History of Egypt I
Code: 44500 ECTS Credits: 10| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4315555 Egyptology | OB | 1 | A |
Contact
- Name:
- Jose Lull García
- Email:
- jose.lull@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.
External teachers
- Andrés Diego Espinel
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The general objective of the module is to make the student aware of the history of ancient Egypt from the origins to the beginning of the New Kingdom, critically and always from the direct analysis of textual, iconographic, and archaeological sources and from the reading of specialized and updated bibliography. Special attention will be paid to socio-economic, ideological, historical-religious, and cultural issues.
Competences
- Act in a creative and original way with solidarity and spirit of scientific collaboration.
- Assess the quality, self-imposed, rigor, responsibility and social commitment, both in training and in the scientific and informative work.
- Contextualize the historical and cultural evolution of Egypt in the wider framework of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East and evaluate the synchronicity between the Egyptian civilization and other civilizations of antiquity.
- Critically analyze a given scientific problem based on historical and cultural sources.
- Critically interpret texts as historical and cultural sources.
- Describe the historical and cultural evolution of ancient Egypt, from the critical analysis of the textual, archaeological and iconographic sources.
- Describe the physical and human geography, geology, natural resources and the climate of Egypt since the beginning of the Holocene until today.
- Knowledge and understanding that provide a basis or opportunity for originality in developing and / or applying ideas, often in a research context.
- Recognize and evaluate sociological or ecological issues such as gender, otherness, multiculturalism, identity, immigration and the relationship between human societies and the environment, responding to the concerns of the society of our time.
- Support the epistemology and methodology of historiography Egyptology and evaluate the different historiographical trends of the discipline.
- Teaming up with special sensitivity interdisciplinarity.
- That students are able to integrate knowledge and handle complexity and formulate judgments based on information that was incomplete or limited, include reflecting on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments.
Learning Outcomes
- Act in a creative and original way with solidarity and spirit of scientific collaboration.
- Apply critical analysis from text, archaeological and iconographic sources to the reconstruction of the history of Egypt from its origins to the beginning of the New Kingdom.
- Assess the contribution of disciplines and ancillary techniques of Egyptology at the time of making history and chronology of Egypt.
- Assess the quality, self-imposed, rigor, responsibility and social commitment, both in training and in the scientific and informative work.
- Critically analyze a given scientific problem based on historical and cultural sources.
- Critically evaluate the periodization and chronology of the history of Egypt and the sources on which is based (textual, archaeological and iconographic).
- Critically interpret text sources from the history of Egypt from its origins to the beginning of the New Kingdom.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the history of Egypt from its origins to the beginning of the New Kingdom.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the physical, human and economic geography and the climate of Egypt and the annual rate of the Nile.
- Knowledge and understanding that provide a basis or opportunity for originality in developing and / or applying ideas, often in a research context.
- Recognize and evaluate sociological or ecological issues such as gender, otherness, multiculturalism, identity, immigration and the relationship between human societies and the environment, responding to the concerns of the society of our time.
- Relate the history of Egypt to the cultures in its geographical area from its Neolithic origins to the beginning of the New Kingdom.
- Teaming up with special sensitivity interdisciplinarity.
- That students are able to integrate knowledge and handle complexity and formulate judgments based on information that was incomplete or limited, include reflecting on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments.
Content
This module consists of two subjects:
1) History of Egypt from the origins to the end of the Old Kingdom (first semester, from October to February)
2) History of Egypt from the late Old Kingdom to the beginning of the New Kingdom (secon semester, from February to June)
SUBJECT 1: HISTORY OF EGYPT FROM THE ORIGINS TO THE END OF THE OLD KINGDOM
1. Chronology and political and religious geography of Egypt. An introduction
2. Terminal prehistory and neolithization of North East Africa and the Nile Valley. Economic aspects and material culture
3. Hierakonpolis
4. Abydos and the origin of writing in Egypt
5. The emergence of the State in Egypt and the dynamics of unification. Theoretical problems and archaeological evidence
6. The reign of Narmer-Menes: continuities and discontinuities
7. Royal lists, dynasties, annals, and genealogies: the Thinite Age and the Old Kingdom
8. The Tinite Age I: royal funerary architecture
9. The Tinite Age II: administration, economy, culture. Peribsen and Khasekhemuy
10. The beginnings of the Old Kingdom: Netjerkhet, Imhotep and the III dynasty
11. The full Old Kingdom (dynasties IV and V): internal politics, economy, and administration
12. The pyramids: construction, decorative program, administration, economy; topography of the Memphite necropolis
