Suggestions for American High School student?

[mesopotamiankaraite]

Hello, I am a high school sophomore (grade 10) and I would like to pursue a career in ANE studies. I was wondering if anyone could give me some suggestions with regards to classes by answering some questions that I have, so I have the best chances of getting into a good university and studying what I'm interested in.

This is my second year taking French and I plan to take it for the next two years as well. I'll start German when I enter a university. Is this a good idea?

Should I take Macroeconomics, European History, Psychology or Philosophy? (I can take 2 of the 4) I will be taking Microeconomics and Sociology.

Math and Science have always been difficult for me and my school only requires 3 years of each. I definitely won't be taking a fourth year of Math, however I am considering a fourth year of science, possibly Forensics and/or Astronomy. Forensics seems potentially useful to Archaeology and Astronomy seems potentially useful in understanding the ancient Mesopotamian texts on the subject. Am I correct in this assumption?

Now, I was also wondering about what I should do in the university. So far I am considering University of Melbourne(Australia), University of Leiden(Netherlands), University of Uppsala(Sweden), University of Michigan(USA) and University of Chicago(USA).

All of them have programs in Semitic studies and ancient world studies, so my plan is to major in Semitic/ANE studies and minor in either Classics, Anthropology, Sociology, Arabic, French or German. Thoughts?

Thank you for reading this.

[us4-he2-gal2]

mesopotamiankaraite:




It is amazing and very impressive that you have an academic goal and direction at such a young age, in my opinion. It was much different for me, I didn't know that I would want to study Mesopotamian until I was in my mid-20s, and this can cause problems. It can only be to your advantage to have a goal at a fairly young age, if you know what you want to do when you are young and you stay with it, this can make for the best mastery of the relevant ancient languages. To fully develop these skills and to become a productive and esteemed scholar of ancient Near Eastern language and culture is really a matter of decades, and not years. And so the sooner one has a clear goal and a clear strategy, the better.

Also, if you have exposure to modern Hebrew or biblical Hebrew, this can give you a big advantage - I have studied with a Jewish fellow from New York and he had this background. While I must force Semitic words into my memory (for example, Akkadian which of course is Semitic and related to Hebrew), for him it took much less effort as the Semitic root of the word is already familiar to him. People with Arabic language experience have a similar advantage.

You may already know most of this since you have looked at universities already, however if you are interested in Mesopotamian studies, which is what we focus on here, you would need to pursue Assyriology at the university level. Sumerology is a sub-branch of Assyriology, so those wanting to learn Sumerian generally start with Assyriology and study Akkadian and a few Semitic languages first, moving on to Sumerian in graduate years. However, it is not necessary for a Semiticist to study Sumerian of course! In my Akkadian classes I have often observed students pursuing biblical scholarship, a few archaeologists and even a few students studying Egyptology. Then there are naturally students pursuing Assyriology and interested in the Assyrians and Babylonians. And a small number, like myself, study these Semitic people of Mesopotamia and also hope to study the non-Semitic Sumerians of Mesopotamia and their language as well. Akkadian classes around the world always have a fairly small number of students: there are few people interested, there are correspondingly, a fairly small number of positions in the field.


About French and German: Yes, both of these languages will be important to the ANE student and scholar. It is expected that the PhD level student will be able to read (or be close to having the ability to read) English, French and German. These are the languages which important scholarship is primarily written in. If someday you are admitted to PhD studies, you would have to pass a small German and French reading test in order to maintain your PhD status. For you, there is a good amount of time, but there are some PhD friends of mine who have only a few months to learn to read basic German and they have a big problem. Ultimately, I feel that German is more important because of a greater amount of ANE work published in this language, but there is nothing wrong with starting with French of course. French scholarship is also substantial and important.


As for universities, of the universities you mentioned the University of Chicago has the best reputation and most prestige in my opinion. The Oriental Institute of Chicago is world renowned (among academics) and has played a special role in the development of the scientific study of Oriental philology. This is the institute which produced the only major English language Dictionary of Akkadian, which took 80 years to finish and includes some 26 volumes (each letter A, B, D - gets own book). Because of this background, the Oriental Institute of Chicago is particularly demanding and only accepts a small number of students who apply hence one has to have the best marks to be able to study there.

But Chicago certainly isn't the only place to study in the world - to progress with Assyriology or Semitics it is best to be flexible and open minded, you never know how it will work out, no one does. If you can't proceed in one way, be open to other possibilities and other universities. The university of Leiden is also very desirable in my opinion! Leiden also enjoys prestige in the academic community, and so a degree from this institution is quite respectable. Study in a European country has many advantages, for one, universities in Europe charge BA and MA students almost nothing, compared to the ridiculously expensive American and Canadian universities. And the cost of living in many European countries is also low in comparison to N. America. While the Dutch language spoken in Leiden would be a challenge in everyday life, I have heard that English is relied on heavily in their universities with a good number of courses given in English.


As for high school courses, I suggest European History and Philosophy over Psychology and Marcoeconomics. Studying any history may contribute to your view of how historical discourse should sound, what to value in terms of evidence and how to phrase your ideas to readers in order to sound convincing and also objective. Should you be writing about the ANE someday, this professional tone and etiquette are important. You can never really "prove" something about ancient history, the evidence is almost always somewhat ambiguous: but you assemble what there is of the "facts" and discuss them with a professional tone, and in that way you become convincing (which is a basic goal of academic writing, and more important than one may expect). Secondly, philosophy can be seen as useful, I recently met one of the greats of Sumerology, Gebhard Selz, who told me that he got his start studying philosophy at the university which he found very useful for his studies later on. Unfortunately I can't recall his explanation of why that was at the moment. It's also true that Forensics and Astronomy are better choices than other topics since they have a little carry over value in the ways that you mentioned, although the study of Mesopotamian Astrology is what you may call a "fringe topic" dealt with by maybe 10 people in the world



Feel free to ask anything else that comes to mind either here or you can also e-mail me at [e-mail] . Should you want materials for study, I can e-mail you a life time's worth or reading material as well.

[nocodeyv]

As a native of the northwest suburbs of Chicago, I can only further reinforce Ushegal's comment on the University of Chicago. Last year around winter time I had a few days off from my normal job, so I used one of them to go and visit the Oriental Institute Museum, and it was beautiful. I spent several hours just exploring the museum, which covers Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant, and the collection was astounding for someone like me, so freshly interested in Mesopotamian history and religion. If you look into campus tours, I would highly recommend that you set aside some time to explore the museum. Admission is free, although they do accept donations.

[mesopotamiankaraite]

Feb 8, 2015 13:16:39 GMT -5 nocodeyv said:

As a native of the northwest suburbs of Chicago, I can only further reinforce Ushegal's comment on the University of Chicago. Last year around winter time I had a few days off from my normal job, so I used one of them to go and visit the Oriental Institute Museum, and it was beautiful. I spent several hours just exploring the museum, which covers Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant, and the collection was astounding for someone like me, so freshly interested in Mesopotamian history and religion. If you look into campus tours, I would highly recommend that you set aside some time to explore the museum. Admission is free, although they do accept donations.

I live in the area as well and I've been to the Oriental Institute 3 times so far and I still want to go back! It's a great museum, the gift shop is cool as well. I got an Egyptian Ankh amulet there.

They will be having a Mesopotamian Mythology class there on Saturdays in a few weeks and I'm considering it.