Master of Arts in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations

Courses are offered and faculty conduct research in the following areas: Egyptology, including archaeology, language, history, and religion, Mesopotamia and the Near East, including archaeology and Assyriology, Syro-Palestinian archaeology, Hebrew and Judaic studies, including Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew, history, and religion, Aramaic and Syriac studies, including language, history, and religion, Arabic studies, Islamic studies, history of the Islamic world and the modern Middle East, Islamic art, Persian studies, and Turkish studies, including Ottoman language and history.
The Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations came into existence on July 1, 1996 as a result of the merger of the formerly separate departments of Near Eastern Studies (NES) and Middle East and Islamic Studies (MEI). These departments, under various designations, have existed in the University of Toronto for over 150 years. The Department is concerned with the interdisciplinary study of the civilizations and cultures of the Near and Middle East from Neolithic times until the present, including their archaeology, history, mythology, religion and thought, art and architecture, and language and literature (Akkadian, Ancient Egyptian, Arabic, Aramaic, Coptic, Geez, Hebrew, Persian, Sumerian, Syriac, and Turkish). The Department's programs provide students with a unique opportunity to study non-Western complex societies and civilizations.