History and Civilisation of Egypt
Code: 104209 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2503702 Ancient Studies | OB | 1 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Josep Cervelló Autuori
- Email:
- Josep.Cervello@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Teachers
- Josep Cervelló Autuori
- Marc Orriols Llonch
- Jose Lull Garcia
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites.
Objectives and Contextualisation
1) To understand the historical processes that took place in the Nile Valley since the Neolithic times (VI millennium) to the Roman period, taking into account both the internal dynamics and the international contexts.
2) To know the most important aspects of the Egyptian civilization: society and economy, religion and spitituality, gender and identity, language and writing, urbanism and architecture, material culture and visual culture, "sciences" and techniques.
3) To know and to interpret the most important written, archaeological and iconographical sources of ancient Egypt (the written sources, in translation).
Competences
- Apply the main methods, techniques and instruments of historical analysis.
- Be able to express oneself orally and in writing in the specific language of history, archaeology and philology, both in one’s own languages and a third language.
- Recognise the impact of some important aspects of the ancient world in contemporary culture and society.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Understand and interpret the evolution of ancient societies in the Mediterranean – from Egyptian civilisation to the disbanding of Western imperial Rome – through analysis of the political, historical, social, economic and linguistic factors.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse the key issues that help to approach the study of historical phenomena from a gender perspective.
- Explain the main historical events in Ancient Egypt and the Greco-Roman world.
- Explain the main historiographic debates on antiquity.
- Identifying the context of the historical processes.
- Identifying the specific methods of history and their relationship with the analysis of particular facts.
- Preparing an oral and written discourse in the corresponding language in a proper and organized way.
- Relate the historical texts to their archaeological contexts.
- Show expertise in the reading of historical texts written on various media.
- Submitting works in accordance with both individual and small group demands and personal styles.
- Using the specific interpretational and technical vocabulary of the discipline.
Content
LESSON 1 Introduction to Egyptology
History and historiography of Egyptology
Periodization and chronology
Natural environment: geography and geology
Case study: The Nile
LESSON 2 Origin of the State in the Nile Valley
Neolithization
Emergence and consolidation of the State: from the Predynastic to the Dynastic
LESSON 3 Emergence of writing in the Nile Valley
Egyptian scripts
The hieroglyphic system
Earliest evidence of writing in the Nile Valley: documents and problems
LESSON 4 The III millennium
The Old Kingdom or the Pyramid Age
Memphis and the memphite necropolis
Political and religious aspects
Social and economic aspects
Case study: ¿How the pyramids were built?
Case study: The Pyramid Texts
LESSON 5 The II millennium (I)
The Middle Kingdom
Political and literary aspects
Social and economic aspects
Egypt and Nubia: Kerma
Egypt and the Middle East: the hyksos
LESSON 6 The II millennium (II)
The New Kingdom or the Egyptian empire (I)
Political, military and diplomatic aspects
Social and economic aspects
Case study:Hatshepsut
Case study: Thebes: the city, thetemples, the necropolis
LESSON 7 The II millennium (III)
The New Kingdom or the Egyptian empire (II)
The Age of Amarna: politics and religion
The Ramessid culture
Social and economic aspects
Case study: Tha battle of Qadesh
Case study: Strikes and the dismantling of the royal tombs
LESSON 8 The Sea Peoples
The crisis of 1200 in the eastern Mediterranean
Egypt and the Sea Peoples
The Libyan question
LESSON 9 The I millennium (I)
The Late Period: Egyptians, Libyans, Aethiopians, Assyrians and Persians
The Kingdom of Kush
Social and economic aspects
Case study: Egypt and the Bible
LESSON 10 The I millennium (II)
Alexander and Egypt
Ptolemaic Egypt
Political and economic aspects
Cultural aspects
Case study: Alexandria
Case study: The Ptolemaic temples
LESSON 11 Egyptian religion
Cosmogonies
The Pantheon
The problem of the Egyptian mythology
The funerary world
The doctrine of Egyptian kingship
Temples and rituals
Case study: the myth of Osiris
Case study: the Book of Going Forth by Day or Book of the Dead
LESSON 12 Gender and identity inancient Egypt
Egyptology and gender studies
Man and woman: the roles of gender
Birth, childhood, adulthood, old age, and death
Sexuality
LESSON 13 Art, architecture and urbanism in Egypt
Egyptian art
Civil and military architecture and urbanism: cities and fortresses
Funerary architecture: royal and private tombs
Roads
LESSON 14 “Sciences” and techniques in ancient Egypt
Medicine
Astronomy and time computation
Numeration and mathematics
Geography and cartography
Case study: the Egyptian sky
Methodology
The course will consist of three kinds of formative activities:
1) Directed activities: lectures and practical lessons (case studies).
