN100Y1, or permission of the instructor
Exclusion: NML315H1
Recommended Preparation: LIN229H1, LIN232H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC316H1 - Cultural Encounter in Arabic Narrative

NMC316H1 - Cultural Encounter in Arabic Narrative
Hours: 36S

This course examines historical and literary texts that narrate Muslim and Arab encounters with cultural difference. Students will read travel narratives, autobiographies, and fictional texts that chronicle encounters with the Arab-Islamic world’s cultural “others.” The course first examines travel narratives from the medieval Islamic period, including al-Sirafi’s travels to India and China, and Ibn Fadlan’s encounters with peoples inhabiting lands north of the Abbasid Empire, such as the Vikings. Students then consider how travel narratives in the modern period are transformed due to radical changes in the balance of power between Europe and the Middle East, first reading 19th-century travel narratives to Paris (al-Tahtawi), and then focusing on 20th-century texts that narrate the travels of Arab men and women to Europe and North America (Leila Ahmed, Sayyid Qutb, Nawal El Saadawi). Students will also read texts that depict encounters with non-Arabs within the modern Arab world, such as literary depictions of American oil workers in the Arab Gulf (Munif). All readings are in English translation.

Prerequisite: 3.0 credits in BR 1/BR 2
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC330H1 - King David: Musician, Monarch, or Murderer?

NMC330H1 - King David: Musician, Monarch, or Murderer?
Hours: 24L

For many people, King David is one of the most beloved characters in the Bible. But where did our ideas about David come from? Was he a brilliant poet who wrote many of the Psalms, a youthful champion who defeated the giant Goliath or as a ruthless monarch capable of killing his political opponents? This course will explore attempts to reconstruct the historical David from various biblical texts, comparable ancient literature, and what historians know (and don’t know) about the time in which his story is set. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew is required.

Prerequisite: 4.0 credits at the 200-level
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NMC331H1 - Samson: Lover, Liar, lion-slayer

NMC331H1 - Samson: Lover, Liar, lion-slayer
Hours: 24L

Over the centuries, Samson has captured the imagination of countless scholars, artists, and poets. Although often stereotyped as little more than a thoughtless strong man prone to violent outbursts, he is actually one of the most complex and enigmatic characters in the Bible. This course will explore biblical depictions of this often misunderstood figure and his complicated relationships with his family, his lovers, and his enemies. We will analyze his story within its ancient historical context and in some more recent interpretations. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew is required.

Prerequisite: 4.0 credits at the 200-level
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NMC340H1 - History of Late Antique & Early Islamic Iran

NMC340H1 - History of Late Antique & Early Islamic Iran
Previous Course Number: NMC348Y1
Hours: 24L

The political, religious, and cultural history of greater Iran from Late Antiquity to the Mongol invasions in the early 13th century. The course surveys the reigns of the kings of the Sasanian empire (3rd–7th centuries); traces the progress of the Muslim Arab conquests in the mid-7th century that resulted in the Persian empire’s collapse and the gradual Islamization of its population; and examines the subsequent formation of regional Iranian dynasties that were instrumental in the creation of a new Perso-Islamic cultural identity.

Exclusion: NMC348Y1
Recommended Preparation: NMC280H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC341H1 - Safavid Iran: Reign of the Shahs

NMC341H1 - Safavid Iran: Reign of the Shahs
Previous Course Number: NMC348Y1
Hours: 24L

The course focuses on the period of the Safavid dynasty (16th–18th centuries) which represented a watershed in the history of Iran not only because of its adoption and promotion of Shi‘ism as the state religion, but also on account of its fostering an imperial court culture that patronized the arts and architecture. The reigns of the Safavid shahs will be examined from the point of view of their political, religious, economic, and cultural history, as well as their relationship to the polities that immediately preceded them and their interactions with the contemporary Muslim states they neighboured, in particular, the Ottomans in the west and the Mughals in the east.

Exclusion: NMC348Y1
Recommended Preparation: NMC274H1, NMC340H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC342H1 - History & Sources of Egyptian Monasticism

NMC342H1 - History & Sources of Egyptian Monasticism
Hours: 24L

Presents an historical overview on the origins of Egyptian monasticism based on written sources. Comparison of written sources with archaeological artifacts reveals the relation between spiritual and material aspects of monastic life. Literary sources produced for different monastic orders -- such as sermons, canons and biographies -- will be studied.

Recommended Preparation: NMC289H1/ NMC368H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC343H1 - Farmers to Pyramid Builders: Cultural and Political History of Ancient Egypt I

NMC343H1 - Farmers to Pyramid Builders: Cultural and Political History of Ancient Egypt I
Hours: 24L/12T

Exploration of the primary archaeological, architectural, and inscriptional sources, questioning and analyzing ideas about Egypt's development from farming communities at the dawn of history to an early state that built great pyramids for its kings, collapsed into civil war, and grew to become a colonizing power in the Middle Kingdom.

Prerequisite: 5.0 credits in any field or 1.0 credit in NMC
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC344H1 - Hyksos Subjects to Empire Builders: Cultural and Political History of Ancient Egypt II

NMC344H1 - Hyksos Subjects to Empire Builders: Cultural and Political History of Ancient Egypt II
Hours: 24L/12T

Exploration of the primary archaeological, architectural, and inscriptional sources, questioning interpretations and analyzing how Egypt confronted foreign domination and developed into a major empire in the New Kingdom under Thutmose III, Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, and Ramesses II, then fragmented politically in the Third Intermediate Period and ultimately became a colony itself.

Prerequisite: 5.0 credits in any field or 1.0 credit in NMC
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC346H1 - Ancient Mesopotamia I: Sumerians and Akkadians

NMC346H1 - Ancient Mesopotamia I: Sumerians and Akkadians
Hours: 24L

The political and cultural history of the peoples of ancient South-Western Asia from 3000 BCE to the destruction of Babylon by the Hittites ca. 1600 BCE. (Offered in alternate years)

Prerequisite: 3.0 credits in Humanities/BR= 1 or 2
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC347H1 - Ancient Mesopotamia II: Assyrians and Babylonians

NMC347H1 - Ancient Mesopotamia II: Assyrians and Babylonians
Hours: 24L

This course traces the political development and cultural history of Mesopotamia, from the territorial states of the Late Bronze Age to the world’s first empires in the 1st millennium BC, those of Assyria, Babylonia, and Achaemenid Persia. It also traces the subsequent history of Mesopotamia through the Seleucid and early Parthian eras, down to the end of cuneiform writing around the end of the 1st millennium BC. The course emphasizes the critical analysis of primary written sources (in translation) for reconstructing the history of the peoples of Mesopotamia. It also examines their achievements in literature, science and scholarship, and art and architecture.

Prerequisite: 3.0 credits in Humanities
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC350H1 - Christian Literature from the Middle East in Translation

NMC350H1 - Christian Literature from the Middle East in Translation
Hours: 24L

Survey of various literary genres from works produced by Armenian, Coptic, Maronite, Melkite, and Syriac authors between the 3rd and the 19th centuries CE. Genres include theology in poetry, biblical commentaries, historiography and chronicles, hagiography, songs and epics, apologetics, and travel accounts.

Prerequisite: NMC270H1
Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC351H1 - Dead Sea Scrolls

NMC351H1 - Dead Sea Scrolls
Hours: 24L

This course provides an examination of the historical and cultural context in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were authored and copied, the types of writings included in the Scrolls, and the ancient Jewish groups behind these texts. It also discusses the significance of the Scrolls for understanding the textual development of the Hebrew Bible, ancient scriptural interpretation, and the thought world of the Jews during the period that gave birth to both Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity. No knowledge of Hebrew or Aramaic is required. (Offered alternate years)

Prerequisite: 9.0 credits
Recommended Preparation: NMC104H1 or NMC252H1, or equivalent in another humanities department
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC352H1 - Ancient Egyptian Literature

NMC352H1 - Ancient Egyptian Literature
Hours: 24L

This course focuses on the analysis of Ancient Egyptian literary texts from a variety of different genres. We will read examples of instructional and wisdom literature, poetry, literary narratives, and mythical tales. Issues such as how to best define terms like “literature” or “genre” for such an ancient culture will be discussed, and we will try to trace the development of literary texts in pharaonic Egypt–from the earliest attestations of coherent prose in the tombs of the Egyptian Old Kingdom (around 2500 BCE), via the full-blown Late Egyptian narratives of the Ramesside Period (around 1200 BCE), to instances of reiterations of the older genres in the Late and Ptolemaic Periods (to about 300 BCE). No knowledge of Ancient Egyptian is required; all texts will be read in translation

Prerequisite: Any 0.5 credit on ancient Egypt offered by academic units within the Faculty of Arts & Science
Recommended Preparation: NMC101H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC353H1 - Possible Worlds: Arabic Speculative Fiction

NMC353H1 - Possible Worlds: Arabic Speculative Fiction
Hours: 24S

This course examines the relationship between political critique and the textual production of possible worlds, taking the Arabic literary canon as its example. Among the key concepts analyzed will be history, time, language, and selfhood. Students will experiment with appropriately using concepts from modern critical theory in the analysis of premodern and modern Arabic literary texts. Readings include Qur’anic apocalyptic suras, the philosophical novel Hayy ibn Yaqzan, Sindbad the Sailor and other travel narratives, al-Maʿarri’s satirical narrative of a visit to the afterlife, trickster tales of the maqama genre. We then turn to the merging of novelistic forms, selfhoods, and conceptions of political organization with those of the maqama in early novels by al-Muwaylihi and al-Shidyaq, ending with contemporary conceptual art and a dystopic novel.

Prerequisite: 4.0 credits in Humanities/BR= 1 or 2
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC354H1 - Abbasid Literature and the Sciences

NMC354H1 - Abbasid Literature and the Sciences
Hours: 24S

This course examines Arabic literary works of the Abbasid empire (750-1258 CE) that engaged with the flourishing study of natural sciences, Greek philosophy, and the philosophies of language and knowledge in the Islamic sciences. Students will read narrative works by Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ, al-Jahiz, Ibn Qutayba, al-Tanukhi, al-Tawhidi, ʿAbd al-Latif al-Baghdadi, as well as poetry dealing with scientific and philosophical concepts. Students will ask how (and whether) Abbasid authors differentiated between the categories of literature, science, beauty, knowledge, and narrative, and how they imagined interactions between them. All readings are in English translation.

