Today we imagine the Big Bang as the start of our universe, and most Americans imagine a monotheistic deity whose existence predates both our universe and the infinite past. These ideas are drastically different from those proposed by the cultures located along the Fertile Crescent and Mediterranean world, where the gods were products of their evolving world.

This three-week course, led by Dr. Spencer Allen, U. A. Instructor of International Relations, considers the various cosmogonies (creations of the world) and theogonies (creations of the gods) from ancient Near East and Mediterranean worlds and compares them with those found in biblical, Hittite, Ugaritic, and Vedic traditions. We will also explore the various anthropogenies (creations of mankind) as they fit into the larger stories. The primary texts for study include the Babylonian Enuma Elish (week 1), the Greek Theogony by Hesiod (week 2), and the Heliopolian Cosmogony from Egypt (week3).