Undergraduate Courses

The courses listed below are provided by Student Information Services (SIS). This listing provides a snapshot of immediately available courses within this department and may not be complete. Course registration information can be found at sis.jhu.edu/classes.

Please consult the online course catalog for cross-listed courses and full course information.

Column one has the course number and section. Other columns show the course title, days offered, instructor's name, room number, if the course is cross-referenced with another program, and a option to view additional course information in a pop-up window.

Classics/History of Art Research Lab
AS.010.444 (01)

Antioch Recovery Project investigates mosaics from the ancient city of Antioch (modern Antakya, Turkey, near the border with Syria) now in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Excavated by an international team of archaeologists in the 1930s, hundreds of ancient mosaics from the cosmopolitan city were subsequently dispersed to museums across the globe, with twenty-four mosaics entering the collection of the BMA. Phase I will focus on the digital documentation and analysis of the mosaic of Narcissus as a prototype for ongoing research bringing together the fragments of ancient Antioch for contemporary beholders. The Greek myth of Narcissus tells the story of a beautiful Theban hunter doomed to love his own reflection and is the origin of the modern psychiatric term “narcissism”. Researching the mythology, materials, conservation history, archival material, historiography, and contemporary reception of the Narcissus mosaic and myth offers extensive opportunities to collaborate with scholars across a range of disciplines at JHU, in the Baltimore museum community, and beyond. Investigators will move between the Baltimore Museum of Art, the CRL processing lab in Gilman Hall, and Special Collections. The course will involve some travel to visit other mosaics from Antioch now in collections at Harvard’s Dumbarton Oaks in Washington D.C., and the Princeton Art Museum in Princeton, New Jersey.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times:
  • Instructor: Stager, Jennifer M S
  • Room:  
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 12/12
  • PosTag(s): n/a

From Mass Conversion to Mass Incarceration: The History of the Uyghurs from the 10th Century to the Present Day
AS.100.221 (01)

This course offers an overview of the history of the Uyghur people from their conversion to Islam in the tenth century to the present-day human rights crisis in Xinjiang, China.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
  • Instructor: Kind, Kevin William
  • Room: Krieger 300
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 20/20
  • PosTag(s): HIST-ASIA, HIST-MIDEST, INST-GLOBAL

Ancient Middle Eastern Civilizations
AS.130.101 (01)

Review of important issues in ancient Near Eastern history and culture from the Neolithic era to the Persian period. Included will be an examination of the Neolithic agricultural revolution, the emergence of cities, states and writing, and formation of empires. Cultures such as Sumer and Akkad, Egypt, the Hittites, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians will be discussed.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
  • Instructor: Schwartz, Glenn M
  • Room: Shaffer 304
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 18/18
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Gods and Monsters in Ancient Egypt
AS.130.126 (01)

A basic introduction to Egyptian Religion, with a special focus on the nature of the gods and how humans interact with them. We will devote particular time to the Book of the Dead and to the "magical" aspects of religion designed for protective purposes.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: MWF 11:00AM - 11:50AM
  • Instructor: Jasnow, Richard
  • Room: Krieger 170
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 60/60
  • PosTag(s): n/a

A (Virtual) Visit to the Louvre Museum: Introduction to the Material Culture of Ancient Egypt
AS.130.153 (01)

This course will present the Egyptological collections of the musée du Louvre in Paris, room by room, as in a real visit. From the Predynastic period, in the 4th millennium BC, to Roman time, the iconic “masterpieces” of this world-renowned art museum, as well as its little-known artifacts, will allow us to explore the history and material culture of ancient Egypt. We will also learn to observe, describe and analyze archaeological objects, in a global manner and without establishing a hierarchy between them, while questioning their place in the museum and its particular language. The objective will be to go beyond the objects themselves and answer, in fine, the following questions: What do these objects tell us about the men and women who produced them, exchanged them, used them, and lived among them in antiquity? What do they also reveal about those who discovered them in Egypt, several millennia later, about those who collected them and sometimes traded them, and what does this say about the relations between Egypt and the Western countries over time? The courses will be complemented by one visit to the JHAM and one visit to the Walters Art Museum; Dr. Aude Semat, curator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) will also give a lecture about the Egyptian Collections at the MET.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
  • Instructor: Arnette, Marie-Lys
  • Room: Gilman 130G
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 15/15
  • PosTag(s): NEAS-ARTARC, ARCH-ARCH

