Dynastic Egypt: holy and secular spaces

Pre-requisites: Good command of the English language.

Course objectives: To achieve an in-depth understanding of how Ancient Egyptian and our perceptions of the holy and secular permeate each other; to develop an independent point of view regarding different aspects of social relations and conduct in Dynastic Egypt.

Course description: The introductory part of the course reviews key questions regarding social organization (including the family level), view of the world, understanding the concept of appropriate behavior, and economy. The course focuses on how much were religion and holy places integrated in every-day life. Using specific examples of settlements, necropoli and temples, students will study how these spaces developed, how they were used, what is their relation to one another and the surrounding environment, with a special overview of changes in appreciation and use of these spaces. The way in which the picture of social and economic practice is reconstructed will be continuously analyzed through the study of a variety of primary sources and some of their published interpretation.

Learning Outcomes: Midterm examination and oral examination.

Literature/Reading:

• BAINES, J., Temples as symbols, guarantors, and participants in Egyptian civilisation, in: S. Quirke (Ed.), The Temple in Ancient Egypt, London 1997, 216-241.
• BAINES, J. and P. LACOVARA, Burial and the dead in ancient Egyptian society. Respect, formalism, neglect, Journal of Social Archaeology 2:1 (2002) 5-36.
• BIETAK, M., Egyptology and the Urban Setting, in: K.R. Weeks (Ed.), Egyptology and the Social Sciences, Cairo 1979, 95-144.
• DORMAN, P.F. and B.M. BRYAN (Eds.), Sacred Space and Sacred Function in Ancient Thebes, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilizations, Vol. 61, Chicago 2007.
• GASSE, A., Economy (Temple Economy), in: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt 1, ed. by D. Redford, Oxford 2001, 433-436.
• LAZARIDIS, N., Ethics, in: E. Frood and W. Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles 2008. http://repositories.cdlib.org/nelc/uee/1021
• LUPO, S., Territorial Appropriation during the Old Kingdom (XXVIIIth-XXth centuries BC). The royal necropolises and the pyramid towns in Egypt, BAR International Series 1595, Oxford 2007.
• LOVE, S., Stones, ancestors, and pyramids: investigating the pre-pyramid landscape of Memphis, in: The Old Kingdom Art and Archaeology. Proceedings of the Conference held in Prague, May 31 – June 4, 2004, pp. 209-218, ed. by M. Barta, Prague: Czech Institute of Egyptology, 2006. http://www.gizapyramids.org/code/emuseum.asp?newpage=authors_list#L
• MESKELL, L., An Archaeology of Social Relations in an Egyptian Village, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 5:3 (1998) 209-243.
• MENU, B.M., Economy (An Overview; Royal Sector; Private Sector), in: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt 1, ed. by D. Redford, Oxford 2001, 422-433.
• RICHARDS, J., Society and Death in Ancient Egypt. Mortuary Landscapes of the Middle Kingdom, Cambridge 2005.
• ADAMS, M.D, A Textual Window on the Settlement System in Ancient Egypt, in: J. Lustig (Ed.), Anthropology and Egyptology. A Developing Dialogue, Sheffield 1997, 90-105.
• BIERBRIER, M., The Tomb-Builders of the Pharaohs, Cairo 1989.
• MCDOWELL, A. G., Village Life in Ancient Egypt. Laundry Lists and Love Songs, Oxford 2001.
• TRIGGER, B.G., Early Civilizations. Ancient Egypt in Context, Cairo 1993.
• JEFFREYS, D., Regionality, Cultural and Cultic Landscapes, in: W. Wendrich (ed), Egyptian Archaeology, Oxford 2010, 102-118.
• LESKO, L.H. (Ed.), Pharaoh’s Workers. The Villagers of Deir el Medina, Ithaca and London 1994.
• AUFRÈRE, S.H., The Egyptian temple, substitute for the mineral universe, in: W.V. Davies, Colour and Painting in Ancient Egypt, London 2001, 158-163.
• WILFONG, T.G., Gender in Ancient Egypt, in: W. Wendrich (ed), Egyptian Archaeology, Oxford 2010, 164-179.
• MESKELL, L., Archaeologies of Social Life. Age, Sex, Class, et cetera in Ancient Egypt, Oxford 1999.