Syria/Palestine/Isreal
Order Description
My assigned region/people – Syria/Palestine/Israel

Instructor Description of the paper:

– Description of the religions – when prominent – main gods – how came about location etc..

– Relationship to neighboring religions

– Relevance to 21st Century life in modern life

**Can send PowerPowerpoint presentation of class lecture on this region if needed.

Course Description: Presents an in-depth survey of the Mediterranean cultures, specifically religious and spiritual aspects of these people from the Stone Age to the rise of Islam in AD 600. The course will provide information of the archaeology, history, myths, legends, rite and rituals as well as other social and political aspects of Mediterranean people, including, but not limited to, the Near Eastern societies (Semitic cultures, Babylonian and Assyrian), Egypt, Greece (including its overseas colonies), Crete, Cyprus, Rome, Byzantium, Troy and the Etruscans.

Learning Objectives:
Upon satisfactory completion of this course, the student should be able to:
Describe the individual traits of Mediterranean cultures through time, critically analyze and report on the relationship of the various religious, mythical, and spiritual aspects of these cultures and how they relate and how they compare to the Bible. Students will be required to place events in specific temporal context(s) and be familiar with the geography of the region. Students will learn what different events, historic trends, radical ideas and spiritual movements contributed to the rise of modern religions in the Mediterranean basin.

Textbooks: The Ancient Mediterranean World: From the Stone Age to AD 600. Robin W. Winks and Susan P. Mattern-Parkes, authors ISBN 13 978-0195155631 or ISBN 10- 019155637.
Readings in Ancient History by Nels Barkley and Richard Lim ISBN 13 978-0495913030 or ISBN 10- 0495913030