PhD Program in Ancient Near Eastern & Egyptian Studies
GOALS: The PhD degree in Ancient Near Eastern & Egyptian Studies is designed to produce scholars who have a deep knowledge of the methods and subject matter of fields such as Assyriology, Egyptology, and Near Eastern, Hittite, and Egyptian archaeology, as well as familiarity with allied fields. Graduates will have made an original contribution to knowledge in their fields.
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:
1. Coursework. Doctoral students must complete 72 units of coursework if they enter without a Masters degree, and they are eligible to transfer a maximum of 40 units if they enter with a Masters degree. Courses will be selected in consultation with a major field adviser.
2. Ancient Languages. Students must also complete basic ancient language coursework according to their particular study area. For those focusing on texts and philology, this includes two ancient Near Eastern languages, with two years of graduate level study or the equivalent in each language, or three years of study for the primary language in the major field and one year of study for a second field. For those focusing on archaeology and material culture, this includes one ancient language, with two years of graduate level study or the equivalent.
3. Research Language. Students must pass a reading examination in French and German.
4. Qualifying Exams. Students must also pass written qualifying subject area examinations in major and minor fields and an evidence-based exam in the major field. At present, these major fields may include: Assyriology, Ancient Syria-Palestine, Ancient Egypt, and Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology. Minor fields may overlap with these major fields and also may include Near Eastern Late Antiquity, covering the Hellenistic and Roman Periods.
4. Doctoral thesis. Every student must complete and successfully defend a dissertation showing evidence of original research in his or her major field as the final stage of the degree requirements.
MA Program in Ancient Near Eastern & Egyptian Studies
New York University’s graduate program in Ancient Near Eastern & Egyptian Studies (ANEES), inaugurated in 2005, offers students the opportunity to study in the languages, literatures, history, religions, archaeology, and art of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. It draws on NYU’s substantial resources in these areas and its faculty members in several departments and institutes, including the Departments of Anthropology, Art History, Hebrew and Judaic Studies, Classics, and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, as well the Institute of Fine Arts and the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. Interdisciplinary study is strongly encouraged. Students work with the director of graduate studies and with a faculty adviser in their field to construct a coherent program of academic study that is individually tailored to prepare them for careers in research, teaching, and museum work.
GOALS: The MA degree in Ancient Near Eastern & Egyptian Studies is designed for students who have not had the opportunity to study these academic fields intensely and are thus insufficiently prepared to enter a doctoral program directly. The program aims to give students the necessary background and to help them determine whether they have the interest and aptitude to undertake a career in the field.
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
1. Coursework. Thirty-two units of coursework must be successfully completed, a minimum of 24 points in residence at New York University. Courses will be selected in consultation with a major field adviser.
2. Ancient Languages. Courses will include the study of an ancient language, normally Akkadian, Egyptian, or Ugaritic. Two years of language study are required for students with specializations in areas based primarily on textual evidence; one year is required for students specializing in art and archaeology.
3. Research Language. Students must pass a reading examination in either French or German. The choice of language must be with the agreement of the student’s primary adviser.
4. Masters exam or thesis. Students may complete the degree by either (1) taking a major field area exam to be given and evaluated by the principal adviser and one other faculty member, or (2) by writing a master’s thesis, the topic of which must be approved in advance by the principal adviser, with the final manuscript being read and approved by that adviser and by one other reader. Both requirements are most often fulfilled during the second year.
Recommendations: In addition to the degree requirements, is recommended that students acquire a competency in the other research language or, if their specializations are not philological, to study the ancient language for two years. It is also strongly recommended that students take advantage of all the resources NYU and the NY area have to offer: lectures and symposia, other scholars in their fields, and the relevant collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum. Summer archaeological field schools and fieldwork are recommended to specialists in archaeology. The thesis option (rather than the exam) is also strongly encouraged, if the student proposes to apply to doctoral programs.