Home

Welcome

The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC) engages in the interdisciplinary humanistic study and teaching of the cultures of the Near East (often called the Middle East) as they express themselves in languages and texts, including both written and oral sources, as well as art, architecture, archaeology and material culture.

Photo Of Penn's Campus In Autumn

Keep Up to Date on COVID-19 Policies

Penn's COVID-19 information page.

Read More
Photo Of Jadida

2022-2023 NELC Newsletter Volume 4

We wanted to let you know what we've been up to since our last issue.

Click here to view or download Volume 4! 

Check back for our next issue due out late in 2024.

If you want to be added to our mailing list or have news you'd like to share in the newsletter, please send a request to otheresa@sas.upenn.edu.

We'd love to hear from you!

2022-2023 NELC Newsletter

Events



The Henriyah Translation

The Earliest Persian Translation of the 1001 Nights
Mahdi Ganjavi
Mar 25, 2024 at - | Class of 1955 Conference Room
Van Pelt 241

In this presentation, Mahdi Ganjavi will historicize and explore the lesser known Henriyah Translation

Alumni Spotlight

""

Pezavia O’Connell, PhD

Methodist Minister Activist, Educator , Scholar of Hebrew

Pezavia O'Connell (1861–1930) was an African American Methodist minister, activist, educator, and scholar of Hebrew.  He received a PhD in 1898 for a dissertation entitled, "Synonyms of the Clean and Unclean in Hebrew.”  This distinction made him the first African American to earn a PhD in Semitic languages in the United States.  Born to a family of…

Read Bio