Prerequisite: 3.0 BR= 1/ 2 credits at the 200+ level
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC355H1 - Ottoman Empire: The Age of Reform

NMC355H1 - Ottoman Empire: The Age of Reform
Hours: 24L

The course examines the history of the Ottoman Empire beginning with the inauguration of the first Western-inspired reforms at the end of the 18th century until the empire’s dissolution over the course of World War I. It explores the transformation of Ottoman politics, society, and intellectual and cultural life during a period marked by active reform efforts and increasing contacts with the West, which had an impact on the empire’s diverse populations. Topics include the Nizam-i Cedid (New Order), the Tanzimat, the Hamidian era, the Young Turk revolution, constitutionalism, women, and the emergence of artistic expressions of modernity, such as theatre and painting. The course also provides insights into the Ottoman legacy in modern Turkey, the Middle East, and the Balkans, and seeks to situate the Ottoman experience in a global context.

Prerequisite: 4.0 credits
Recommended Preparation: NMC278H1, NMC377Y1, NMC378H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC356H1 - Anthropology of Islam

NMC356H1 - Anthropology of Islam
Hours: 24L

This course introduces students to studies of contemporary Islam that are based on extensive periods of research with Muslim communities in their own languages using anthropological methods. What do such studies teach us about the varied ways Muslims engage with their religious tradition in the modern world? And how can such studies make us think differently about gender, economy, science, and secularism? We will discuss examples from Nigeria to Somalia, Egypt, Turkey, and Iran, to India, Pakistan, and Indonesia, to Canada, the US, and Europe. Students will apply anthropological methods learned in class to do research among a Muslim community in Toronto or online.

Exclusion: RLG355H1
Recommended Preparation: NMC103H1/ RLG204H1/ NMC241H1/ ANT207H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities, Social Science
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC357H1 - Gender and Sexuality in Premodern Arabic Literature

NMC357H1 - Gender and Sexuality in Premodern Arabic Literature
Hours: 24S

Students read translations of Arabic literary texts composed by women or dealing with gender and sexuality. Class discussion considers debates in the field about how to analyze these texts in their historical context and in a theoretically grounded manner. Topics addressed include: popular and elite narrative representations of gender and sexuality; pre-Islamic and Abbasid poetry and remarks composed by women, and their transmission in male-authored anthologies; hetero- and homoerotic obscenity and eroticism in Arabic poetry, epistles, and scientific texts; and literary representations of sexual minorities like eunuchs, intersex people, and mukhannathūn (people with apparently male biology who dressed and behaved as women, and had a specific social position at certain times).

Recommended Preparation: 4.0 credits in Humanities
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC358H1 - Gender and Sexuality in Modern Middle Eastern Cultures

NMC358H1 - Gender and Sexuality in Modern Middle Eastern Cultures
Hours: 24L

This course examines questions of gender and sexuality in the broader Middle East (Iran, Turkey, and the Arab world) from the colonial period (19th to early 20th centuries) to the present through readings of religious, cultural, historical, visual, and literary texts. We will begin the course by thinking critically about colonial and Orientalist legacies that continue to structure contemporary debates on representations of women, gender, and sexuality in the Middle East and North Africa. Students will read and analyze a range of primary historical texts written by Middle Eastern women reflecting the ways in which women of different backgrounds (religious, class, urban/rural) and generations have conceptualized and inhabited their gendered and sexual identities. Topics students will explore include the development of modern secular and religious feminist thought; cultural representations of gender, sexuality, and queerness; fictional texts that represent non-normative expressions of gender and sexuality; and critical approaches to theorizing gender and sexuality in the Middle East. All readings are in English translation.

Prerequisite: 3.0 credits in Humanities/BR= 1 or 2
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC359H1 - Nomads in the Ancient Near East

NMC359H1 - Nomads in the Ancient Near East
Hours: 24L

Using ancient archaeological and textual sources as well as modern ethnographies and political theories, this class takes a critical look at the role of mobile populations in Near Eastern history from the fourth to first millennium BCE, assessing modern perspectives as well as the ancient evidence.

Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC360H1 - The Archaeology of the Biblical World I: The Bronze Age

NMC360H1 - The Archaeology of the Biblical World I: The Bronze Age
Hours: 24L

The archaeology of Syria-Palestine from prehistoric times until the end of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1200 BCE), with a special emphasis on the development of complex society, and inter-relations with the neighboring regions of Egypt and Syro-Mesopotamia. Attention will also be given to the history of archaeological research in the region, current field techniques and methods of archaeological analysis, and the relationship between archaeological evidence and contemporary written records, including the Hebrew Bible.

Prerequisite: 1.0 credit in Humanities/BR= 1 or 2
Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1/ NMC104H1/ NMC260H1/ NMC262H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC361H1 - The Archaeology of the Biblical World II: The Iron Age

NMC361H1 - The Archaeology of the Biblical World II: The Iron Age
Hours: 24L

The archaeology of Syria-Palestine from the collapse of the Late Bronze Age until the Persian Period, with a special emphasis on the emergence of Israel and the small territorial nation-states of the eastern Mediterranean seaboard. Particular attention will be given to the relationship between the archaeological evidence and contemporary written records, including the Hebrew Bible. 

Prerequisite: 1.0 credit in Humanities/BR= 1 or 2
Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1 or NMC104H1 or NMC260H1 or NMC262H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC364H1 - Art and Archaeology of Syria

NMC364H1 - Art and Archaeology of Syria
Hours: 36S

Discover the wonders of Syria’s past, from 10,000 year-old burials to the world heritage sites of Palmyra and the Citadel of Aleppo. Explore headless skeletons, royal marriages, desert castles and Roman streetscapes.

Prerequisite: 3.0 credits in any field
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC365H1 - Women and Gender in Egyptian Archaeology

NMC365H1 - Women and Gender in Egyptian Archaeology
Hours: 36S

The course explores issues related to gender within the ancient Egyptian context and investigates the activities of women through the study of many different kinds of archaeological and material evidence. We'll build a foundation for this work with an overview of current developments in gender theory and consider their applications for research on ancient Egyptian society and culture. No prior knowledge of theoretical approaches is expected. From this basis, we'll go on to consider how archaeological material can contribute to the understanding of gender roles and examine how excavators may unconsciously impose their own gender perspectives on ancient contexts, creating biased views of ancient societies that become entrenched in scholarly tradition. The same methods of critical analysis will inform our study of women in ancient Egypt, incorporating archaeological data and artifactual material that can inform our understanding of the complex roles that women played in Egyptian culture, society, and religious practice.

Prerequisite: 3.0 credits in BR=1/2/3
Recommended Preparation: NMC101H1 or ( NMC343H1/ NMC344H1) or NMC251H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC366H1 - Archaeology of Mesopotamia I: Rise of Civilization

NMC366H1 - Archaeology of Mesopotamia I: Rise of Civilization
Previous Course Number: NMC363H1
Hours: 36L

A comprehensive survey class on the archaeology of Mesopotamia during prehistoric periods (10,000 – 2300 BC), covering the rise of villages, the Agricultural Revolution, the development of cities, cultic centers, and complex bureaucracy, and the rise of state entities during the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Ages. This class will focus on the area of modern-day Iraq but will also consult materials from western Iran, eastern Syria, and southeastern Turkey.

Prerequisite: NMC102H1
Exclusion: NMC363H1
Recommended Preparation: NMC248H1, NMC262H1, NMC266H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC367H1 - Archaeology & Architecture of Egyptian Monasticism

NMC367H1 - Archaeology & Architecture of Egyptian Monasticism
Hours: 24L

Underlines the role of some Egyptian monasteries as active institutions carrying out numerous economic activities, and reveals the forces that enabled their survival and changing function. Exploration of these rich sites of cultural exchange, as manifested in their architecture and religious art and written material.

Recommended Preparation: NMC260H1, NMC262H1, NMC342H1, NMC368H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC368H1 - Coptic Art & Archaeology

NMC368H1 - Coptic Art & Archaeology
Hours: 24L

A survey of Coptic art, archaeology and architecture. The course will cover aspects of the religious, civil and daily life of the Copts: their houses, religious architecture, funerary monuments, art and artefacts

Recommended Preparation: NMC260H1, NMC262H1, NMC289H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC369H1 - Archaeology of Mesopotamia II: States and Empires

NMC369H1 - Archaeology of Mesopotamia II: States and Empires
Previous Course Number: NMC363H1
Hours: 36L

A comprehensive survey class on the archaeology of Mesopotamia during historic time periods (Sumer, Assyria, and Babylon; 2300 – 333 BC), covering the rise of the Akkadian Empire, the Neo-Sumerian “renaissance” of the Ur III State, Hammurapi’s Babylon, the Late Bronze Age under Kassite and Mittani rule, the rise and dominance of Assyria, and the splendor and fall of Babylon. This class will focus on the area of modern-day Iraq but also will consult materials from western Iran, eastern Syria, and southeastern Turkey.

Prerequisite: NMC102H1
Exclusion: NMC363H1
Recommended Preparation: NMC248H1, NMC262H1, NMC266H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC370H1 - History of Ancient Israel

NMC370H1 - History of Ancient Israel
Hours: 24L

The course is concerned with the political and cultural history of ancient Israel and the Hebrew people from origin stories set in the pre-monarchic period to early Roman Palestine. Israel is the land that bequeathed the Bible, the Jewish people, and hosted the birth of Christianity. Much of its history witnessed hostile interactions with imperial forces, from Babylon to Rome. While the focus is on key people, events, and essential chronology, the course also addresses critical questions concerning the use of sources (primary among which is the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament); differences between ancient history-writing and modern history-writing; and the assumptions and methods involved in reconstructing historical events.

Prerequisite: NMC104H1, NMC252H1
Recommended Preparation: NMC101H1, NMC102H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC372H1 - Islam and Muslims in the Balkans

NMC372H1 - Islam and Muslims in the Balkans
Previous Course Number: HIS306H1
Hours: 24L

The Balkans has been in contact with Islam and inhabited by Muslims for six centuries. Nowadays it is the home of over eight million Muslims of various ethnic backgrounds who constitute the second largest religious group in the region. This course examines the history of Islam, Muslims, and Muslim culture in the Balkans from the Ottoman conquest in the fourteenth century until the present day while placing it in a wider transregional context. Topics covered include formation of Muslim communities, Sufi groups, the Muslims and the Balkan national imagination, responses to modernity, Muslims as minorities, Muslim experiences in communist states, and the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Prerequisite: Any of NMC103H1/ NMC273Y1/ NMC278H1/ NMC377Y1/ NMC355H1/ NMC386H1
Exclusion: HIS306H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC373H1 - Modern Iran

NMC373H1 - Modern Iran
Hours: 24L

This course covers the history of Iran from the early modern period to the present. Following an overview of the Safavid revolution and the empire it created (1501–1722), we examine the political upheavals experienced in post-Safavid Iran throughout the 18th century that culminated in the rise of the Qajar polity. This review of early modern Iranian history will set the stage for our investigation of the defining moments in the modern history of Iran, including the Constitutional Revolution (1905–1911), the subsequent toppling of the Qajar dynasty, and the establishment of Pahlavi rule under Reza Shah. We then focus on the events leading up to and including the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the making of the Islamic Republic. The course concludes with an exploration of society and culture in contemporary Iran.

