古老的近东是播种第一批农作物，建造第一批城市并发明第一批文字的地方。西方文化的起源可以在其伟大的文明中找到，从三种主要的一神教宗教（基督教，伊斯兰教和犹太教）到我们日常使用并视为理所当然的事物，例如字母和按小时和分钟标记时间。约翰霍普金斯大学近东研究系提供了有关古代近东文化和语言的广泛课程，包括埃及，以色列，叙利亚-巴勒斯坦，美索不达米亚和阿拉伯半岛。考古学也是学生的一种选择，该系在埃及，叙利亚，阿曼和埃塞俄比亚进行发掘。课程涵盖近东古代文明的考古，历史，宗教，艺术，语言和文学。
The Ancient Near East is where history begins where the first crops were sown, the first towns built, and where writing was first invented. Through research and fellowship opportunities and access to our Archeological Museum, you can study the civilizations of the ancient Near East in general or specialize in one of the four main areas: Northwest Semitic languages and literatures (including Biblical studies), Egyptology, Assyriology, and Near Eastern archaeology. The Department of Near Eastern Studies was founded in 1883 and was the first program in the United States to offer a PhD in the field. Choose from four programs of study: Assyriology, Egyptology, Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Studies, and Near Eastern Archaeology/Near Eastern Art.