History of the Jews in Pre-Modern Times, from the Middle Ages to 1789
AS.130.216 (01)

A broad survey of the significant political and cultural dynamics of Jewish history in the Medieval, Early-Modern, and Modern Eras.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
  • Instructor: Katz, David
  • Room: Smokler Center 301
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 19/19
  • PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL

Clapping Rivers, Talking Snakes: Nature in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Middle East
AS.130.250 (01)

How did ancient people relate to their environment—the animals, plants, landscapes, and weather with which they interacted? How have modern binary conceptions of ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ or ‘human’ and ‘animal’ influenced our interpretation of ancient texts (along with ancient societies)? What is “the zoological gaze?” This course will focus on these questions and more as it investigates conceptions of nature in the texts of the Hebrew Bible, as well as texts and material culture from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), and the Levant (modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Jordan). We will interrogate various interpretive lenses, including Posthumanism, Animal Studies, and Metaphor Theory, as we explore themes such as creation, nature and divinity, and animals in rituals, legal texts, and prophecies, among others. No previous familiarity with Hebrew language or the Hebrew Bible is needed.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
  • Instructor: Cooper, Stephanie Lynn
  • Room:  
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 15/15
  • PosTag(s): NEAS-HISCUL, ENVS-MAJOR, ARCH-RELATE

Introduction To Middle Egyptian
AS.130.314 (01)

Introduction to the grammar and writing system of the classical language of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055-1650 B.C.). In the second semester, literary texts and royal inscriptions will be read. Course meets with AS.133.600.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
  • Instructor: Bryan, Betsy Morrell
  • Room: MSE Library D1
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 5/5
  • PosTag(s): n/a

The Talmud as Read in the Middle Ages: The Sugya of Kavod HaBriot (Human Dignity)
AS.130.338 (01)

In the early Middle Ages the Talmud emerged as the defining document of official Jewish religion and culture, and remained so until the dawn of the Modern Era. Jewish scholars in many different countries, and in a wide variety of cultural contexts, developed certain ways of reading, interpreting, and applying the Talmud. In the process, they produced an immense corpus of commentary and law. This course will examine how and why the Talmud was studied in these centuries by Jews who mined it, subject by subject, for emotional, philosophical, and legal meaning.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
  • Instructor: Katz, David
  • Room: Smokler Center 301
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 19/19
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to the History of Rabbinic Literature
AS.130.346 (01)

Broadly surveying classic rabbinic literature, including the Talmud and its commentaries, the legal codes and the response, this seminar explores the immanent as well as the external factors that shaped the development of this literature, the seminal role of this literature in Jewish self-definition and self-perception, and the role of this literature in pre-modern and modern Jewish culture.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
  • Instructor: Katz, David
  • Room: Smokler Center 301
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 12/12
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to Middle Egyptian
AS.130.400 (01)

Introduction to the grammar and writing system of the classical language of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055-1650 B.C.). In the second semester, literary texts and royal inscriptions will be read. Course meets with AS.133.600.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
  • Instructor: Jasnow, Richard
  • Room:  
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 5/5
  • PosTag(s): AFRS-DIASPO

Introduction to Middle Egyptian
AS.130.400 (02)

Introduction to the grammar and writing system of the classical language of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055-1650 B.C.). In the second semester, literary texts and royal inscriptions will be read. Course meets with AS.133.600.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times:
  • Instructor: Staff
  • Room:  
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 5/5
  • PosTag(s): AFRS-DIASPO

Elementary Biblical Hebrew
AS.130.440 (01)

Introduction to the grammar, vocabulary, and writing system of biblical Hebrew.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
  • Instructor: Mandell, Alice H
  • Room: Gilman 10
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 12/12
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Readings - Hebrew Prose
AS.130.442 (01)

Reading of biblical Hebrew prose, especially from the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. Cross-listed with Jewish Studies.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
  • Instructor: Lewis, Ted
  • Room: Gilman 130G
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 10/10
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Northwest Semitic Epigraphy
AS.134.400 (01)