Recommended Preparation: NMC348Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC375H1 - Conversion to Islam in Medieval History

NMC375H1 - Conversion to Islam in Medieval History
Hours: 24S

How did Islam spread in the world? The question has puzzled historians for years. For centuries after the rise of Islam, much of the Middle East was still largely comprised of diverse communities of non-Muslims. This course on the complex history of “Islamization” examines when, how, and why various societies became majority Muslim, through a close look at case studies and sources from across the medieval world including Spain, North Africa, Central Asia and India. Topics covered include religious tolerance, polemic, cultural assimilation, minority identities, interreligious marriages, children of mixed families, and the contentious issues of apostasy and forced conversion.

Prerequisite: NMC103H1 or NMC273Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC376H1 - History of Islamic Spain and North Africa (640-1492)

NMC376H1 - History of Islamic Spain and North Africa (640-1492)
Hours: 24L

Muslim conquest of North Africa and Spain, history of Spain under Muslim rule to 1492. Attention given to institutional and cultural development, Islamic Spain's relations with the Islamic east and neighbours in Europe.

Prerequisite: NMC273Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC378H1 - Modern Arab History

NMC378H1 - Modern Arab History
Hours: 36L

A thematic treatment of the Arab lands of the Middle East and North Africa from 1700 onward, focusing on the Ottoman and colonial periods.

Prerequisite: NMC278H1 and permission of instructor
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC379H1 - Capital, Technology, and Utopia in the Modern Middle East

NMC379H1 - Capital, Technology, and Utopia in the Modern Middle East
Hours: 12L/12S

How does the workings of capital intersect with technological innovation and political visions in the modern Middle East? This course approaches this question through critical reading in the histories of capitalism, crisis, science, politics, and intersections between cultural history and technology studies using the Middle East as a starting point for the study of global phenomena. We will examine the ways in which constructions like race and ethnicity, gender, and the human/non-human divide have mediated the social and spatial expansion of capital in the region, especially through technological infrastructure and utopias between the late 18th and the 21st centuries.

Prerequisite: 0.5 credit in NMC/HIS/HPS at the 200+ level. Students who do not meet these prerequisites are encouraged to contact the Department.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC380H1 - Religion in the Ancient Near East

NMC380H1 - Religion in the Ancient Near East
Hours: 48S

Primary sources from Mesopotamia, Syria and the Levant reveal profound awareness of the human condition. What do they tell us about religion in the ancient Near East, and why do Judaism, Christianity and Islam share some stories? Takes a critical approach to the ways we read texts and reconstruct beliefs.

Prerequisite: 3.0 credits in any field
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NMC381H1 - Modern Islamic Thought

NMC381H1 - Modern Islamic Thought
Hours: 24L

Survey of major intellectual trends in the Islamic tradition, particularly those identified with Middle Eastern Muslim thinkers, from the early 19th century to the present. Topics include reformism, modernism, hermeneutics, feminism, Islamism, and liberal and progressive trends in contemporary Muslim thought. Readings in English translation.

Prerequisite: NMC103H1
Recommended Preparation: NMC278H1, NMC283Y1, RLG204Y1/ RLG204H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NMC384H1 - Marking Time: Legal Issues and Personal Status in Judaism

NMC384H1 - Marking Time: Legal Issues and Personal Status in Judaism
Hours: 24S

This course will examine certain aspects of status and family law in Judaism, as well as Zoroastrianism, Eastern Christianity, and Islam. We will review some literature in legal theory to test its applicability to religious-based law. Our main topics include virginity (marital age, proof of virginity or its absence, rape or seduction of virgins, economics and theology of virginity); menstrual laws (impurity, punishment, sexuality, purification); mysticism (practitioners, purity requirements, theology); and sexuality (marriageability, prohibited partners, sex acts). Sectarian approaches to these legal issues will be examined, for example, how biblical law is interpreted in Qumran, by the rabbis, and how these topics are addressed by Zoroastrian law, the Eastern Church Fathers and the Four Schools in Islamic law.

Prerequisite: Completion of 4.0 credits in Humanities/BR=1 or 2
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

JMH385H1 - Islamic Law and the Modern State

JMH385H1 - Islamic Law and the Modern State
Previous Course Number: NMC385H1
Hours: 24L

What happens to the shariʿa when it is applied by modern nation-states? This course introduces students to the way states, with Muslim majorities and minorities, from Canada to Malaysia, passing by Nigeria, Palestine, Iran, and Pakistan approach, accommodate, or apply Islamic law. We also discuss the way Muslims, lay and scholarly, talk about, practice, and follow Islamic law under modern states. Based on an examination of law in practice, we will be able to theorize modern transformations of the shariʿa and provincialize the modern state and its legal regime.

Prerequisite: NMC103H1/ RLG204H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NMC386H1 - Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Ottoman Empire

NMC386H1 - Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Ottoman Empire
Hours: 24L

Although ruled by a Muslim dynasty and frequently characterized as an Islamic empire, the Ottoman state was inhabited by diverse religious and ethnic populations, many of them non-Muslim. This course examines how the Ottoman Empire governed and organized its subjects, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, of various ethnic backgrounds. It explores the relations among these communities and their interactions with the state, raising questions about tolerance, co-existence, conflict, loyalty, and identity. By looking into a selection of topics from the wide territorial span of the Ottoman Empire (Anatolia, the Balkans, and the Arab Middle East) the course seeks to provide insights into the organization, functioning, and transformation of a multi-confessional state and society in the premodern and modern eras.

Recommended Preparation: NMC241H1, NMC278H1, NMC355H1, NMC377Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC388H1 - The Rise of the Ottomans

NMC388H1 - The Rise of the Ottomans
Previous Course Number: NMC377Y1
Hours: 24L

A survey of the Ottoman Turks from their late 13th–early 14th century origins on the frontiers of the Seljuk, Mongol, and Byzantine empires to their establishment of an Islamic empire. Topics include the principalities known as beyliks that came into being in Anatolia as the above empires declined, the nature of the early Ottoman beylik, conquests in the Balkans, the destruction of the early Ottoman state by Timur and its rebirth, and Mehmed II’s conquest of Constantinople. Coverage includes Ottoman institutions, economy, society, and culture.

Exclusion: NMC377Y1
Recommended Preparation: NMC280H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC389H1 - The Ottoman Empire in its Classical Age

NMC389H1 - The Ottoman Empire in its Classical Age
Previous Course Number: NMC377Y1
Hours: 24L

A survey of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries. From the victory by Selim I the Grim over Safavid Iran and conquest of Syria and Egypt to the resplendent age of Süleyman the Magnificent to the internal and external challenges that forced transformation or decline. Topics include wars in Europe, the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and with Iran; internally, the rise of the harem and “sultanate of the women,” rebellions in Anatolia, military reform, religious controversies, and art and architecture. The endpoint is the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699) when the expansion of the empire ended.

Exclusion: NMC377Y1
Recommended Preparation: NMC274H1, NMC388H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC394H1 - Persianate Art and Architecture

NMC394H1 - Persianate Art and Architecture
Hours: 24L

Covering art and material culture in the eastern Islamic lands from the late 13th century to the modern period. Objects from the collections of Islamic art in the Royal Ontario Museum will also be studied.

Prerequisite: 1.0 credit from FAH or NMC in medieval art/history/culture
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC395H1 - Iconography of the Art and Material Culture of the Islamic World

NMC395H1 - Iconography of the Art and Material Culture of the Islamic World
Hours: 24S

The art and material culture of the Islamic world is rich in iconography - from Persian paintings to Afghan war rugs - with complex layers of meaning that are not necessarily understood at first glance. Such imagery can be comprehended through numerous lenses, from pre-Islamic concepts and literary themes to politically-driven motivations or religious beliefs and practices. Through a series of case studies of examples of painting, ceramics, metalwork, textiles, and contemporary art, the course examines the meanings behind the iconography on objects from across the Middle East and Central Asia, dating from the medieval period to the present day.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC396H1 - The Art of the Qur’an

NMC396H1 - The Art of the Qur’an
Hours: 24L

The holy Qur’an, believed by Muslims to be the Word of God, has been a source of creative and artistic inspiration for Muslims around the world and through the ages. The language and interpretation of the Qur’an have engaged the minds of artists, craftspeople, and patrons of the arts as much as the minds of theologians and jurists. This course explores expressions of the Qur’an through a wide range of visual and material culture–from illuminated manuscripts to the use of the sacred text on coins, amulets, architecture, ceramics, metalwork, textiles, and modern and contemporary works of art. The course will include visits to the Royal Ontario Museum to examine Qur’ans in its Islamic collection.

Prerequisite: Completion of 4.0 credits in Humanities/BR=1 or 2
Recommended Preparation: Knowledge of Arabic or the Arabic script beneficial though not essential.
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC445H1 - Sacred versus Secular Space: Mesopotamian Architecture in Context

NMC445H1 - Sacred versus Secular Space: Mesopotamian Architecture in Context
Hours: 36L

When and where did the first buildings come about? Learn how some 10,000 years ago, the first permanent dwellings were constructed in the ancient Near East. Discover how the agricultural revolution and the domestication of animals resulted in the formation of villages during the Neolithic period (9,000–5,000 BC) with house types that grew in size and complexity. Observe how religious architecture evolved from simple, household-based cultic installations to large public complexes that dominated cities during the Uruk and Early Dynastic periods (4,000–2,300 BC). See how the rise and manifestation of powerful political leaders is reflected in the development, layout and decoration of their palaces. Beyond a typological approach to architecture, this course will also address challenges created by environmental conditions and limitations in available building materials. While focusing on Mesopotamia and Syria, it will also incorporate examples from Iran, Anatolia and the Levant.

