Ancient
Egypt and its World (ACABS 281)
Winter
Term 2003
MWF 1:00-2:00pm, Chem 1210
Department: Near
Eastern Studies (2068 Frieze Building)
Instructor: Terry
G. Wilfong
Office: 2078
Frieze Building
Email (preferred means of contact): twilfong@umich.edu
Office Hours: 2:00-3:30pm
MW and by appt.
GSIs: Laura
Culbertson, Diana Ng
Classroom: Chem
1210
ACABS 281, "Ancient Egypt and its World" is an introductory course on the history and culture of the people of ancient Egypt. There are no prerequisites, and the course is intended for students with no background in the subject, as well as for students with prior coursework in ancient Egypt. The objective of this course is for students to get a basic understanding of Egyptian history and culture, along with some understanding of the kinds of evidence used in the study of ancient Egypt, through a combination of lectures, discussions and readings in modern scholarship as well as ancient sources in translation.
REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:
Students are REQUIRED to attend all class lectures and discussion sections (attendance will be taken!), do the readings for class, participate fully in discussion sections, complete any discussion section assignments and take three in-class exams. Grades will be based on the following breakdown: Exam 1: 10% + Exam 2: 30% + Final Exam: 40% + Discussion Section: 20% =100%.
This should not require spelling out, but apparently it does: cheating of any kind (including, but not limited to, plagiarism, copying other people's work, etc.) will not be tolerated and will result in failure of the course. Note-taking for commercial note-taking services is not permitted for this course.
TEXTBOOKS
Available at Shaman Drum Bookstore textbook department (313
South State Street, upstairs) or order online via http://www.shamandrum.com/textbooks/
and pick up your books in the main bookstore.
REQUIRED:
Ian Shaw, editor, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (New York/Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2000, paperback 2002) (=SHAW in the reading list) **Note: the
paperback edition is out of print, but the hardback is available and isn't much
more expensive than the paperback.
Leonard H. Lesko, Pharaoh's Workers: The Villagers of Deir el Medina (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994) (=LESKO in the reading list)
OPTIONAL:
John Baines and Jaromir Malek, Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt (New York: Checkmark Books, 2000)
**Note: this book is a nice overview of ancient Egypt by geography-we won't do
readings from it, but for those who are interested, it's a useful reference.
CLASS SCHEDULE/READING LIST (Subject to change; up-to-date schedule on website)
NOTE: readings should be done BEFORE the relevant lecture. Note that some readings break in the middle of chapters, but they do so along logical lines. Discussion section topics and assignments will in general parallel the readings and lectures. We will have two special discussion section events: a session on hieroglyphs and a tour of the Kelsey Museum, dates to be announced in section. NO SECTION MEETINGS THE FIRST WEEK OF CLASSES!!
NOTE: I'm providing "key terms" for each lecture via this website after each lecture. These are basically the terms and concepts I use on the overheads, sometimes with some explanation. These terms are accessible via the link at the particular lecture. I cannot emphasize enough: These key terms are NOT a substitute for attending lectures. If you must miss a lecture, you should still get notes from someone who was there.
1. January 6 (Monday)
Administrative
·NO READINGS
2. January 8 (Wednesday)
General Introduction to Egypt: Environment, Landscape, Context
·NO READINGS
3. January 10 (Friday)
Egypt: Chronology, History, Time
·READING: SHAW 1-16
4. January 13 (Monday)
Prehistoric Egypt
·READING: SHAW 17-43
5. January 15 (Wednesday)
Organization and state formation
·READING: SHAW 44-60
6. January 17 (Friday)
The Early Political History of Egypt
·READING: SHAW 61-88
**January 20: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
No class, but try to attend special events on campus!
During the period when our class meets, you might want to go to the
presentation on African sky tales "The People and Their Sky" at the
Exhibit Museum, or the Business School Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture by Rev.
