Course Descriptions
©Kahn: Courtesy of NYU Photo Bureau
To enroll in an ISAW course, you must first obtain the permission of the instructor. You may then forward the permission email to isaw.academic.affairs@nyu.edu to get the registration access code. All classes will be held in the 2nd-floor Seminar Room at ISAW unless indicated otherwise.
Spring 2026: Seminar on the Interconnected Ancient World
Christianity from the Middle East to China in the First Millennium CE
Sören Stark, Robert Hoyland, & Rong Huang
ss5951@nyu.edu, rgh2@nyu.edu, rh4210@nyu.edu
ISAW-GA 3030-001
Tuesdays, 2:00-5:00pm
Permission of the instructors is required.
Spring 2026: Research Seminars
Lived Religion between Polytheism and Monotheism
Beate Pongratz-Leisten & Greg Woolf
bpl2@nyu.edu; g.woolf@nyu.edu
ISAW-GA 3012-002
Tuesdays, 9:00am-12:00pm
Rather than looking at the religious systems of polytheism and monotheism from a theological point of view, this seminar approaches religion in terms of community, practice, institution, and theological discourse. The historical-geographical focus will be on the Mediterranean and Ancient Near East in order to trace the social-political conditions of the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman empires that promoted an increasing mobility and migrations which lead to profound changes in how the individual related to the divine. Religion in local and/or regional terms mediated through traditions, customs, institutions and social players moved from the context of the city-state towards religion as choice of different groups offering a diversity of religious doctrines and stories. Diasporic communities emerged as new additional social players undermining the traditional distinction between local and translocal cults. A focus on discrete social worlds or fields rather than thinking merely in ethnic or political-historical terms will allow for evaluating the agency of scribal/scholarly/monastic centers, the role of their networks, as well as the materiality of religion and craftmanship in defining the transition from knowledge-oriented religion to faith and belief dominating the interaction with the divine. Neither Judaism nor Christianity can be seen in isolation from the wider cultural and historical-political context from which they emerged nor does their diversity in practices allow for a monolithic view or single master-narrative.
Students may like to look in advance at: Albrecht et al. "Religion in the Making: The Lived Ancient Religion Approach." Religion 48, no. 4 (2018/10/02 2018): 568-93.
Permission of the instructors is required.
Scientific Methods in Archaeology
Federico Carò
Federico.Caro@metmuseum.org
ISAW-GA 3012-003
Thursdays, 2:00-5:00pm
This course explores the application of scientific methodologies to the investigation of archaeological objects and works of art, with a specific focus on inorganic materials. This introductory course aims at providing the students with the appropriate knowledge and tools to understand advantages and limitations of traditional and cutting-edge analytical techniques commonly available to archaeologists, and to implement them into successful interdisciplinary archaeological research. Students will be introduced to the science of most common archaeological materials and will examine how scientific analysis can help characterizing them, disclosing manufacturing processes and techniques, and reconstructing raw material procurement and trade.
The goal of this course is to give each student the knowledge necessary to understand, for each technique, its primary area of application, its strengths and weaknesses, and finally, how to couple complementary scientific techniques to tackle specific archaeological problems.
Upon completion of the course, students will have gained a basic knowledge of the techniques presented and will be able to discuss and design an analytical protocol around an archaeological question of their choice. Students will be involved in lectures, classroom discussions, hands-on exercises and analytical projects that will take advantage of the equipment and materials in the department of Scientific Research of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while certain portable analytical instruments will be made available at ISAW.
Permission of the instructor is required.
The Phoenicians and the Mediterranean
Antonis Kotsonas
ak7509@nyu.edu
ISAW-GA 3013-001
Wednesdays, 9:00am-12:00pm
This seminar will address questions of Phoenician archaeology, history and historiography, and it will explore the identity and culture of these people by investigating a wide range of textual and material evidence from the homeland of the Phoenicians and the areas of their overseas activities around the Mediterranean. The scholarship to be covered encompasses theoretical approaches to Phoenician identity, society and economy; models of interaction of these people with others in the Near East and the Mediterranean; art-historical accounts of Phoenician craftsmanship; and reports of archaeological fieldwork and important discoveries in the Levant, Cyprus, the Aegean, north Africa, the Italian peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia, and Iberia. Also, we will investigate the ways in which the history and archaeology of the Phoenicians has been communicated to the wider public through museum exhibitions, and we will reflect on the relevance of ancient Phoenician history and heritage to present-day communities.
Permission of the instructor is required.
Empire and Frontiers: Art and Archaeology in Han China
Lillian Tseng
lillian.tseng@nyu.edu
ISAW-GA 3013-002
Mondays, 2:00-5:00pm
This seminar examines the frontiers of the Han Empire through the lens of art, archaeology, and material culture. Organized thematically, the course emphasizes theory-driven approaches to empire, drawing on border theory, landscape archaeology, mobility studies, and materiality. We explore frontiers as zones of negotiation, hybridization, and cultural brokerage, analyzing how the Han empire both shaped—and was shaped by—its peripheral regions. Students will study objects from settlements, tombs, ritual installations, and items in motion—such as textiles, metals, glass, and horse gear—as evidence for imperial expansion, control, and cross-cultural interaction, as well as for understanding the dynamics of power, identity, and ideology in frontier contexts.
Permission of the instructor is required.
Early Chinese Time: Calendars and Hemerology in the Warring States, Qin, and Han Periods
Ethan Harkness
harkness@nyu.edu
ISAW-GA 3013-003
Thursdays, 9:00am-12:00pm
In this course, we will examine a range of early texts describing time and the calendar. These include myths about the beginning of time itself and early accounts of the most important units of time: days, months, seasons, and years. Paying close attention to technical detail, we will also engage with a variety of systems used to quantify, measure, and perhaps even gain some control over the passage of time. Finally, we will turn to the early Chinese tradition of hemerology - the art of distinguishing the auspicious or inauspicious qualities of time - to explore a perspective that interacts with and sometimes sheds light on that of the calendar makers. Our sources will include transmitted texts, but due to the many exciting manuscript discoveries that have become available in recent years, more emphasis will be placed on reading excavated texts. Classical Chinese reading skills are a prerequisite for formal enrollment.
Permission of the instructor is required.
Introduction to Digital Humanities for the Ancient World
Sebastian Heath, Tom Elliott, & Patrick Burns
sebastian.heath@nyu.edu; tom.elliott@nyu.edu; pjb311@nyu.edu
ISAW-GA 3024-001
Wednesdays, 2:00-5:00pm
Permission of the instructor is required.
Spring 2026: Other Courses
Intro to Ancient Egyptian II
ISAW-GA 1001-001
Niv Allon
Niv.Allon@metmuseum.org
Fridays, 9am-12pm
This course, the second in a two-semester sequence, will introduce students to the Middle Egyptian (Classical) dialect of the ancient Egyptian language. Students will become familiar with the hieroglyphic writing system, as well as key elements of the grammar and vocabulary of Middle Egyptian.
Prerequisite: ISAW-GA 1000-001, “Intro to Ancient Egyptian I” (or equivalent coursework).
Permission of the instructor is required.