Prerequisite: Students in other areas of study are encouraged to contact the Department.
Recommended Preparation: NMC260H1 or NMC363H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC446H1 - The Babylonian City

NMC446H1 - The Babylonian City
Hours: 24L

Ancient Mesopotamia is well known as the birthplace of some of the world’s earliest cities. This course investigates the physical form of the city in 2nd and 1st millennium BC Babylonia (southern Mesopotamia) as the setting for the daily activities of its inhabitants. It examines the key components of the Babylonian city: houses; neighbourhoods and city districts; palaces; temples and ziggurats; streets and alleys; shops and markets; city walls, gates, and moats, as well as canals, orchards and gardens. The course emphasizes the reading and critical evaluation of written sources in translation, including selected royal inscriptions, topographical texts, and legal and administrative documents. It also considers ways of approaching the study of ancient cities and addresses the integration of textual and archaeological evidence. The focus is on investigating the relationship between Babylonian city form and contemporary social structure.

Prerequisite: 9.0 credits in any field
Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1, NMC346H1/ NMC347H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC447H1 - The Neo-Assyrian Empire

NMC447H1 - The Neo-Assyrian Empire
Hours: 24L

The course offers a detailed introduction to the Neo-Assyrian empire and how it functioned, based on study of a representative selection of written sources (in translation). It examines Assyrian kingship, imperial administration, and daily life as reflected in the texts, including the royal inscriptions, official correspondence, astrological reports, and everyday legal and administrative documents. The course studies a cross-section of Assyrian society taking into account various perspectives, from the king and his highest officials and court scholars to the lowest-ranking subjects and deportees. It also investigates the economic basis of the Assyrian empire, including taxation and tribute, booty from military conquest, specialist craft production, and agriculture. The course emphasizes the historical evaluation and interpretation of the primary written sources.

Prerequisite: 9.0 credits in any field
Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1, NMC346H1/ NMC347H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC449H1 - Mesopotamian Society and Economy

NMC449H1 - Mesopotamian Society and Economy
Hours: 24L

This course presents a thematic overview of Mesopotamian society and economy from the third millennium to the 1st millennium BC. The emphasis is on critical evaluation of the primary sources (in translation), such as everyday legal contracts and the so-called “Laws”. It also explores different approaches to the study of ancient social structures and economies. Topics include: freedom, slavery, and social class; ethnicity; women, children, and the elderly; marriage, family, and household; crime and punishment, and the judicial system; the priesthood; palace and temple, private and state; merchants and trade; money, markets, and prices, and the question of whether there was a market economy; labour and wages; land ownership and tenure, and wealth and social inequality.

Prerequisite: 9.0 credits in any field
Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1, NMC346H1/ NMC347H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC450H1 - Research Seminar on Ancient Jewish Literature

NMC450H1 - Research Seminar on Ancient Jewish Literature
Hours: 24S

A seminar focusing on the critical analysis of the Hebrew Bible and related ancient Jewish texts. Literary genre and critical topics will vary according to instructor’s research interests. Focus will be given to developing research skills by working with accepted critical methodologies. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC452H1 - Iranian Modernity

NMC452H1 - Iranian Modernity
Hours: 36S

This course explores competing conceptions of Iranian modernity within a comparative historical framework on “multiple modernities.” A major theme is the exploration of the temporality and historicity in discussions of Iranian modernity.

Prerequisite: Completion of 9.0 credits
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC454H1 - Mapping the Ottoman World

NMC454H1 - Mapping the Ottoman World
Hours: 24S

This highly visual course explores the history of cartography in the Ottoman World between the 15th and 20th centuries. Focusing on the social life of images, it examines how the Ottomans and their rivals governed the territory through navigation, astronomy, architecture, property, and geographical surveys. From religious to scientific visualizations, maps make history. Yet not long ago, they were rare and strange technical objects, and their value as historical source has shifted again and again. Each week illuminates moments of this story by centering on a topic including empire, image, boundaries, print, reform, visualization, infrastructure, spatial literacy, map wars, and verticality.

Prerequisite: 1.0 credit in NMC/HIS/HPS at the 200+ level. Students who do not meet these prerequisites are encouraged to contact the Department.
Exclusion: NMC471H1 (Advanced Topics in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations: Mapping the Ottoman World), offered in Fall 2021
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC461H1 - The History and Archaeology of the Horn of Africa and South Arabia

NMC461H1 - The History and Archaeology of the Horn of Africa and South Arabia
Previous Course Number: NMC461Y1
Hours: 24S

The cultures of the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia, separated by the Red Sea, have long been intertwined. This course explores the history and archaeology from the emergence of the hominids in Ethiopia, to the rise of the Sabean and Axumite kingdoms, until the Middle Ages, highlighting their interactions and the roles they played in the development of their respected cultures.

Prerequisite: NMC260H1 or NMC262H1
Exclusion: NMC461Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC462H1 - Polarized-light Microscopy in Archaeology I: Foundations

NMC462H1 - Polarized-light Microscopy in Archaeology I: Foundations
Hours: 24L/24P

This course provides students with training in the use of polarized-light microscopy in the examination of archaeological materials, particularly pottery (ceramic petrology). Students will apply the knowledge they gain from lectures to hands-on work with materials in the lab, covering instruction in crystallography, optics, mineralogy, lithology, and other aspects of the petrology of ceramics and other materials. Labs comprise eight three-hour sessions during the term, working with the polarized-light microscope to examine and analyze thin-sections. No prior knowledge of geology is required. Students should plan to take NMC470H1 Polarized-light Microscopy in Archaeology II: Applications, in the following term to complete their training.

Prerequisite: NMC264H1 or permission of the instructor.
Exclusion: NMC462Y1
Distribution Requirements: Social Science
Breadth Requirements: The Physical and Mathematical Universes (5)

NMC463H1 - Warfare: The Archaeology of Conflict in the Ancient Near East

NMC463H1 - Warfare: The Archaeology of Conflict in the Ancient Near East
Hours: 36L

When did humans start fighting each other, and how far back can we trace the history of warfare? This course investigates the origin, nature, and manifestation of military conflicts in the ancient Near East and studies their impact on political, economic, and social developments in the region. Following a review of the relevant terminology (e.g., “warfare” vs “skirmish”) in archaeological literature, we will investigate the archaeological and historical data for a time span that extends from 9,000 to 300 BC. Evidence from archaeological sites (notably violent destructions of ancient settlements) will be compared with available artistic representations of warfare in sculpture, reliefs, inlays, and glyptics, complemented by textual accounts. While the course focuses on Mesopotamia, evidence from Syria, Turkey, Iran, the Levant, and Egypt will also be included.

Prerequisite: NMC260H1
Recommended Preparation: NMC102H1, NMC363H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC464H1 - The Archaeology of Stuff at the ROM

NMC464H1 - The Archaeology of Stuff at the ROM
Previous Course Number: NMC369Y1
Hours: 36P

Hands-on analysis of actual materials from the Middle and Near East, including Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Students learn the techniques by which archaeologists understand objects from the past: what they are made of, how they were made, and what they reveal about the people who made them.

Prerequisite: NMC264H1
Exclusion: NMC369Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC465H1 - Ceramic Analysis

NMC465H1 - Ceramic Analysis
Hours: 6P/24S

A survey of methods of classification and analysis (form, fabric and style) involved in the study of archaeological ceramics, and the use of ceramics to infer patterns of production, distribution, and social organization; linking research questions with appropriate analytical techniques.

Prerequisite: 9.0 credits in any field
Distribution Requirements: Social Science
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC466H1 - Near Eastern Ceramics

NMC466H1 - Near Eastern Ceramics
Hours: 6P/24S

An introduction to the basic corpus of Near Eastern ceramics, from the invention of pottery production in the Neolithic until the Persian period, utilizing existing collections at the University and in the Royal Ontario Museum.

Prerequisite: 9.0 credits in any field
Recommended Preparation: ARH312Y1/ NMC264H1/ NMC360H1/ NMC361H1/ NMC464H1/ NMC465H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC467H1 - Seminar in Egyptian Archaeology I

NMC467H1 - Seminar in Egyptian Archaeology I
Hours: 24S

Seminar focuses on the social and cultural development of Egypt from the Predynastic Period through the Middle Kingdom, engaging with major theories regarding social complexity, state formation, urbanism, social organization, and regionalism. An independent research project and hands-on experience with artifacts at the ROM are important features of the course.

Prerequisite: NMC101H1 or NMC343H1. Students who do not meet these prerequisites are encouraged to contact the Department.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC468H1 - Seminar in Egyptian Archaeology II

NMC468H1 - Seminar in Egyptian Archaeology II
Hours: 24S

Seminar focuses on the social and cultural development of Egypt from the Middle Kingdom through the Ptolemaic Period, engaging with major theories regarding urbanism, ethnicity, core-periphery relationships, cultural interaction, and social organization. An independent research project and hands-on experience with artifacts at the ROM are important features of the course.

Prerequisite: NMC101H1 or NMC344H1. Students who do not meet these prerequisites are encouraged to contact the Department.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC469Y1 - Medieval Middle Eastern Ceramics

NMC469Y1 - Medieval Middle Eastern Ceramics
Hours: 72S

An introduction to the ceramics of the Middle or Near East from the time of Alexander until recent times. A particular emphasis will be the elite glazed wares of the mediaeval and Islamic periods. Apart from providing a history of the production of ceramics and their social and archaeological context, this course is intended to train archaeologists and art-historians in the fundamental field recognition and identification of the various types and their production origins, and the course will rely heavily on the collections of the ROM.

Prerequisite: NMC260H1, NMC262H1, and at least one other 0.5 credit 300- or 400-level course in archaeological materials
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1), Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC470H1 - Polarized-light Microscopy in Archaeology II: Applications

NMC470H1 - Polarized-light Microscopy in Archaeology II: Applications
Previous Course Number: NMC462Y1
Hours: 24L/24P

This course explores further applications of polarized-light microscopy in the examination of archaeological materials, particularly pottery (ceramic petrology). The focus is on foundational research and case-studies of materials from around the world with particular attention to material culture from the Middle East, Central America, and East Asia, where University of Toronto researchers have worked, ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the modern day. Class and lab discussions will include critical examination of the application and integration of ceramic petrology in archaeological research design and how petrology can address relevant research questions successfully. Labs comprise eight three-hour sessions during the term, working with the polarized-light microscope to examine and analyze thin-sections.

Prerequisite: NMC462H1
Exclusion: NMC462Y1
Distribution Requirements: Social Science
Breadth Requirements: The Physical and Mathematical Universes (5)

NMC471H1 - Advanced Topics in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations

NMC471H1 - Advanced Topics in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations
Hours: 24S

An advanced seminar organized around readings on a topic selected by the instructor.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC472H1 - Theory & Method in Middle East Studies

NMC472H1 - Theory & Method in Middle East Studies
Hours: 24S

Examines current theoretical and methodological trends in the study of the Near/Middle East. A seminar course, it consists of presentations, discussions, lectures, guest speakers, and documentaries. No previous knowledge of methodology required. Special attention will be paid to the politics, culture, political economy, gender, and ethics of various research practices. Intended for 4th year students only.

Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC473H1 - Intellectuals of the Modern Arab World

NMC473H1 - Intellectuals of the Modern Arab World
Hours: 24S

The course is designed to re-examine the role of intellectuals in the Arab world and political events that shaped their thinking. It introduces the life and thought of some leading thinkers of the Arab world and relates their thought to the lived experience of political, social, economic and cultural change in the Middle East.

Prerequisite: 1.0 credit from NMC278H1, NMC377Y1, NMC378H1
Recommended Preparation: Fluency in reading Arabic
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC474H1 - The Archaeology of Death

NMC474H1 - The Archaeology of Death
Hours: 36S

This is an intensive education in the archaeology of death. Working as a study group, the participants in this class will examine in detail the primary archaeological data for mortuary practices in the third millennium in the Big Bend region of the Euphrates River.

Prerequisite: ANT200Y1 or NMC260H1 or NMC262H1
Recommended Preparation: ANT334H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC475H1 - Orientalism & Occidentalism

NMC475H1 - Orientalism & Occidentalism
Hours: 24S

This course probes the contemporaneous formation of modern Oriental Studies in Europe and the emergence of discourses on Europe (Ifranj/Farang) in the Middle East from the eighteenth century to the present. Special emphasis will be devoted to encounters between scholars in Western Europe, Iran, India, and the Ottoman Empire. This seminar-style course explains that Orientals gazed and returned the gaze, and in the process of cultural looking, they, like their Occidental counterparts, exoticized and eroticized the Farangi-Other. In the interplay of looks between Orientals and Occidentals, there was no steady position of spectatorship, no objective observer, and no aperspectival position. Intended for upper year students.

Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC476H1 - Politics of Archaeology in the Modern Middle East

NMC476H1 - Politics of Archaeology in the Modern Middle East
Hours: 24S

This course examines the role nineteenth and twentieth-century archaeology played in Middle Eastern politics, the culture of colonialism and in nationalist struggles. The course will first familiarize the students with the diplomatic and intellectual context of the formation of archaeology as a field of study in Europe and analyse the role archaeology played in the production of knowledge about the Middle East. Next, the course will examine the archaeological practices on the ground (and underground) and inquire what happens in the contact zone between foreign and local archaeologists. Finally, we will trace the ways in which emergent nationalist discourse challenge, appropriate and imitate the historical narratives of Western archaeology.

Prerequisite: Permission of instructor is required.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC477H1 - Modern Turkey

NMC477H1 - Modern Turkey
Hours: 24S

The course examines the history of modern Turkey from the beginning of the 20th century until the present day. Topics include transition from empire to nation-state; the establishment of the Turkish republic; the Kemalist reforms and legacy; nationalism and nation-building; Islam and politics; gender and sexuality; as well as recent political, social, and cultural developments. The course seeks to situate the history of Turkey in a broader regional context and introduces students to some historiographical debates. In seminar discussions, students are encouraged to explore topics from a critical post-nationalist perspective and to think about current events in a historical context.

Recommended Preparation: NMC278H1, NMC355H1, or permission of instructor
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC478H1 - Modern Arab Societies

NMC478H1 - Modern Arab Societies
Hours: 24S

A weekly seminar built around thematic readings of social and economic history of the modern Arab world. Sometimes, the course is geographically extensive, encompassing the predominantly Arabic-speaking lands of North Africa and the Middle East from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east. At other times, the course focuses on a more narrowly defined geographic region—one country or a group of countries in the Arabic-speaking lands. Readings and discussions emphasize the experiences of broad sectors of the population, not just of elites. This framework of “history from below” also invites scrutiny of historically-marginalized populations (“subalterns”), or at least of silences in the literature about these populations.

Prerequisite: NMC378H1. Students who do not meet the prerequisite are encouraged to contact the Department.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC479H1 - Nationalism in the Arab World

NMC479H1 - Nationalism in the Arab World
Hours: 24S

A seminar that critically examines the types and varieties of national expression in Arab societies of the Middle East and North Africa, through a reading of common texts and students' individual research projects.

Prerequisite: NMC378H1 and permission of instructor
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

NMC480H1 - Structural Development of the Iranian Languages

NMC480H1 - Structural Development of the Iranian Languages
Previous Course Number: NML463H1
Hours: 24S

This interdisciplinary course focuses on the structural development of the Persian language from Old Persian (6th century BC) to Modern Persian (7th century AD) with emphasis on word formation and grammar. The course consists of two main parts: The first focuses on an overview of the Old Persian and Middle Persian languages, their linguistic features and writing systems and the factors that changed Old Persian to Middle and then Modern Persian; the second part concentrates on the structural analysis of Iranian languages, including Dari, Tajiki, Balochi, Kurdish, Pashto, and others. The lectures are based on texts and articles written by theoretical linguists, historians, sociolinguists, descriptive and historical linguists. The course also examines the role of language in maintaining cultural identity and demonstrates the type and mechanism of the development of Iranian languages in general and of Persian in particular.

Prerequisite: Completion of 9.0 credits in Humanities/BR= 1 or 2
Exclusion: NML463H1
Recommended Preparation: 1.0 credit from ( LIN232H1/ LIN232H5), ( LIN333H1/ LIN231H5), ( LIN362H1/ LIN360H5)
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NMC484H1 - Gender Issues in Jewish Law

NMC484H1 - Gender Issues in Jewish Law
Hours: 36S

Among the topics addressed in this course in various years are the requirement for women divorced or widowed (either from betrothal or marriage) to wait three months before remarriage to determine paternity or for pregnant or nursing women to protect the fetus or infant; legal disabilities for women in marriage and divorce (consent, unilateral acquisition, power differentials, exit options); legal status according to age (fetus, infant, before and after age six, approaching legal majority, legal majority, anomalies); sexuality (age, sexual acts and their legal repercussions, prohibitions, consent, intergenerational sexual connections, homosexuality); rabbinic ordination of women in the various streams of Judaism; and abortion (contraception, status of embryo or fetus, viability, reasons). These issues will be discussed in terms of gender and modern law.

Prerequisite: Completion of 9.0 credits in Humanities/BR=1 or 2
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NMC491H1 - Mesopotamian Material Culture: Art versus Artifact

NMC491H1 - Mesopotamian Material Culture: Art versus Artifact
Hours: 36L

What is an artifact, and to what degree does it represent art? At what point in the evolution of ancient human society does art emerge? What does it express, what is its purpose, and who are the agents that create and propagate it? This course addresses these questions by examining artifacts from the Palaeolithic to the Iron Age (15,000-300 BC). Students will learn to categorize works of ancient Near Eastern art using descriptive (materials, size, object type) as well as interpretive (iconography, style, themes) parameters, in order to engage critically with art-historical studies. Techniques of reading visual narratives will be exemplified by discussing selected examples in detail, showing ways of identifying a messenger and the message that they are trying to convey, the selective inclusion or omission of elements within a visual narrative, and the possible propagandistic intent in doing so.

Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor
Recommended Preparation: NMC260H1 or NMC363H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

Research Courses

NMC299H1 - Research Opportunity Program

NMC299H1 - Research Opportunity Program

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities/research-opportunities-program. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities

NMC299Y1 - Research Opportunity Program

NMC299Y1 - Research Opportunity Program

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities/research-opportunities-program. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities

NMC398Y0 - Research Excursions

NMC398Y0 - Research Excursions

An instructor-supervised group project in an off-campus setting. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities/research-excursions-program. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities

NMC399Y1 - Research Opportunity Program

NMC399Y1 - Research Opportunity Program

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities/research-opportunities-program. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

NMC495Y1 - Independent Studies

NMC495Y1 - Independent Studies

The student must obtain the consent of an appropriate full-time NMC faculty member to supervise the proposed topic, which is subject to approval by the Associate Chair, Undergraduate. The course application form is available from the NMC Undergraduate Administrator. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: Permission of the Department
Distribution Requirements: Humanities

NMC496H1 - Independent Studies

NMC496H1 - Independent Studies

The student must obtain the consent of an appropriate full-time NMC faculty member to supervise the proposed topic, which is subject to approval by the Associate Chair, Undergraduate. The course application form is available from the NMC Undergraduate Administrator. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: Permission of the Department
Distribution Requirements: Humanities

NMC497H1 - Independent Studies

NMC497H1 - Independent Studies

The student must obtain the consent of an appropriate full-time NMC faculty member to supervise the proposed topic, which is subject to approval by the Associate Chair, Undergraduate. The course application form is available from the NMC Undergraduate Administrator. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: Permission of the Department
Distribution Requirements: Humanities

NMC499Y1 - Senior Thesis

NMC499Y1 - Senior Thesis

A 40-60 page (15,000-20,000 word) research paper (100% of the final mark) written under the supervision of a full-time NMC faculty member. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: 4th year status in NMC Specialist program; supervisor's approval; departmental approval.
Exclusion: NMC495Y1/ NMC496H1/ NMC497H1 may not be taken in the same session
Distribution Requirements: Humanities

Language and Literature Courses

NML110Y1 - Elementary Standard Arabic

NML110Y1 - Elementary Standard Arabic
Hours: 96L/24P

This course is designed for students with no prior knowledge of Arabic. It places equal emphasis on the development of all language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The learning philosophy underlying this approach is that proficiency in a foreign language is best achieved through consistent, deliberate, and systematic practice. From the outset, students are strongly encouraged to develop the habit of consistently practicing learned material.

Prerequisite: Priority enrollment will be given to declared NMC majors/specialists.
Exclusion: Native speakers/ NML210Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML155H1 - Elementary Modern Hebrew I

NML155H1 - Elementary Modern Hebrew I
Hours: 48L

See MHB155H1 in Religion.

NML156H1 - Elementary Modern Hebrew II

NML156H1 - Elementary Modern Hebrew II
Hours: 48L

See MHB156H1 in Religion.

NML210Y1 - Intermediate Standard Arabic I

NML210Y1 - Intermediate Standard Arabic I
Previous Course Number: NML211Y1
Hours: 96L/24P

This course assumes active knowledge of the content covered in NML110Y. It places equal emphasis on the development of all language skills. As the course progresses, students are introduced to the fundamentals of Arabic morphology and syntax. This is achieved through analysis of texts covering a wide range of topics. By the end of the course, students are expected to achieve upper intermediate level of proficiency.

