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)

1. 课堂参与：每一学生必须在阅读参考资料及听毕课堂讲演之後，由第二週至第十一週，提出至少五个问题，以电邮交给教授及助教。问题必须是个人原创，但非细节或者没有阅读根据之假问题。问题以及教授及助教的回应将会公布给全部学生阅读。（10％）
2. 导修：每个学生必须参加所有四次导修，参与讨论，并提交一份报告。（1000-1500字）报告题目另订。（30％）
3. 期末报告。5000字为度。题目应具体，避免太广泛之题目如＂古埃及的宗教＂等。不可有任何形式之抄袭，否则将不予计分。报告应遵字学术规范，包括大纲，摘要，注释，书目等。否则将被扣分。书目不可少於十种。网路资料以史料为限。报告应於课程结束後一週内缴交。除非教授同意，迟交将被扣分。（60％）

1、蒲慕州，追寻一己之福－中国古代的信仰世界 (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)

请注意大学有关学术著作诚信的政策和规则，及适用于犯规事例的纪律指引和程序。详情可浏览此处。

学生递交作业时，必须连同已签署的声明一并提交，表示他们知道有关政策、规则、指引及程序。

• 如属小组习作，则所有组员均须签署声明；所有组员 (不论有否签署声明及不论有否直接或间接撰写有问题的内容) 均须负上集体责任及受到惩处。
• 如作业以电脑制作、内容以文字为主，并经由大学「维诚」系统 (VeriGuide) 提交者，学生将作业的电子档案上载到系统后，便会获得收据，收据上已列明有关声明。
• 学生充分知悉到他们的作业可能会被人工智能内容检测软件审查，以确定其原创性。
• 学生充分知悉科目中采用人工智能工具的做法。在经允许下使用某些人工智能工具的情况下，学生已按照科目老师的指示明确注明出处和引文。

未有夹附签署妥当的声明的作业，老师将不予批阅。

学生只须提交作业的最终版本。

学生将作业或作业的一部份用于超过一个用途 (例如：同时符合两科的要求) 而没有作出声明会被视为未有声明重复使用作业。 学生重复使用其著作的措辞或某一、二句句子很常见，并可以接受，惟重复使用全部内容则构成问题。在任何情况下，须先获得相关老师同意方可提交作业。

由大学职员/老师制作的教学材料，包括课堂笔记、作业及考试题目等，其版权属香港中文大学拥有；学生可从大学采用的网上教学系统 (例如Blackboard) 下载由大学职员/老师制作的教学材料供其学习使用；惟未经相关职员/老师事先同意下，不得分发/分享/复制这些材料予第三者。