This course offers a comparative understanding of the religious systems of ancient China, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. Students with previous knowledge or have taken courses in one or more of the areas covered by this course are encouraged to attend. Basic to the course is to read and discuss the essential religious documents (in translation) as well as modern studies concerning the nature and content of the religious systems of the three ancient cultures. In order to have a better historical perspective, we shall also deal with the growth and development of each of these cultures, concentrating on their social structures. The focal point of the entire course is to compare the three religious systems: how did they evolve, in what kind of social and political contexts, under the influence of what kind of cosmological thinking, and what similar or different aspects can we discover and explain—both in their terms and in our terms. By seeking an (or multiple) explanation of the nature of the religious piety of these ancient cultures, which had inseparable relationship with the world today, it is expected that we can also gain some insight into later and even contemporary religious life.

Part I: Introduction      

Week 1  Egypt: Natural Environment and Cultural Development
               Shaw, 44-117.

Week 2  Mesopotamia: City States and Socio-political Process
                Nissen, 65-164.

Part II: China

Week 3  Early beliefs
                Poo, Chapters 1-3

Week 4  Official Religion
                Poo, Chapter 4-6

Week 5 Personal Piety
               Poo, Chapter 7,8.

Part III: Egypt

Week 6  The Nature of the Deities and kingship 
                Shafer, 1-87.
                ANET, 365-381

Week 7  Temple Cults and Burial Practices 
                Sauneron, 29-110
                ANET, 325-330

Week 8  The Afterlife 
                ANET, 32-36.

Part IV: Mesopotamia

Week 9  Myth and Belief
                Bottero, 201-250.
               Jacobsen, 25-91.
               ANET, 37-59

Week 10 The Relationship between human and divine
                Jacobsen, 147-164, 195-219.
                ANET, 331-345, 383-392.

Part V: Comparative Themes

Week 11 The Creation of the World
                Kramer, 369-408        
                Shafer, 88-122.
               Jacobsen, 167-191.
               ANET, 3-8 (Egypt); 60-72 (Mesopotamia)

Week 12 The Netherworld
                Sasson, 1763-1774 (Egypt); 1883-1894(Mesopotamia)
                Bottero, 268-286.
                Poo, Chapter 7.
               ANET, 32-36 (Egypt); 52-57, 106-110 (Mesopotamia).

Week 13 Religion and Ethics
                Shafer, 123-200
                Bottero, 251-267.
                Poo, Chapter 8
                ANET, 412-414, 421-424 (Egypt); 439-440, 601-604 (Mesopotamia)

Assessments:

1. Class & Discussion Attendance: 10%

   Besides in-class participation in discussions, each student is required to submit in writing at least 5 questions after reading the assigned readings and listening to the lectures. The question should be submitted by email to the professor and the teaching assistant, beginning from the second week, until the eleventh week. The questions should be original, focusing on larger issues, rather then details or made-up false questions. Questions and answers from the professor and assistant will be posted for all students to read.  

2. Tutorial Paper & Participation: 30%
   Each student is required to participate all the four tutorial classes, and need to submit one tutorial report (1000-1500 words).
3. One term paper no more than 5000 to be handed in at the end of the semester. Paper topic should be approved by the instructor. (60%)

   The paper should be a study on a specific subject related to the areas covered by this course, not a general topic such as “The Religion of Ancient Egypt” or “Egyptian Art.” Instead, topics such as “The Cat-goddess” or “The various faces of Hathor” are more desirable. You should think about the topic and prepare your reading material as early as possible.

   Do not copy from a book. Neither should you download directly from the web. Plagiarism is very serious and will be given a F. Read and use your own words to formulate your ideas.

   The format of the paper should follow standard paper format, with outline, main body of text, notes to quotations, and bibliography. Failure to follow the format will result in reduced grade.　Internet sources are allowed only for historical sources. Do not submit late without permission, or your grade will not be counted. 

1、蒲慕州，追尋一己之福－中國古代的信仰世界 (Taipei: Yunchen, 1995) (2nd edition, Maitian, 2004: Shanghai: Guji Chubanshe, 2007).

2、Jan Assmann, The Search for God in Ancient Egypt (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001)

3、Jean Bottero, Mesopotamia Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods (Chicago: The Univ. of Chicago Press)

4、Samuel N. Kramer, Mythologies of the Ancient World (New York: Doubleday, 1961)

5、Hans J. Nissen, The Early History of Ancient Near East (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988)

6、J. N. Postgate, Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History (London and New York: Poutledge, 1992)

7、Thorkild Jacobsen, The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976)

8、James B. Pritchard ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969)=ANET

9、Serge Sauneron, The Priests of Ancient Egypt (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000)

10、Jack Sasson, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 4 vols. (New York: Scribner, 1995)

11、Byron E. Shafer, ed. Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991)

12、Ian Shaw ed., The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)

Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at here.

With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of these policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures.

• In the case of group projects, all members of the group should be asked to sign the declaration, each of whom is responsible and liable to disciplinary actions, irrespective of whether he/she has signed the declaration and whether he/she has contributed, directly or indirectly, to the problematic
• For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is principally text-based and submitted via VeriGuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the system upon students’ uploading of the soft copy of the assignment. 
• Students are fully aware that their work may be investigated by AI content detection software to determine originality.
• Students are fully aware of the AI approach(es) adopted in the course. In the case where some AI tools are allowed, students have made proper acknowledgment and citations as instructed by the course teacher.

Assignments without the properly signed declaration will not be graded by teachers.

Only the final version of the assignment should be submitted via VeriGuide.

The submission of a piece of work, or a part of a piece of work, for more than one purpose (e.g. to satisfy the requirements in two different courses) without declaration to this effect shall be regarded as having committed undeclared multiple submissions. It is common and acceptable to reuse a turn of phrase or a sentence or two from one’s own work; but wholesale reuse is problematic. In any case, agreement from the course teacher(s) concerned should be obtained prior to the submission of the piece of work.

The copyright of the teaching materials, including lecture notes, assignments and examination questions etc., produced by staff members/ teachers of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) belongs to CUHK. Students may download the teaching materials produced by the staff members/ teachers from the Learning Management Systems, e.g. Blackboard adopted by CUHK for their own educational use, but shall not distribute/ share/ copy the materials to a third-party without seeking prior permission from the staff members/ teachers concerned.