Prerequisite: NML110Y1 or permission of the instructor.
Exclusion: Native speaker. Priority enrollment will be given to declared NMC majors/specialists.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML220Y1 - Introductory Aramaic

NML220Y1 - Introductory Aramaic
Hours: 72S

Introduction to Aramaic grammar. Readings from biblical Aramaic.

Prerequisite: NML250Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML230H1 - Elementary Coptic I

NML230H1 - Elementary Coptic I
Hours: 48S

Introduces the student to the last stage of the Egyptian language, written mostly in Greek characters. The course will first concentrate on the grammar of the language and go on to read short texts.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML231H1 - Elementary Coptic II

NML231H1 - Elementary Coptic II
Hours: 48S

A continuation of NML230H1.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML240Y1 - Introduction to Middle Egyptian

NML240Y1 - Introduction to Middle Egyptian
Hours: 72S

This course introduces students to the hieroglyphic script and the classical form of the Ancient Egyptian language. After the basic elements of grammar are mastered, the class will begin reading simple hieroglyphic texts.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML250Y1 - Introductory Biblical Hebrew

NML250Y1 - Introductory Biblical Hebrew
Hours: 72S

An introduction to biblical Hebrew prose. Grammar and selected texts. For students with no previous knowledge of Hebrew.

Exclusion: Those who have completed Grade 8 Hebrew (or Grade 6 in Israel)
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML255H1 - Intermediate Modern Hebrew I

NML255H1 - Intermediate Modern Hebrew I
Hours: 48L

Intensive study of written and spoken Hebrew.

Prerequisite: MHB156H1/ NML156H1
Exclusion: Those who have completed Grade 8 Hebrew (or Ulpan level 2 in Israel), MHB255H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML256H1 - Intermediate Modern Hebrew II

NML256H1 - Intermediate Modern Hebrew II
Hours: 48L

Continued intensive study of written and spoken Hebrew.

Prerequisite: NML255H1/ MHB255H1
Exclusion: Those who have completed Grade 8 Hebrew (or Ulpan level 2 in Israel), MHB256H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML260Y1 - Introductory Persian

NML260Y1 - Introductory Persian
Hours: 72L/24T

This course is for students who have minimal or no prior knowledge of Persian focusing on reading, writing and conversation. Students start by learning how to write and pronounce the sound and alphabet, how to connect letters to form basic vocabulary in Persian in order to express basic ideas orally and in writing; then they develop their language comprehension through expanding their vocabulary and grammar. By the end of the course, students’ skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Persian improves and they should be able to read, write and translate sentences in Persian at intermediate low level.

Exclusion: Native speakers, PRS210Y5, PRS210H5, PRS211H5
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML270Y1 - Introductory Turkish

NML270Y1 - Introductory Turkish
Hours: 96L

This course is designed to provide an introduction to Turkish for learners with no previous experience with the language. A variety of speaking, listening, reading, and writing activities will be included to develop both spoken and written language skills. By the end of the course, students will be able to carry out basic conversations in Turkish in everyday social encounters, have a grasp of the basics of the Turkish grammar, and understand elementary texts such as simple excerpts from news articles or literary works. They will also have gained a basic understanding of the cultural contexts in which Turkish is spoken.

Exclusion: Native speakers
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML305Y1 - Introduction to Akkadian

NML305Y1 - Introduction to Akkadian
Hours: 48S

Introduction to Old Babylonian. Grammar and the reading of selected texts.

Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML310Y1 - Intermediate Standard Arabic II

NML310Y1 - Intermediate Standard Arabic II
Hours: 96L/24P

This course assumes active knowledge of the content covered in NML210Y. As the course progresses, students are introduced to increasingly complex morphological and syntactic patterns of Arabic. This is achieved through analysis of texts covering a wide range of genres. By the end of the course, students are expected to achieve advanced level of proficiency.

Prerequisite: NML210Y1 or permission of the instructor.
Exclusion: Native speakers. Priority enrollment will be given to declared NMC majors/specialists.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML320H1 - Targum - Aramaic Bible Translations

NML320H1 - Targum - Aramaic Bible Translations
Hours: 36S

This course is an intensive study of various Aramaic Bible translations (Targumim) to the Pentateuch: Onkelos, Pseudo-Jonathan, Neophyti, Samaritan and Syriac (both transliterated into Hebrew letters), and Fragment Targumim. A comparative study of the Targumim will be made in reference to vocabulary, syntax, verb usage, and translation strategies. We will address their relationship to the Palestinian midrashim. Students will learn to use the online Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon and the relevant dictionaries and grammars. The texts studied will be from legal sections of the Pentateuch, generally from Deuteronomy on levirate marriage or war captives, Exodus on abortion and personal injury, as well as narrative sections from Genesis such as the Garden of Eden, the binding of Isaac, and the accounts of the Matriarchs.

Prerequisite: Intermediate-level Hebrew or experience in Babylonian Talmud or NML220Y1.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NML340Y1 - Intermediate Middle Egyptian

NML340Y1 - Intermediate Middle Egyptian
Hours: 72S

A continuation of NML240Y1, in which the student is exposed to a wide range of hieroglyphic texts in the Middle Egyptian dialect. Sources of historical, literary, religious, and economic significance will be studied. The grammar and syntax covered in NML240Y1 are reviewed intensively.

Prerequisite: NML240Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML350H1 - Intermediate Biblical Hebrew I

NML350H1 - Intermediate Biblical Hebrew I
Hours: 24S

A continuation of the study of ancient Hebrew grammar and texts. Focus is given to covering a wide variety of genres, e.g., narrative, chronicle, genealogy, oracle, prayer, hymn, and proverb.

Prerequisite: NML250Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML351H1 - Intermediate Biblical Hebrew II

NML351H1 - Intermediate Biblical Hebrew II
Hours: 24S

A continuation of the study of ancient Hebrew grammar and texts. Focus is given to covering a wide variety of genres, e.g., narrative, chronicle, genealogy, oracle, prayer, hymn, and proverb.

Prerequisite: NML350H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML355H1 - Advanced Modern Hebrew I

NML355H1 - Advanced Modern Hebrew I
Hours: 48S

Advanced intensive study of written and spoken Hebrew.

Prerequisite: MHB256H1/ NML256H1
Exclusion: OAC Hebrew, MHB355H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML356H1 - Advanced Modern Hebrew II

NML356H1 - Advanced Modern Hebrew II
Hours: 48S

Continued advanced intensive study of written and spoken Hebrew.

Prerequisite: NML355H1/ MHB355H1
Exclusion: OAC Hebrew, MHB356H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML357H1 - Legends of the Jews (Aggadah)

NML357H1 - Legends of the Jews (Aggadah)
Hours: 24S

This course is an introduction to the exegetical methods of the rabbinic sages in their analysis of biblical texts, with special attention to issues of intertextuality. After a quick overview of the genres of midrashic literature, we shall examine the midrashic methods used to transition from the biblical text to the midrash. Our main focus will be on Original Sin in the Garden of Eden and its repercussions. Our primary texts will be Bereishit Rabbah, Avot de Rabbi Natan, and Alphabeta deBen Sirah. We shall follow these midrashim in other midrash collections such as Midrash HaGadol, Tanhuma, Bereishit Rabbati, and Aggadat Bereishit. The motif of Original Sin has had significant reverberations in Judaism and Christianity and societies influenced by these traditions.

Prerequisite: Intermediate-level Hebrew (Modern or Biblical)
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NML358H1 - Middle Hebrew: Mishnah and Tosefta

NML358H1 - Middle Hebrew: Mishnah and Tosefta
Hours: 24S

This course introduces Mishnah and Tosefta which are two of the three foundational documents of Middle Hebrew I from the Tannaitic period ending circa 250 CE in the Galilee. In addition to studying specific features of this level of Hebrew (e.g. syntax, grammar, vocabulary), we shall examine these compositions independently and analyze their interaction (textuality and intertextuality). Students will read recent scholarly literature on these documents and their relationship to each other and to orality. Students will be introduced to the manuscripts of these documents and the variant readings will be studied philologically. Decisions on original readings will be made. Finally, we shall explore redaction and source critical issues allowing identifications of anonymous statements with specific authorities (sages). The Tractate may vary from year to year.

Prerequisite: Intermediate Hebrew (Modern or Biblical)
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NML359Y1 - Eastern Aramaic – Babylonian Talmud

NML359Y1 - Eastern Aramaic – Babylonian Talmud
Hours: 72S

This course introduces the student to Talmudic texts through selections from a particular tractate for representative study. We shall study the Mishnah of the chapter in preparation for the Talmud. Recognition of the dialogic structure of the legal discussions centered on the Mishnah and its elucidation is emphasized. The classical commentaries (Rashi, Tosafot, R. Hananel), the use of dictionaries, concordances, biographies of sages, parallels and other sources will gradually become familiar to the student as aids in understanding the text under consideration. A brief presentation of the essential features of Babylonian Aramaic will be included in the course to facilitate study. Students will also be taught to make use of the Bar Ilan Responsa Project, the Lieberman database, and the Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society database. We shall also discuss redactional issues as they appear.

Prerequisite: Intermediate-level Hebrew or experience in Babylonian Talmud
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NML360Y1 - Intermediate Persian

NML360Y1 - Intermediate Persian
Hours: 96L

This course is an intermediate/advanced level of Persian language for students who passed NML260Y1 or demonstrate commensurate Persian skills. The course continues to develop students’ Persian language knowledge by focusing on more complex readings, writing, grammatical structure, translation, audio/visual, and conversational activities such as group discussion, language games, movies, dialogue, and playing roles at an advanced level. By the end of this course, students are able to reach the intermediate high/advanced level of proficiency in Persian. The course also serves as preparation for courses on classical and contemporary Persian literature.

Exclusion: Native speakers, PRS310H5
Recommended Preparation: NML260Y1 and/or adequate knowledge of modern Persian
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML362Y1 - Middle Persian (Pahlavi)

NML362Y1 - Middle Persian (Pahlavi)
Hours: 48L

An introduction to the grammar and syntax of Middle Persian, or Pahlavi, language; the special script it was written in; and the connections of Pahlavi to Old Persian and New Persian languages. Knowledge of Pahlavi provides access to the most important Zoroastrian religious texts, and the epic and wisdom literature composed during the period of the Sasanian empire (3rd–7th centuries CE) and early Islamic Iran (8th–10th centuries CE). Students will read excerpts, in the original Pahlavi, from such works as Arda Wiraz Namag (Book of the Righteous Wiraz, describing his journey to heaven and hell), Karnamag i Ardakhshir i Pabagan (Chronicle of Ardakhshir, Son of Pabag, narrating the deeds of the first Sasanian king), and Bundahishn (Primordial Creation, on Zoroastrian cosmology).

Recommended Preparation: NML260Y1/ NML360Y1/ NMC259H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML370Y1 - Intermediate Turkish

NML370Y1 - Intermediate Turkish
Hours: 96L

This course is designed for students who have already completed NML270Y1 Introductory Turkish or have an equivalent level of proficiency in Turkish. It aims to expand students’ communicative skills, grammatical knowledge, and vocabulary. A variety of intermediate-level speaking, listening, reading, and writing activities will be included to further develop both spoken and written language skills. By the end of the course, students will be able to read, understand, and translate various authentic texts of intermediate difficulty. They will be able to write short essays and talk about a wide range of general topics. They will also have gained a deeper understanding of the cultural contexts in which Turkish is spoken. The course also serves as a preparation for the advanced study of Turkish.

Prerequisite: NML270Y1 or permission of instructor based on previous language knowledge.
Exclusion: Advanced speakers of Turkish
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML371H1 - Conversational Turkish: Oral Communication in Context

NML371H1 - Conversational Turkish: Oral Communication in Context
Hours: 24S

This course is designed for students who wish to consolidate their communicative and conversational skills in Turkish. Emphasis is placed on improving listening and speaking skills in diverse formal and informal contexts to prepare the students for real-life oral communication situations. Students will gain experience with different styles and registers while also improving their grasp of the Turkish culture.

Prerequisite: NML270Y1 or equivalent proficiency. A placement test will be administered to assess previous language proficiency.
Exclusion: Permission of instructor required for native speakers
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML380H1 - Introduction to Ge'ez (Classical Ethiopic)

NML380H1 - Introduction to Ge'ez (Classical Ethiopic)
Hours: 36L

This course covers the essentials of Ge'ez (Classical Ethiopic) grammar, and introduces students to Ge'ez texts of elementary to intermediate difficulty.
Designed for students with no previous knowledge of Ge'ez.
Prerequisite: NML110Y1/ NML220Y1/ NML250Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML381H1 - Intermediate Ge'ez

NML381H1 - Intermediate Ge'ez
Hours: 36L

This course continues the study of Ge'ez (Classical Ethiopic) grammar and progresses to a survey of classical Ge’ez literature. Linguistic connections to Amharic and Tigrinye will also be introduced.

Prerequisite: NML380H1 or permission of instructor
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML405Y1 - Selected Standard Babylonian Texts

NML405Y1 - Selected Standard Babylonian Texts
Hours: 48S

This intermediate Akkadian course is devoted to the study of the literary Akkadian dialect of the late second and first millennia, usually known as Standard Babylonian. Students will read excerpts of literary texts and royal inscriptions in R. Borger’s Babylonisch-Assyrische Lesestücke and eventually proceed to more ambitious compositions such as The Annals of Sennacherib and Enuma Elish. Students are also expected to deepen their knowledge of the NeoAssyrian cuneiform script. (Offered in alternate years)

Prerequisite: NML305Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML410Y1 - Advanced Standard Arabic

NML410Y1 - Advanced Standard Arabic
Hours: 96S

This course assumes active knowledge of the content covered in NML310Y. Its goal is to strengthen the students reading and writing skills, refine their knowledge of syntax and morphological patterns, and enrich their cultural background. This is achieved through analysis of sophisticated authentic texts covering a wide range of genres. In addition, Classical Arabic literary texts will be incrementally introduced. By the end of the course, students are expected to reach a superior level of proficiency.

Prerequisite: NML310Y1 or permission of instructor.
Exclusion: Native speakers.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML411H1 - Media Arabic

NML411H1 - Media Arabic
Hours: 24S

This course familiarizes advanced students of Arabic with structural properties, styles, and discourse features of the language used in the Arabic media. Class time is devoted to analysis of authentic texts covering a wide range of topics and drawn from various online media outlets.

Prerequisite: NML310Y1 or adequate reading knowledge of Arabic.
Exclusion: Native speakers of Arabic must obtain permission of instructor.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML412H1 - Adab and Arabic Literary Prose

NML412H1 - Adab and Arabic Literary Prose
Hours: 24L

This class surveys the rich and varied literary prose tradition in the Arabic language to the Mamluk period. These works are frequently referenced in modern Arabic literature, in addition to being beautiful and intellectually challenging in their own right. We will read essayistic epistles, advice guides, debates, sermons, and narrative works of a variety of genres, including, maqamat, anecdotes, and fables. All readings are in the original Arabic. The course focuses equally on developing reading skills specific to classical Arabic texts, and on developing an ability to analyze the themes, literary techniques, generic features, and ideas within those texts. We also consider the historical development of a distinct branch of knowledge called adab, that canonized many of these works.

Prerequisite: NML310Y1. Heritage speakers are encouraged to take this class.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML413H1 - Premodern Arabic Poetry

NML413H1 - Premodern Arabic Poetry
Hours: 24L

The main focus for this course is reading poems by a variety of poets in the original Arabic. Class discussion focuses on how to decipher the lines of poetry using appropriate reference works, as well as close reading, rhetorical figures, historical context, and the shifting aesthetics of various poetic movements. Weekly exercises build to the study of the Arabic metric system. The course usually addresses a specific theme: for example, early Abbasid love poems selected to study the development of the concept of a culturally refined individual (zarif) in the context of the “rhetorical style” (badi‘) of “new” (muhdath) poetry.

Prerequisite: NML310Y1. Heritage speakers are encouraged to take this class.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML415H1 - The Arabic Short Story

NML415H1 - The Arabic Short Story
Hours: 24S

This course examines the origins and development of the modern Arabic short story as a literary genre by reading selected works in Arabic of major figures in the genre. The course historicizes the emergence of the short story, exploring the genre’s consolidation as a major literary form in Arabic in the early 20th century. As part of an exploration of modern narrative in Arabic, students will read literary criticism that theorizes the emergence of modern Arabic narrative prose, paying close attention to questions of language, form, style and theme. The course also focuses on issues such as innovations in narrative technique, plot structure, complexity of characterization, and point of view. Authors include Mahmud Tahir Lashin, Yusif Idris, Zakariyya Tamir, Ghada al-Samman, Hanan al-Shaykh, and Fu’ad al-Takarli.

Prerequisite: NML310Y1 or permission of instructor.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML420Y1 - Western Aramaic – Jerusalem Talmud

NML420Y1 - Western Aramaic – Jerusalem Talmud
Hours: 72S

The Talmud of the Land of Israel, also called Talmud Yerushalmi or Palestinian Talmud, is written in a mixture of Jewish Western Aramaic and Middle Hebrew. It is the principal document of the Land of Israel in Late Antiquity. The course examines the legal argumentation, terminology and language which differ from those of the Babylonian Talmud. Recognition of the dialogical structure of the legal discussions concerning the Mishnah and its elucidation will be emphasized. Terminology, grammar, and syntax of Western Aramaic will be addressed. We shall also investigate when the text uses Hebrew versus Aramaic. Students will be taught the use of the Bar Ilan Responsa Project and the Lieberman bibliographic database. Close attention will be paid to its relationship to Tosefta.

Prerequisite: Intermediate-level Hebrew (Modern or Biblical)
Recommended Preparation: NML220Y1/ NML320H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1), Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NML421Y1 - Classical Syriac

NML421Y1 - Classical Syriac
Hours: 48S

This course is primarily a reading course in Syriac literature with reference to specific points in grammar and syntax as contrasted with Aramaic. The texts are read with reference to the history of Syriac literature.

Prerequisite: NML220Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML440H1 - Ancient Egyptian Historical Texts

NML440H1 - Ancient Egyptian Historical Texts
Hours: 36S

This is an advanced language seminar that introduces the student to the analysis, in terms of both language/grammar and content, of Ancient Egyptian texts of historical significance. Texts from the periods of the Old Kingdom up to the Late Period will be studied, and all texts will be read in the (mostly Middle Egyptian) original. Particular attention will be paid to the cultural and social context of the texts, and questions such as how to best define “historical texts,” and to what extent literary texts may be used as historical sources, will be discussed.

Prerequisite: NML340Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML441H1 - Ancient Egyptian Religious and Funerary Texts

NML441H1 - Ancient Egyptian Religious and Funerary Texts
Hours: 36S

This is an advanced language seminar that introduces the student to the analysis, in terms of both language/grammar and content, of texts that elucidate ancient Egyptian religious conceptions. Texts from all periods of Pharaonic history will be studied and all texts will be read in the original. While the focus will be on texts from funerary contexts, for which the most complete sources can be found, cultic, magical, and theological sources will also be studied.

Prerequisite: NML340Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML442Y1 - Late Egyptian Texts

NML442Y1 - Late Egyptian Texts
Hours: 72S

The course introduces students to the Late Egyptian dialect attested from the New Kingdom and spanning the period from ca. 1300 to 700 BCE. Students will be introduced to grammar, syntax, and orthography through readings of original texts; these will include stories, letters, business documents, and formal inscriptions. Standard grammars and dictionaries are supplemented by the instructor’s notes and handouts.

Prerequisite: NML240Y1, NML340Y1
Recommended Preparation: NML440H1, NML441H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML450H1 - Advanced Biblical Hebrew

NML450H1 - Advanced Biblical Hebrew
Hours: 24S

Continuation of the study of Biblical Hebrew language. Combination of reading more advanced texts and Hebrew composition exercises. Introduction to the standard reference works for advanced study of the phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics of Biblical Hebrew.

Prerequisite: NML350H1 or NML351H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML452H1 - Halakhic Midrashim

NML452H1 - Halakhic Midrashim
Hours: 36S

Halakhic Midrash, the rabbinic continuation of biblical law, is written in Middle Hebrew I and is one of the three major literary creations of the Tannaitic period. It is an important part of ancient Jewish biblical interpretation which often differs from sectarian interpretation as found in Qumran. A study of the terminology and methodology indicates the existence of two midrashic systems: Devei R. Akiba and Devei R. Ishmael. This course familiarizes students with the methodology and terminology of these two midrashic schools. We will examine the scholarly debate concerning the exact time in which the halakhic midrashim were composed and redacted as well as the transfer of terminology and material between the schools. Sections from all the midrash halakhah (Mekhiltot, Sifra and Sifre) are studied and compared to other tannaitic materials.