13. Egypt and abroad during the Early Bronze Age: Libya, Nubia, the Red Sea (Wadi el-Djarf), the Sinai, the Levant, and Byblos
SUBJECT 2: HISTORY OF EGYPT FROM THE LATE OLD KINGDOM TO THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW KINGDOM
Part 1: From the VI Dynasty to the end of the First Intermediate Period (FIP)
1. Introduction: historiography of the period, study of the sources and their problems
2. The 6th dynasty
2.1. Internal history: geographical and environmental setting; the passage from the 5th to the 6th dynasty; political development of the 6th dynasty
2.2. Administration and economy: center versus periphery; characteristics of the central and provincial administrations; the fuzzy definition of the Egyptian economy
2.3. Foreign policy: general characteristics; deserts and "Libya"; Nubia; the Levant; other areas
3. The 7th/8th dynasty: the dissolution of the Old Kingdom, the atomization of the pharaonic state and its possible causes
4. The First Intermediate Period
4.1. The Heracleopolitan Kingdom
4.2. The Theban Kingdom
4.3. War, conquest, and unification
Part 2: From the beginning of the Middle Kingdom to the expulsion of the Hyksos
5. Introduction: historiography of the period, study of the sources and their problems
6. The Middle Kingdom: general aspects; internal history of the 11th and 12th dynasties
7. The dissolution of the Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period (SIP)
7.1. The first part of the SIP: the 13th and 14th dynasties
7.2. The second part of the SIP: the XVth to 17th dynasties and the domination and expulsion of the Hyksos
8. Administration and economy during the Middle Kingdom and the SIP: evolution of the royal authority; socio-economic aspects
9. Egyptian foreign policy during the Middle Kingdom and the SPI:general characteristics; deserts and "Libya"; Nubia; the Levant; other areas
Methodology
Specification of what the STUDENT'S AUTONOMOUS ACTIVITY consists of
a) Study (study is that process or set of personal or group activities that leads to knowing things and being able to explain them in a coherent and orderly manner, orally or in writing).
b) Personal work: critical reading of bibliography; completion of papers and works; preparation of presentations in class, seminars, and debates; exercises of translation and analysis of textual sources; exercises of interpretation of iconographic and archaeological sources; case studies; keeping the student's portfolio up to date; preparing exams.
Important: The teaching methodology and the evaluation proposed in the guide may undergo some modification subject to the onsite teaching restrictions imposed by health authorities.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Exams | 12 | 0.48 | 5, 2, 9, 8, 7, 10, 14, 11, 12, 6, 3 |
| Theoretical and practical classroom lessons with the support of ICT | 70 | 2.8 | 1, 5, 2, 9, 8, 7, 10, 14, 11, 12, 13, 6, 3, 4 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorials, seminars, and class interventions and presentations | 20 | 0.8 | 1, 5, 2, 9, 8, 7, 10, 14, 11, 12, 13, 6, 3, 4 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Study and personal work by the student | 148 | 5.92 | 1, 5, 2, 9, 8, 7, 10, 14, 11, 12, 13, 6, 3, 4 |
Assessment
Module evaluation system
Each of the two subjects that make up the module is evaluated independently. The final mark of the module results from the arithmetic mean of the final marks of the two subjects.
To pass the module it is necessary to pass the evaluation of the two subjects that compose it.
In the table, the hours of dedication to each activity are not specified because they may vary from one student to another. The approximate total hours of student personal work are specified in the table in the "Methodology" section.
The evaluation will consist of three types of activities:
1) Exams. Unless otherwise indicated (see section "Contents"), the students of the virtual modality will take the exams in synchrony with the students of the on-site modality, in connection with Microsoft Teams and with the camera activated. If, for justified reasons, one or more virtual students are not able to take the exam on the day and time set, they will agree with the lecturer on the day and time to take it, which will be as close as possible to those of the original exam.
2) Interventions and presentations in class; active participation in tutorials and seminars.
3) Six individual or group papers.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Regarding the mark review procedure, lecturers will inform the students about it at the time of each evaluation activity.
Regarding the make-up exams, the lecturer will agree with the students the dates, which must be within the monthfollowing the original exam. Students who have passed an exam but wish to improve their mark may also take the make-up exam. In principle, the work and activities that the student performs autonomously are not subject to recovery.
On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 1/3 of the assessment items
This subject/module does incorporate single assessment
Exams (70%) and individual papers (30%)
The same assessment method as continuous assessment will be used.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 exams | 70% | 0 | 0 | 5, 2, 9, 8, 7, 10, 14, 11, 12, 6, 3 |
| Active participation in tutorials and seminars and interventions in class | 10% | 0 | 0 | 1, 5, 9, 10, 14, 11, 13, 6, 3, 4 |
| Individual or group papers with eventual presentation in class | 20% | 0 | 0 | 1, 5, 9, 10, 14, 11, 13, 6, 3, 4 |
Bibliography
SUBJECT 1: HISTORY OF EGYPT FROM THE ORIGINS TO THE END OF THE OLD KINGDOM
Required reading
Agut, Damien.; Moreno García, Juan Carlos. 2016. L'Égypte des pharaons. De Narmer à Dioclétien. 3150 av.J.-C.-284 apr.J.-C. Mondes Anciens. Paris: Belin.