This course will provide an introduction to West Semitic dialects as reflected in inscriptions from the first millennium BCE. We will survey the grammar (phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon) of epigraphic Hebrew, Phoenician, and known Transjordanian languages (Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite). We will also discuss the methodological challenges inherent to the study of script evolution, scribalism, and the reconstruction of NWS languages through the study of inscriptions. This course will also introduce students to scholarship outside of the field of NWS and Hebrew Bible on literacy, the study of visual grammar, and the socio-semiotic approach to the study of writing.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
  • Instructor: Mandell, Alice H
  • Room: Gilman 130G
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 10/10
  • PosTag(s): n/a

The Book of Ezekiel
AS.134.408 (01)

A rapid reading course aimed at increasing proficiency in reading the Hebrew text of the book of Ezekiel. Various aspects of translation and interpretation will be studied (e.g., grammar, textual criticism, Philology) including literary, historical, and theological questions.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: Th 3:00PM - 5:30PM
  • Instructor: Lewis, Ted
  • Room: Gilman 130G
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 5/5
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Elementary Modern Hebrew
AS.210.120 (01)

Elementary Modern Hebrew is the first exposure to the language as currently used in Israel in all its functional contexts. All components of the language are discussed: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Simple idiomatic sentences and short texts in Hebrew are used. Students learn the Hebrew alphabet, words and short sentences. Cultural aspects of Israel will be intertwined throughout the course curriculum.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
  • Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
  • Room: Gilman 443
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 15/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Modern Hebrew for Beginners II
AS.210.121 (01)

Hebrew for Beginners 106 is a continuation of Hebrew 105 and as such, students are required to have a foundation in Hebrew. The course will enhance and continue to expose students to Hebrew grammar, vocabulary, and syntax. All components of the Hebrew language will be emphasized in this course; we will highlight verbs, adjectives, and the ability to read longer texts. Speaking in Hebrew will also be highlighted to promote students’ engagement and communication. Cultural aspects of the language will be incorporated into lessons as well.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
  • Instructor: Staff
  • Room: Gilman 474
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 10/10
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and Geospatial Analysis
AS.270.205 (01)

The course provides a broad introduction to the principles and practice of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and related tools of Geospatial Analysis. Topics will include history of GIS, GIS data structures, data acquisition and merging, database management, spatial analysis, and GIS applications. In addition, students will get hands-on experience working with GIS software.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: M 1:30PM - 4:00PM
  • Instructor: Chen, Xin
  • Room: Maryland 104
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 25/25
  • PosTag(s): ENVS-MINOR, ARCH-RELATE, ENVS-MAJOR

Trade Networks of the Ancient Near East: Laboratory Analysis
AS.360.411 (01)

Trade and exchange, and the social interactions they foster, are long-standing center-points of interest to archaeologists. For the ancient Near East, trade has been proposed as a key factor in the rise of the world’s earliest cities in southern Mesopotamia. During their earliest stages of development, cities in southern Mesopotamia were destination points for exotic raw materials and high-value trade goods, including copper and softstone (chlorite) from ancient Magan (present day Oman and the United Arab Emirates). This course will examine theories and methods for studying ancient trade, with a specific focus on copper and chlorite from Oman. Students will learn some of the key methods archaeologists use to analyze ancient metal and stone, and will conduct some of their own analysis in laboratories at Johns Hopkins, including the Spatial Observation Lab for Archaeological Research (SOLAR) in Gilman Hall 135.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: F 1:30PM - 4:00PM
  • Instructor: Harrower, Michael James
  • Room: Bloomberg 168
  • Status: Approval Required
  • Seats Available: 8/8
  • PosTag(s): NEAS-ARTARC

Engendering Archaeology: Gender and Sexuality Beyond the Modern Global West
AS.363.331 (01)

