Admission requirements
None.
Description
The aim of this course is to explore how the implementation of different ideas, concepts, methodologies, and techniques changes the interpretation of specific events in the past. To this end, the course will focus on a case study, namely the so-called “Sea Peoples”.
The first modern reference to the Sea Peoples is said to have been made by Emmanuel de Rougé in 1855 (Notice de quelques textes hiéroglyphiques récemment publiés par M. Greene, Paris, E. Thunot, p. 14). Since then, the Sea Peoples have played a key role in modern narratives of the end of the Late Bronze Age in the Near East. However, the picture we have of them has not remained static. Over the years, modern scholars have defined them in a variety of ways, assigning them a more or less relevant role in what is generally portrayed as the collapse of the political system that characterised the Age of Amarna. Based on both the primary sources (written texts, archaeology, and iconography) and modern research on them, the course will focus on how the modern interpretation of this phenomenon has evolved over the last 170 years, following the development of the disciplines involved. The course is structured around weekly readings that will be discussed in class.
Throughout the course, students will gain an in-depth knowledge of the phenomenon of the Sea Peoples and the scholarship focusing on them, emphasizing that the past is neither static nor immutable. As one of the most debated phenomena in Ancient Near Eastern history, the Sea Peoples are an excellent example to discuss how scholarship shapes a past that is in constant evolution, following the development of ideologies, values, and techniques of modern societies. This topic includes issues that are very relevant today, such as migration, drought, and climate change. The course is therefore also an invitation to think about our present and future as a global society.
Course objectives
By the end of this course, participants will: (1) Be familiar with the main methodological debates in Ancient Near Eastern Studies. (2) Have gained an understanding of the phenomenon of the Sea Peoples, both of the ancient sources and the modern interpretations of them. (3) Be able to critically assess methods, theories, and ideas applied to the study of ancient societies.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Research
Assessment method
Assessment
Weekly reading assignment and active participation in class
Oral presentation
Paper
Weighing
Weekly reading assignment and class participation: 20%
Oral presentation: 20%
Paper: 60%
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
In case the final mark is unsatisfactory, a student can resit the written assignment.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Weekly readings will be indicated at the beginning of the course. The following publications offer up-to-date approaches:
Fischer, P. M., Bürger, T. (eds.) 2017. “Sea Peoples” Up-to-Date. New Research on Transformations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 13th-11th Centuries BC. Denkschriften der Gesamtakademie 81; Contributions to the Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean 35. Wien, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Knapp, A. B., Manning, S. W. 2016. “Crisis in Context: The End of the Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean”. American Journal of Archaeology 120/1: 99-149.
Masetti-Rouault, M. G., Calini, I., Hawley, R., d’Alfonso, L. (eds.) 2024. Ancient Western Asia Beyond the Paradigm of Collapse and Regeneration (1200–900 BCE). Proceedings of the NYU-PSL International Colloquium, Paris Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art, April 16–17, 2019. ISAW Monographs. New York, New York University Press.
Millek, J. M. 2023. Destruction and Its Impact on Ancient Societies at the End of the Bronze Age. Columbus, Lockwood Press.
Vanschoonwinkel, J. 2024. “Que sait-on vraiment des ‘Peuples de la mer’?”. In L. Pleuger (ed.) Du Nil à la mer. From the Nile to the Sea: L’Égypte au fil de l’eau. Egypt along the Water. Connaissance de l’Égypte Ancienne 24. Bruxelles, Safran Publishers.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Registration À la carte education, Contract teaching and Exchange
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of À la carte education (without taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of Contract teaching (with taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Arsenaal
Remarks
Not applicable