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. 課堂參與：每一學生必須在閱讀參考資料及聽畢課堂講演之後，由第二週至第十一週，提出至少五個問題，以電郵交給教授及助教。問題必須是個人原創，但非細節或者沒有閱讀根據之假問題。問題以及教授及助教的回應將會公布給全部學生閱讀。（10％）
2. 導修：每個學生必須參加所有四次導修，參與討論，並提交一份報告。（1000-1500字）報告題目另訂。（30％）
3. 期末報告。5000字為度。題目應具體，避免太廣泛之題目如＂古埃及的宗教＂等。不可有任何形式之抄襲，否則將不予計分。報告應遵字學術規範，包括大綱，摘要，注釋，書目等。否則將被扣分。書目不可少於十種。網路資料以史料為限。報告應於課程結束後一週內繳交。除非教授同意，遲交將被扣分。（60％）

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)

請注意大學有關學術著作誠信的政策和規則，及適用於犯規事例的紀律指引和程序。詳情可瀏覽此處。

學生遞交作業時，必須連同已簽署的聲明一併提交，表示他們知道有關政策、規則、指引及程序。

• 如屬小組習作，則所有組員均須簽署聲明；所有組員 (不論有否簽署聲明及不論有否直接或間接撰寫有問題的內容) 均須負上集體責任及受到懲處。
• 如作業以電腦製作、內容以文字為主，並經由大學「維誠」系統 (VeriGuide) 提交者，學生將作業的電子檔案上載到系統後，便會獲得收據，收據上已列明有關聲明。
• 學生充分知悉到他們的作業可能會被人工智能內容檢測軟件審查，以確定其原創性。
• 學生充分知悉科目中採用人工智能工具的做法。在經允許下使用某些人工智能工具的情況下，學生已按照科目老師的指示明確註明出處和引文。

未有夾附簽署妥當的聲明的作業，老師將不予批閱。

學生只須提交作業的最終版本。

學生將作業或作業的一部份用於超過一個用途 (例如：同時符合兩科的要求) 而沒有作出聲明會被視為未有聲明重覆使用作業。 學生重覆使用其著作的措辭或某一、二句句子很常見，並可以接受，惟重覆使用全部內容則構成問題。在任何情況下，須先獲得相關老師同意方可提交作業。

由大學職員/老師製作的教學材料，包括課堂筆記、作業及考試題目等，其版權屬香港中文大學擁有；學生可從大學採用的網上教學系統 (例如Blackboard) 下載由大學職員/老師製作的教學材料供其學習使用；惟未經相關職員/老師事先同意下，不得分發/分享/複製這些材料予第三者。