NMC251H1

Voices from Ancient Egypt

This course introduces students to the culture of ancient Egypt through the study of “functional” textual materials. After a brief introduction to the Ancient Egyptian language and writing system, we will read texts from domestic, religious (comprising funerary and ritual), historical, and scientific backgrounds to paint a rich picture of the daily life and experiences of the ancient Egyptians. By way of example, we will illustrate Egyptian funerary beliefs on the basis of texts found in tombs, such as autobiographies, offering formulae, and letters left there for the dead by their families; or the role of the pharaoh for the Egyptian state by studying monumental inscriptions left on temple walls, boundary stelae, and in the tombs of the Egyptian elite. No knowledge of Ancient Egyptian required; all texts read in translation.