2) Supervised activities: classroom debates, questions, discussions, and exchanges of opinions, that may be proposed by the lecturers or be the result of concerns or interventions of the students.
3) Independent activities: readings, study of sources, courseworks (see Evaluation), and final exam preparation.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 30 | 1.2 | 1, 8, 3, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10 |
| Practical lessons (case studies) | 15 | 0.6 | 1, 8, 3, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Classroom discussions | 5 | 0.2 | 1, 8, 6, 3, 2, 4, 5, 10 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Courseworks (commentary of sources and reading report: see Evaluation) and exam preparation | 68 | 2.72 | 1, 8, 6, 3, 2, 4, 5, 9, 7, 10 |
Assessment
The evaluation will consist of three activities:
1) Commentary of primary sources: written source (in translation) and archaeological or iconographical source on the same issue to connect: 25%.
2) Bibliographic summary of one of the 4 required readings: 25%.
3) Final exam: 50%.
Activities 1 and 2 will be delivered in doc or pdf format and they must conform to the following edition parameters: Font Times New Roman 12 pt; single spaced; default margins; complete name and NIU above right.
Students must do four required readings during the semester. To run activity 2 they must choose one of these readings, but all of them will be on the exam.
To pass the course the final exam must be passed. The minimum mark for the final exam to be deemed approved is 5.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commentary of primary sources | 25% | 15 | 0.6 | 1, 8, 6, 3, 2, 4, 5, 9, 7, 10 |
| Final exam | 50% | 2 | 0.08 | 1, 8, 6, 3, 2, 4, 5, 9, 7, 10 |
| Summary of a required reading | 25% | 15 | 0.6 | 1, 8, 6, 3, 2, 4, 5, 9, 7, 10 |
Bibliography
Basic bibliography
Agut, D.; Moreno García, J.C. 2016. L'Égypte des pharaons. De Narmer à Dioclétien. 3150 av.J.-C.-284 apr.J.-C. Mondes Anciens. Paris: Belin.
Baines, J.; Málek, J. 1980. Atlas of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Phaidon (Spanish transl. 2000. Atlas cultural de Egipto. Dioses, templos y faraones. Barcelona: Folio).
Bard, K.A. 2015. An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Cervelló Autuori, J. 20151, 20162. Escrituras, lengua y cultura en el antiguo Egipto. El espejo y la lámpara 11. Bellaterra: Publicacions UAB.
Kemp, B.J. 19891; 20052. Ancient Egypt. Anatomy of a Civilization. London-New York: Routledge (Spanish transl. of the 1st ed. 1992. Antiguo Egipto. Anatomía de una civilización. Barcelona: Crítica).
Lloyd, A.B. (ed.) 2010. A Companion to Ancient Egypt. 2 vols. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Moreno García, J.C. 2004. Egipto en el Imperio Antiguo (2650-2150 antes de Cristo). Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra.
Parra, J.M. (ed.) 2009. El antiguo Egipto. Sociedad, economía, política. Madrid: Marcial Pons.
Shaw, I. (ed.) 2000. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford: Oxford University Press (Spanish transl. 2007. Historia del antiguo Egipto. Madrid: La Esfera de los Libros).
Hölbl, G. 2001. A History of the Ptolemaic Empire. London-New York: Routledge (orig. ed. 1994. Geschichte des Ptolemäerreiches. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft).