Aramaic

COURSE OBJECTIVE
Students:
• will acquire elementary knowledge of Aramaic grammar;
• will acquire an insight into the main differences and points of agreement between Aramaic and Hebrew;
• will acquire a basic vocabulary of Aramaic;
• will be able to apply the acquired knowledge of grammar and to translate a simple Aramaic text with the help of a dictionary and
grammar book.

By cooperating with others, students will be able to optimize
performance.

COURSE CONTENT
Aramaic was 'the English of the ancient Near East' in the centuries leading up to Alexander's conquests, and to some extent it was able to
maintain this status even later. This course is an introduction to the Aramaic of the Persian and early Hellenistic periods. The main corpus
treated is the Aramaic of the biblical book of Daniel. This forms an excellent basis for further explorations of the language. We will discuss the basic grammar of the older forms of Aramaic (Biblical Aramaic and Old Aramaic / Official Aramaic) and read a number of Aramaic texts (including passages from the biblical book of Daniel, the letter on the Temple from Elephantine, and some inscriptions).

METHODS OF TEACHING
Seminar

TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Mid-term test (30%) and written exam (70%)