Barta, Miroslav (ed.) 2006. The Old Kingdom Art and Archaeology. Proceedings of the Conference. Prague: Czech Institute of Egyptology.
Baud, Michel. 2002. Djéser et la IIIe dynastie. Paris: Pygmalion/Gérard Watelet.
Dodson, Aidan 2021. The First Pharaohs: Their Lives And Afterlives. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
Der Manuelian, Peter; Schneider, Thomas (eds.) 2015. Towards a New History for the Egyptian Old Kingdom. Perspectives on the Pyramid Age. Harvard Egyptological Studies 1. Leiden-Boston: Brill.
Hendrickx, Stan; Huyge, Dirk. 2014. Neolithic and Predynastic Egypt. A: Renfrew, Colin (ed.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, vol. 1: 240-258. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lloyd, Alan B. (ed.) 2010. A Companion to Ancient Egypt. Vol. I. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Midant-Reynes, Beatrix. 2003. Aux origines de l'Égypte. Du Néolithique à l'émergence de l'État. Paris: Fayard.
Moreno García, Juan Carlos. 2004. Egipto en el Imperio Antiguo (2650-2150 antes de Cristo). Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra.
Parra, José Miguel (coord.) 20112. El antiguo Egipto. Sociedad, economía, política. Madrid: Marcial Pons. Caps. 1 a 4.
Strudwick, Nigel; Strudwick, Helen (eds.) 2011. Old Kingdom, New Perspectives. Egyptian Art and Archaeology 2750-2150 BC. Oxford-Oakville: Oxbow Books.
Tallet, Pierre; Lehner, Mark 2022. The Red Sea Scrolls: How Ancient Papyri Reveal the Secrets of the Pyramids. London: Thames & Hudson.
Teeter, Emily (ed.) 2011. Before the Pyramids. The Origins of Egyptian Civilization. OIMP 33. Chicago: The Oriental Institute.
Wengrow, David. 2006. The Archaeology of Early Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (trad. esp. 2007. La arqueología del Egipto arcaico. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra).
Wilkinson, Toby A. H. 1999. Early Dynastic Egypt, London-New York: Routledge.
Further reading
Archéo-Nil 18. 2008. [Articles by various authors on the funerary architecture of the Tinite Age, with bibliography.]
Archéo-Nil 26. 2016. [Articles by various authors on the origin of writing and state administration in Egypt and the Near East, with bibliography.]
Égypte, Afrique et Orient 12. 1999. [Articles by various authors on the Pyramid Texts and the architecture of the pyramids with texts, with bibliography.]
Bestock, Laurel. 2009. The Development of Royal Funerary Cult at Abydos. Two Funerary Enclosures from the Reign of Aha. Menes 6. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Buchez, Nathalie; Tristant, Yann; Rochecouste, Olivier (eds.) 2021. Égypte antérieure. Mélanges de préhistoire et d’archéologie offerts à Béatrix Midant-Reynes par ses étudiants, collègues et amis pour son 70e anniversaire. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 304. Louvain: Peeters.
Campagno, Marcelo. 2002. De los jefes-parientes a los reyes-dioses. Surgimiento y consolidación del Estado en el antiguo Egipto. Aula Ægyptiaca-Studia 3. Barcelona: Aula Ægyptiaca.
Claes, Wouter; De Meyer, Marleen; Eyckerman, Merel; Huyge,Dirk (eds.) 2021. Remove that Pyramid! Studies on the Archaeology and History of Predynastic and Pharaonic Egypt in Honour of Stan Hendrickx. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 305. Louvain: Peeters.
Diego Espinel, Andrés. 2011. Abriendo los caminos de Punt. Contactos entre Egipto y el ámbito afroárabe durante la Edad del Bronce (ca. 3000 a.C.-1065 a.C.). Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra.
Dodson, Aidan.; Hilton, Dyan. 2004. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.
Dreyer, Günter et al.. 1998. Umm el-Qaab I. Das praedynastische Königsgrab U-j und seine frühen Schriftzeugnisse. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern.
Friedman, Renée F.; Fiske, Peter N. (eds.) 2011. Egypt atits Origins 3. Proceedings of the Third International Conference 'Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt'. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 205. Louvain: Peeters.
