The ancient myths of the Near East are the foundation stones of both Western and Middle Eastern cultures. These stories originate in the period before the development of writing systems and tell how people made sense of the world through tales of gods, animals, men, women, and combined human/divine beings. These myths—among them the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld, the Babylonian Creation Epic, the Tale of Innana—have great literary merit and reveal much about the development of historical writing and the evolution of religious systems. You study the myths and cultures of Egypt, Sumer, the Hittites, Ugarit, Assyria, and Babylon. You concentrate on the relationship between Ancient Near Eastern myth and biblical accounts.
