Doctoral students must complete 72 points of course work if they enter without a master’s degree, and they are eligible to transfer a maximum of 40 points of credit if they enter with a master’s degree. 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.

Students must also do basic ancient language course work according to their particular study area. For those focusing on text specialization, 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 an archaeology specialization, this includes one ancient language with two years of graduate-level study or the equivalent. All students must pass reading examinations in French and German as well. 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.

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