Hendrickx, Stan; Friedman, Renée F.; Ciałowicz, K.M.; Chłodnicki, M. (eds.) 2004. Egypt at its Origins. Studies in Memory of Barbara Adams. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 138. Louvain: Peeters.
Midant-Reynes, Beatrix; Tristant, Yann. (eds.) 2017. Egypt at Its Origins 5. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference "Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt. Cairo, 13th-18th April 2014. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 260. Louvain: Peeters.
Midant-Reynes, Beatrix; Tristant, Yann; Rowland, J.; Hendrickx, S. (eds.) 2008. Egypt at its Origins 2. Proceedings of the International Conference 'Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt', Toulouse 2005. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 172. Louvain: Peeters.
Redford, Donald B. 1986. Pharaonic King-lists, Annals and Day-Books. A Contribution to the Study of the Egyptian Senseof History. Mississauga: Benben Publications.
Strudwick, Nigel C. 2005. Texts from the Pyramid Age. Writings from the Ancient World 16. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
SUBJECT 2: HISTORY OF EGYPT FROM THE LATE OLD KINGDOM TO THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW KINGDOM
Required reading
1. Capítols IV-V del llibre de Juan Carlos Moreno García, Damien Agut, L'Égypte des Pharaons. De Narmer à Dioclétien 3150 av. J.-C. – 284 apr. J.-C. Paris 2016: 158-234.
2. Hratch Papazian, "The state of Egypt in the Eighth Dynasty", a: Peter der Manuelian, Thomas Schneider (eds.),Towards a New History for the Egyptian Old Kingdom. Leiden 2015: 393-428 (especialment a partir de la secció 6 a la pàgina 405).
3. Stephan Seidlmayer, "The First Intermediate Period", a: Ian Shaw, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford 2004: 118-147.
4. Renate Müller-Wollermann, “End of the Old Kingdom”, a: Wolfram Grajetzki, Willeke Wendrich. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles 2014: 9 pp.
(https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2ns3652b).
5. Wolfram Grajetzki, The Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt – History, archaeology and society. London 2006: pp. 1-75; 175-185 (notes).
6. Andrés Diego Espinel, “El Reino Medio”, a: José Miguel Parra Ortiz, El antiguo Egipto. Sociedad, economía, política. Madrid 2011: 209-271; 503-505 (notes); 525-527 (bibliografia comentada).
7. Detlef Franke, “The lateMiddle Kingdom (thirteenth to seventeenth dynasties): the chronological framework”, JEH 1/2 (2008): 267-287.
8. Alexander Ilin-Tomich, “Second Intermediate Period”, a: Wolfram Grajetzki, Willeke Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Los Angeles 2016: 21 pp.
(https://escholarship.org/uc/item/72q561r2).
Further reading
1. Richard Bussmann, “Scaling the state: Egypt in the Third Millennium.” Archaeology International 17 (2014): 79-93
(http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ai.1708).
(https://www.academia.edu/8982563/Scaling_the_state_Egypt_in_the_third_millennium_BC ).
2. Juan Carlos Moreno García, “Climatic change or sociopolitical transformation? Reassessing late 3rd millennium BC in Egypt”, a: Harald Meller, Helge Wolfgang Arz, Reinhard Jung & Roberto Risch (eds.), 2200 BC – Ein Klimasturz als Ursache für den Zerfall der Alten Welt? 2200 BC – A climatic breakdown as a cause for the collapse of the old world? 7. Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag vom 23. bis 26. Oktober 2014 in Halle (Saale). Halle 2015: 79-94.
3.Nadine Moeller, “The First Intermediate Period: a time of Famine and climatic change?” Ägypten und Levante 15 (2005): 153-167.
4. Ellen Morris, “Ancient Egyptian exceptionalism – Fragility, flexibility and the art of not collapsing”, a: Norman Yoffe (ed.), The evolution of Fragility: setting the terms. Cambridge 2019: 61-87.
5. Stephan J. Seidlmayer, “People at Beni Hassan: contributions to a model of ancient Egyptian rural society,” a: Zahi A. Hawass, J. Richards (eds.), The archaeology and art of ancient Egypt. Essays in honor of David B. O’Connor. Cairo 2007: 351-368.
6. Susan Cohen, “Interpretative uses and abuses of the Beni Hasan tomb painting.” JNES 74/1 (2015): 19-38.
(https://www.academia.edu/11697169/Interpretative_Uses_and_Abuses_of_the_Beni_Hasan_Tomb_Painting).
7. Daniel Polz, “The territorial claim and the political role of the Theban State at the end of the Second Intermediate Period”, a: Irene Forstner-Müller, Nadine Moeller (eds.), The Hyksos ruler Khyan and the early Second Intermediate Period in Egypt: problems and priorities of corrent research. Wien 2018: 217-234.
Software
No specific program to take this module is required.