This course offers an introduction to ancient Judaism during the fascinating and eventful long millennium that gave rise to both Judaism and Christianity as we know them today. It traces the development of competing visions of Judaism from the establishment of the Torah as a sort of constitution for the Jewish people in the fifth century BCE to the completion of the Babylonian Talmud, the work that more than any other shapes later Jewish culture, in perhaps the sixth century CE. Classes will center on the discussion of primary texts, and the development of the skills of close reading will be a major focus.