2024-2025 Academic Catalog

Nov 21, 2024

2024-2025 Academic Catalog

HIST 122 - Jewish History in the Ancient and Medieval World

Beginning in antiquity, this course will proceed chronologically until the expulsion of Sephardic Jews from Spain in 1492. We will explore the foundational history, narratives, and myths that have shaped the Jewish experience, tracing how a small agricultural tribe became an ethno-religious diaspora. We will ask: What has made a Jew a Jew across time and space? What have been the cultural, ethnic, political, religious, and social ties that have defined Jewish identity and belonging? How has internal diversity among Jews changed and mattered over the course of history? How have Jewish relations with non-Jews shaped Jewish identity? How has gender affected Jewish lives? How have Jews defined and envisioned Jewish “groupness”? What are the objects, ritual practices, and physical spaces that have been important in Jewish life? What are the stories that are central to Jewish identity? How have these narratives been constructed and preserved and how has their meaning changed over time? While investigating these broad historical questions, we will also explore elements of the Jewish textual tradition, broadly defined, including the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), the Talmud and other rabbinic literature, Jewish mystical texts, and medieval Jewish poetry. In addition to textual sources, this course will also incorporate visual and material culture, including Jewish ritual objects, household objects, art, and clothing.

Course Designation/Attribute: HP

Anticipated Terms Offered: Annually