Modern understandings of our gendered selves are deeply rooted in narratives of human history. While research on the ancient world, like archaeology, is often upheld as a way of objectively observing the development of humanity over time, all too often, scholars and the public both impose modern concepts of gender and sexuality onto the archaeological study of the past. This class will introduce students to anthropological archaeology, as well as feminist and queer theories as tools for questioning popular narratives surrounding the development of gendered behaviors in the ancient past. Specifically, we will investigate stories about gender and sexuality in the scholarship of 1) evolutionary biology, 2) early community and societal formations, and 3) ancient identity. We will engage oft-repeated stories about the evolutionary and historical ancestries of gender and return to archaeological evidence with the intellectual tools and knowledge to complicate popular myths about the historicity of gender. We will thereby expand our understanding of human identities and behavior by incorporating alternative archaeological narratives influenced by intersectional feminist, nonbinary, and queer perspectives. Importantly, this class will also prompt students to reflect upon how stories of the ancient past inform and create their own modern experiences of gender, identity, and sexuality.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: F 1:30PM - 4:00PM
  • Instructor: Poolman, Laurel Ames
  • Room: Gilman 17
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 12/12
  • PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM, ARCH-ARCH

Course # (Section) Title Day/Times Instructor Room PosTag(s) Info
AS.010.444 (01)Classics/History of Art Research LabStager, Jennifer M S 
AS.100.221 (01)From Mass Conversion to Mass Incarceration: The History of the Uyghurs from the 10th Century to the Present DayTTh 1:30PM - 2:45PMKind, Kevin WilliamKrieger 300HIST-ASIA, HIST-MIDEST, INST-GLOBAL
AS.130.101 (01)Ancient Middle Eastern CivilizationsTTh 1:30PM - 2:45PMSchwartz, Glenn MShaffer 304
AS.130.126 (01)Gods and Monsters in Ancient EgyptMWF 11:00AM - 11:50AMJasnow, RichardKrieger 170
AS.130.153 (01)A (Virtual) Visit to the Louvre Museum: Introduction to the Material Culture of Ancient EgyptMW 4:30PM - 5:45PMArnette, Marie-LysGilman 130GNEAS-ARTARC, ARCH-ARCH
AS.130.216 (01)History of the Jews in Pre-Modern Times, from the Middle Ages to 1789TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AMKatz, DavidSmokler Center 301INST-GLOBAL
AS.130.250 (01)Clapping Rivers, Talking Snakes: Nature in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Middle EastTTh 3:00PM - 4:15PMCooper, Stephanie Lynn NEAS-HISCUL, ENVS-MAJOR, ARCH-RELATE
AS.130.314 (01)Introduction To Middle EgyptianMW 1:30PM - 2:45PMBryan, Betsy MorrellMSE Library D1
AS.130.338 (01)The Talmud as Read in the Middle Ages: The Sugya of Kavod HaBriot (Human Dignity)TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PMKatz, DavidSmokler Center 301
AS.130.346 (01)Introduction to the History of Rabbinic LiteratureTTh 12:00PM - 1:15PMKatz, DavidSmokler Center 301
AS.130.400 (01)Introduction to Middle EgyptianMW 1:30PM - 2:45PMJasnow, Richard AFRS-DIASPO
AS.130.400 (02)Introduction to Middle EgyptianStaff AFRS-DIASPO
AS.130.440 (01)Elementary Biblical HebrewTTh 12:00PM - 1:15PMMandell, Alice HGilman 10
AS.130.442 (01)Readings - Hebrew ProseTTh 12:00PM - 1:15PMLewis, TedGilman 130G
AS.134.400 (01)Northwest Semitic EpigraphyW 1:30PM - 4:00PMMandell, Alice HGilman 130G
AS.134.408 (01)The Book of EzekielTh 3:00PM - 5:30PMLewis, TedGilman 130G
AS.210.120 (01)Elementary Modern HebrewTTh 1:30PM - 2:45PMBessire, MiritGilman 443
AS.210.121 (01)Modern Hebrew for Beginners IITTh 1:30PM - 2:45PMStaffGilman 474
AS.270.205 (01)Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and Geospatial AnalysisM 1:30PM - 4:00PMChen, XinMaryland 104ENVS-MINOR, ARCH-RELATE, ENVS-MAJOR
AS.360.411 (01)Trade Networks of the Ancient Near East: Laboratory AnalysisF 1:30PM - 4:00PMHarrower, Michael JamesBloomberg 168NEAS-ARTARC
AS.363.331 (01)Engendering Archaeology: Gender and Sexuality Beyond the Modern Global WestF 1:30PM - 4:00PMPoolman, Laurel AmesGilman 17MSCH-HUM, ARCH-ARCH