Prerequisite: Intermediate-level Hebrew (Modern or Biblical)
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NML455H1 - Modern Hebrew Poetry

NML455H1 - Modern Hebrew Poetry
Hours: 24S

This course is designed for the advanced students of Modern Hebrew who wish to pursue the study of Hebrew literature. We will examine the way in which this literature relates to ideas of land, homeland, peoplehood, and religious identities. We will continue with Yehuda Amihai’s poetry with particular attention to his love poetry. Our major concentration will be on Ḥaim Naḥman Bialik’s poetry and include at least one of his major epic poems. We shall focus on what makes Amihai and Bialik national poets. Our method of poetic analysis will include an inter-textual examination of the sources of poetic inspiration. Students will be taught to use the Bar Ilan Responsa Project as an aid to tracking allusions. We will also use historical Hebrew dictionaries.

Prerequisite: High Intermediate-level Modern Hebrew
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML456H1 - Modern Hebrew Prose

NML456H1 - Modern Hebrew Prose
Hours: 24S

This course is designed to introduce advanced students of Modern Hebrew to modern prose written primarily in today’s state of Israel. To this end we will spend two weeks looking at the motifs and styles available in contemporary children’s literature with an eye to their use of biblical allusions. This serves as background to a study of short stories by the Nobel laureate Agnon. The sources of the stories will be studied from the perspective of intertextuality where the source is both inspirational and in turn explicated by the novelist. The use of online search engines and databases will facilitate this analysis. The course teaches advanced reading skills in prose literature in Hebrew with emphasis on interpreting the texts, close readings, and tracking allusions. Use will be made of historical Hebrew dictionaries.

Prerequisite: High Intermediate-level Modern Hebrew
Recommended Preparation: NML225H1, NML256H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML459H1 - Readings in Second Temple Period Texts

NML459H1 - Readings in Second Temple Period Texts
Hours: 24S

This course provides an advanced investigation of selected issues in ancient Jewish texts stemming from the Second Temple Period (5th cent. BCE 1st cent. CE), and includes comparative study of biblical writings, apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and writings of ancient Jewish historians and philosophers. The specific topic for the course varies from one semester to another. The course has a strong research and writing component.

Prerequisite: NML350H1 or NML351H1. Depending on the specific topic of the semester, knowledge of Greek or Aramaic may be recommended.
Recommended Preparation: NMC252H1, NMC351H1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

NML460H1 - Advanced Persian I

NML460H1 - Advanced Persian I
Hours: 36S

This course is designed for students who have already completed NML360Y1 Intermediate Persian or have an equivalent level of proficiency in Persian. This course aims to develop students’ abilities at an advanced level, with a focus on complex reading materials including historical, socio-political, media and journalistic texts. Students will improve their reading comprehension, strengthen writing skills, and advance speaking and listening skills through class discussions and oral presentations.

Prerequisite: NML360Y1. Students who have an equivalent level of proficiency should contact the instructor concerning enrolling in the course.
Exclusion: Native Speakers
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML461H1 - Modern Persian Poetry

NML461H1 - Modern Persian Poetry
Hours: 36S

This course examines Persian literature, mainly modern Persian poetry from the 19th to the 21st centuries, focusing on linguistics and literary approaches in contemporary poetry. The course includes a brief overview of different factors which shaped modern Persian poetry, then concentrates on the works of well-known modern poets who had great influence on establishing and developing Persian contemporary poets such as Nima Yushij, Ahmad Shamlu, Mehdi Akhavan Sales, Sohrab Sepehri, Forugh Farrokhzad, Hushang Ebtehaj, Simin Behbahani, and Mohammad Reza Shafi’i-Kadkani. After presenting a short biography and the works of each poet, students read selected poems of each poet and discuss the structure, poetic styles, figures of speech, themes and motifs in the poems. (Conducted in Persian)

Prerequisite: NML360Y1 or permission of instructor.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML462H1 - Modern Persian Prose

NML462H1 - Modern Persian Prose
Hours: 36S

This course examines contemporary Persian prose, focusing on fiction, especially the novel and short story. After an overview of different genres of prose writing, the main elements of a story, such as plot, scene, character, theme, topic, point of view, and conflict, are discussed. The literary knowledge and abilities of students will be developed by analyzing different genres of prose writing, especially Persian short stories. At the end of this course students will be able to examine and analyze any form of story-writing and compose their own short stories. (Conducted in Persian.)

Prerequisite: NML360Y1 or permission of instructor.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML463H1 - Advanced Persian II

NML463H1 - Advanced Persian II
Hours: 36S

This course is designed for students who have already completed NML460H1 Advance Persian I or have an equivalent level of proficiency in Persian. Its goal is to strengthen the students reading and writing skills and enrich their cultural and literary background. This is achieved through analysis of sophisticated authentic literary texts covering a wide range of literary genres.

Prerequisite: NML460H1. Students who have an equivalent level of proficiency should contact the instructor concerning enrolling in the course.
Exclusion: Native Speakers
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML464Y1 - Old Persian

NML464Y1 - Old Persian
Previous Course Number: NML262Y1
Hours: 36L

This course introduces students to the grammar and syntax of Old Persian, the language of the main epigraphical texts dating from the period of the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE); the simplified cuneiform script it was written in; as well as its connections with Old and Young Avestan (belonging, like Old Persian, to the Old Iranian linguistic group), Middle Persian (Pahlavi), and New Persian languages. Students will read the Old Persian version of the famous trilingual inscription of Darius I at Bisotun, dated 520–519 BCE, and related inscriptions in the original Old Persian cuneiform script, and discuss the Achaemenid historical context and political ideology they reflected.

Recommended Preparation: NML260Y1/ NML360Y1/ NML362Y1/ NML465Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1), Society and its Institutions (3)

NML465Y1 - Avestan

NML465Y1 - Avestan
Hours: 48L

This course surveys the grammar and syntax of the language of the Young Avestan corpus, belonging to the Old Iranian linguistic group. The Avesta was a compendium of Zoroastrian texts composed orally in northern Iran and Central Asia in two dialects spoken in different periods: Old Avestan (2nd millennium BCE) and Young Avestan (1st millennium BCE). Most foundational texts of Zoroastrianism were composed in Young Avestan language, which attests a more simplified grammar than Old Avestan and in this regard is closer to Old Persian. Knowledge of Young Avestan provides access to the mythical and ritual context of pre-Islamic Iran and Central Asia. Students will be introduced to the main phonological, morphological, and syntactical features of the Young Avestan language; its script; its most important texts; and its connections with Old Persian and Middle Persian, or Pahlavi.

Recommended Preparation: NML260Y1/ NML360Y1/ NML464Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML466H1 - Theory and Practice of Translation from and into Persian

NML466H1 - Theory and Practice of Translation from and into Persian
Hours: 24S

An introduction to theories and techniques involved in English/Persian translation, focusing on translation practice and theoretical discussions on linguistic, cognitive, socio-political, and cultural aspects of translation. Through analysis and application of translation theory, students practice the art of translation and develop awareness of issues that translators face.

Prerequisite: NML360Y1 or permission of instructor based on previous language knowledge.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML467H1 - Persian Literature: The Epic Tradition

NML467H1 - Persian Literature: The Epic Tradition
Previous Course Number: NML460Y1
Hours: 36S

Selected representative readings from the iconic masterpieces of classical heroic and romantic epic poetry, including the Persian national epic, Shahnameh, or Book of Kings; the magisterial ode of Khaqani on the ruins of a Sasanian palace; and tales from the Khamseh, or Quintet, of Nezami about the star-crossed lovers Laili and Majnun and the world-conqueror Iskandar, or Alexander the Great. Emphasis is on close reading and analysis of the linguistic and literary content and style of these works, and discussion of their historical and cultural backgrounds. All readings are in the original Persian. During the course, students will acquire essential skills in the technical requirements of classical Persian poetry, such as prosody, rhyme, and poetic devices.

Prerequisite: NML360Y1 or adequate knowledge of Persian
Exclusion: NML460Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML468H1 - Persian Literature: Ethical, Erotic, and Mystical

NML468H1 - Persian Literature: Ethical, Erotic, and Mystical
Previous Course Number: NML460Y1
Hours: 36S

The companion course to NML467H1 (Persian Literature: The Epic Tradition). Selected representative readings from the ethical works of Sa‘di (Bustan and Gulistan); the mystical parable Mantiq al-tayr of ‘Attar and the Masnavi-i ma‘navi of Rumi; and the ghazals, or mystico-erotic lyrical poems, of Rumi and Hafiz. Emphasis is on close reading and analysis of the linguistic and literary content and style of these works, and discussion of their historical, cultural, and religious backgrounds. All readings are in the original Persian. During the course, students will acquire essential skills related to the technical requirements of classical Persian poetry, such as prosody, rhyme, and poetic devices, as well as an understanding of the key concepts and terminology of Persian Sufism.

Prerequisite: NML360Y1 or adequate knowledge of Persian
Exclusion: NML460Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML470Y1 - Advanced Turkish

NML470Y1 - Advanced Turkish
Hours: 96L

This course is designed for students who have already completed NML370Y1 Intermediate Turkish or have an equivalent level of proficiency in Turkish. It aims to build upon the existing competence of the students in Turkish and to further improve their four skills through a variety of advanced speaking, listening, reading, and writing activities. By the end of this comprehensive course, students will be able to read, understand and translate various authentic texts of different genres such as literary works. They will be able to write essays on a wide range of topics. They will demonstrate the ability to express themselves both orally and in writing through complex grammatical structures and a rich vocabulary. They will also have gained thorough understanding of the social and cultural contexts in which Turkish is spoken. The course will enable students to pursue independent studies in Turkish.

Prerequisite: NML370Y1 or permission of instructor based on previous language knowledge.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML471H1 - Readings from Modern Turkish Literature and Media

NML471H1 - Readings from Modern Turkish Literature and Media
Hours: 36S

This Turkish language seminar involves the analysis of representative examples of modern poetry and prose, and of selected texts from the media, mainly online newspapers. Students will gain familiarity with various literary genres and media stylistics. Focusing on authentic texts, the course will enhance students' understanding of the contemporary cultural context. It will also help students further enrich their vocabulary and improve their grasp of grammatical phenomena and discourse styles.

Prerequisite: NML370Y1. Students who do not meet these prerequisites are encouraged to contact the Department.
Exclusion: NML490H1 (Topics in Near and Middle Eastern Languages: Readings From Modern Turkish Literature and Media), offered in Fall 2021
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

NML490H1 - Topics in Near and Middle Eastern Languages

NML490H1 - Topics in Near and Middle Eastern Languages
Hours: 36S

An advanced language seminar organized around grammatical issues or texts selected by the instructor.

Prerequisite: Permission of the Instructor
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

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