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The Middle East is home to some of the world’s earliest and most important literature, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and “Enuma Elish,” the Babylonian Creation Epic. In this introductory course, students will read in translation a selection of literary texts from different cultures that flourished in the Middle East from about 2000 BC-AD 500. As we read, we will consider how we should approach texts that are so chronologically and geographically distant from our own present moment, and why, despite those distances, ancient Middle Eastern literature may be more relevant to us today than ever before.