Twenty-four lectures (30 min. each) introduce the great myths of the ancient Near East, the region bound by Egypt and the Mediterranean in the west, Iran in the east, Anatolia in the north, and the Arabian peninsula in the south.

Accompanying guides include biographical information, lecture notes and outlines, timelines, glossaries, and bibliographical references. In two containers.

disc 1. lecture 1. Studying ancient Near Eastern myth -- lecture 2. The emergence of civilization in the Near East -- lecture 3. Hittites and Canaanites -- lecture 4. Archaeology, science and ideology -- lecture 5. Principles of writing systems -- lecture 6. Literary and religious aspects of myth disc 2. lecture 7. Ancient Near Eastern myths and the Bible -- lecture 8. The ancient gods: Egypt and Mesopotamia -- lecture 9. The ancient gods: Syria, Canaan -- lecture 10. The creation myths of Egypt and Mesopotamia -- lecture 11. Epics of the gods: Syria, Canaan -- lecture 12. The epic of Gilgamesh, pt. 1 disc 3. lecture 13. The epic of Gilgamesh, pt. 2 -- lecture 14. Myths of death and destruction, pt. 1 -- lecture 15. Myths of death and destruction, pt. 2 -- lecture 16. The individual and society: legal texts -- lecture 17. The individual and society: myth and legend -- lecture 18. Love, lust, and poetry disc 4. lecture 19. Marriage, divorce, and other arrangements -- lecture 20. Kingship and the gods -- lecture 21. Royal historians, poets and artists: Mesopotamia -- lecture 22. A royal couple: myth and reality -- lecture 23. Royal historians, poets and artists: Egypt -- lecture 24. Wisdom literature; Conclusions.