Peter J. Gomes, or the workshop Responding to the "Letter from a
Birmingham Jail". For a schedule of what's happening all day, check out:
http://www.mlksymposium.org
7. January 22 (Wednesday)
The Pyramids and the Sphinx
·READING: SHAW 89-109
8. January 24 (Friday)
The Old Kingdom
·READING: SHAW 109-117
9. January 27 (Monday)
Fragmentation and Decentralization: The First Intermediate Period
·READING: SHAW 118-147
10. January 29 (Wednesday)
A new Era: The Middle Kingdom
·READING: SHAW 148-171
11. January 31 (Friday)
The Middle Kingdom on the Move
·READING: SHAW 171-183
12. February 3 (Monday)
Foreign Invaders: The Second Intermediate Period
·READING: SHAW 184-203
13. February 5 (Wednesday)
Review for Exam
·READING: SHAW 203-217
14. February 7 (Friday)
·EXAM 1 IN CLASS: Go to sample exam 1 from 2001
15. February 10 (Monday)
The Early New Kingdom
·READING: SHAW 218-237
16. February 12 (Wednesday)
Hatshepsut: Woman as King
·READING: SHAW 237-248
17. February 14 (Friday)
Power, Wealth and Empire: the 18th Dynasty continues
·READING: SHAW 248-271
18. February 17 (Monday)
The Amarna Period
·READING: SHAW 272-287
19. February 19 (Wednesday)
Akhenaten: History and Hype
·READING: SHAW 287-294
20. February 21 (Friday)
The Tomb of King Tut: A Digression
·NO READINGS
BREAK
21. March 3 (Monday)
The Rise of the Ramesside Kings
·READING: SHAW 294-304
22. March 5 (Wednesday)
The Decline and end of the Ramesside Period
·READING: SHAW 304-313
EXHIBITION OPENING AT KELSEY MUSEUM
AND SPECIAL EVENTS
23. March 7 (Friday)
How the People Lived: the Workers' Village at Deir el Medina
·READING: LESKO 1-39
24. March 10 (Monday)
Daily Life at Deir el Medina
·READING: LESKO 41-59
25. March 12 (Wednesday)
Religion, Magic and Death at Deir el Medina
·READING: LESKO 61-85
26. March 14 (Friday)
Reading, Writing and Learning at Deir el Medina
·READING: LESKO 89-117
27. March 17 (Monday)
The Law at Deir el Medina [[PROFESSOR SICK: CLASS CANCELLED]]
·READING: LESKO 119-130
28. March 19 (Wednesday)
Egypt and its Neighbors
·READING: LESKO 131-144
29. March 21 (Friday)
High Priests and Libyans: The Third Intermediate Period Begins
·READING: SHAW 314-329
30. March 24 (Monday)
Kings from Nubia: The Kushite Dynasty
·READING: SHAW 330-352
31. March 26 (Wednesday)
In-class exam review
·READING: SHAW 352-368
32. March 28 (Friday)
·EXAM 2 IN CLASS:
Go to sample exam 2 from 2001
33. March 31 (Monday)
The Saite "Renaissance"
·READING: SHAW 369-383
34. April 2 (Wednesday)
Foreign Invaders, Egyptian Leaders
·READING: SHAW 383-394
35. April 4 (Friday)
Alexander the Great and the coming of the Ptolemies
·READING: SHAW 395-404
36. April 7 (Monday)
The Ptolemaic Period
·READING: SHAW 404-421
37. April 9 (Wednesday)
Roman Egypt
·READING: SHAW 422-437
38. April 11 (Friday)
Late Antique Egypt
·READING: SHAW 437-445
39. April 14 (Monday)
Summing-up
·READING: SHAW 446
40. April 16 (Wednesday)
Review
FINAL EXAM: APRIL 24 (THURS)
4:00-6:00PM
Bring Bluebooks!
Go to final from 2001
Some Online Resources for Ancient Egypt:
There are many, many websites that deal with ancient Egypt, but the quality of these is very uneven. Below are links for sites about ancient Egypt that I find useful; it's not an exhaustive collection, but will at least get you started in the right direction.
http://www.etana.org/abzu (ABZU index on ancient Egypt: this is probably the most complete collection of links to sites on ancient Egypt available)
http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/egypt/ (Egyptology Resources: the first Egyptology site on the web and still essential for Egypt on the web)
http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/default.html (The Oriental Institute: Major research institution at the University of Chicago with much Egyptian material and excellent website)
http://www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/Griffith.html (The Griffith Institute: Major research center at Oxford University: includes much material about the excavation of king Tut's tomb)
http://www.ccer.ggl.ruu.nl/ccer/ (Centre for Computer-Aided Egyptological Research: important resource for anything to do with computers and ancient Egypt, including electronic resources and downloadable hieroglyph fonts)
And locally:
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/kelsey (The Kelsey Museum On-Line: our own museum right here at the University of Michigan)
http://www.lib.umich.edu/pap/index.html (University of Michigan Papyrus Collection: the largest collection of ancient documents on papyrus in North America, on the 8th floor of the Grad Library)
http://www.dia.org/collections/ancient/ancientindex.html (Detroit Institute of Arts; major collection of Egyptian artifacts)
http://www.toledomuseum.org/home.html (Toledo Museum of Art: only a 45 minute drive from Ann Arbor--an impressive Egypt display, and a major special exhibition of Egyptian material from the British Museum: March 2-May 27)