ANE 120A- Elementary Ancient Egyptian
(Jacco Dieleman and Krystal Lords)
MWF
11.00 – 12:50
ANE/Classics M167 (cross-listed with
Classics) - Magic in the
ancient world (lecture course)
, Jacco Dieleman
TR
9:30-10:45
ANE 121 - The Empire under Construction:
historical texts from Kamose to Hatshepsut
(c. 1545-1458), Jacco Dieleman
MW
9-10:20
ANE 220 - Historical texts of the
New Kingdom, Jacco Dieleman
Th 2-5pm
ANE 261 - Practical Field Archaeology,
Willeke Wendrich
Off
Campus
ANE 120B - Elementary Ancient Egyptian
(Jacco Dieleman and Krystal Lords)
MWF
11:00-12:50
ANE/HIST M103A - Ancient Egyptian Civilization, Willeke Wendrich
TR 9:30-10:45
ANE 165 - Archaeology of Egypt, subject:: Visual Archaeology,
Willeke Wendrich
W 2:00-4:50
ANE 121B - The rise of writing in the Old Kingdom:, Jacco Dieleman
W 9-10:20
ANE 211A - Egyptian temple texts of the Greco-Roman period,
Jacco Dieleman
TR 9-10:20
Taught by outside lecturer:
ANE 123A - introduction to Sahidic
Coptic, Hany Takla
TR
late afternoons
ANE 120C - Elementary Ancient Egyptian
(Jacco Dieleman and Krystal Lords)
MWF
11:00-11:50
ANE/HIST M103B - Ancient Egyptian
Civilization, Willeke Wendrich
TR 9:30-10:45
ANE 201/ARCH 201C - Core Class Archaeology:
Formulating Research Proposals, Willeke Wendrich
W
2:00-5:00
Taught by outside lecturer:
ANE 123B - introduction to Sahidic
Coptic, Hany Takla
TR
late afternoons
ANE 120A - Elementary Egyptian
Course Description:
The class ANE 120A is the first in a series of three, taught in the Fall,
Winter, and Spring quarter respectively (ANE 120A-C), that together make
up the course ‘Elementary Ancient Egyptian’. Over the course
of one academic year students will learn the principles of the hieroglyphic
writing system and acquire basic knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary
of the so-called Middle Egyptian language phase, the most important stage
of the ancient Egyptian language which was in use as a written language
from ca. 2100 BCE until 300 CE. During the Fall quarter (ANE 120A) students
are first introduced to the hieroglyphic script and the phonology and morphology
of Middle Egyptian. In the second half of the quarter they will start studying
the basic rules of Middle Egyptian syntax, focusing on nominal, adjectival,
and adverbial sentences – the syntax of verbal sentences will be
studied in the Winter quarter (ANE 120B). At the end of the quarter students
are expected to be able to use a hieroglyphic sign list and a dictionary,
to transliterate Egyptian hieroglyphs into the standard transliteration
script, and to translate easy nominal, adjectival, and adverbial sentences
from Egyptian into English and English into Egyptian. They must also have
acquired a rudimentary Egyptian vocabulary. Passing for this class is a
prerequisite for enrolling in the continuing classes ANE 120B & C.
Course Materials:
The textbook of this class is James P. Allen, Middle Egyptian. An Introduction
to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs (Cambridge University Press;
Cambridge 2000 and later prints). The class ANE 120A will cover chapters
1 to 12; the remaining chapters 13 to 26 will be studied in the Winter
and Spring quarters (ANE 120B-C). Exercises and vocabulary lists are posted
on the Ecampus course website or distributed in class. The E-Campus course
website also features online learning tools to practice the hieroglyphic
signs and non-verbal sentence patterns.
ANE M167 - Magic in the Ancient World
This lecture course is an exploration of the art of influencing the natural
course of events by occult means as practiced in the ancient world at
large. It covers the beliefs in supernatural forces, the rites aimed
at effectively controlling these forces, and the character and social
roles of ritual experts in the various cultures of the ancient world.
As source material serve magical spells, literary texts about magic and
magicians, and artifacts such as amulets and ritual implements. The course
has a comparative approach, both diachronically and cross-culturally,
with a particular focus on aspects of continuity and change to bring
out the differences and similarities between beliefs, practices, and
discourses throughout the ages and across the various cultures as well
as to explore the ancient debates about the validity and usefulness of
occult approaches to understanding the workings of nature in contrast
to dialectic reasoning and empirical research.
The course aims at providing students with an introductory knowledge of
the various magical traditions of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean,
while also making them familiar with the most important ancient sources
and modern handbooks available for studying magical practices in the ancient
world. Students are expected to develop analytical skills through the critical
study of ancient texts, artifacts and ritual actions in their proper historical
and cultural contexts and are required to apply these skills in a research
paper.
The lectures and required readings are also meant to make students understand
that magic is not only a method to influence the natural course of events,
but also very much a type of social behavior and discourse used to pose
an alternative to passive impotence in the face of life crises, to explain
and come to terms with unfortunate events, and to label outsiders or unfamiliar
ritual practices. Understood in this way, magic must be viewed as a social
phenomenon, of all times and places, that exhibits specific forms and functions
relative to the circumstances and particulars of a given time period and
culture.
A cross-cultural approach makes it possible to trace the contours of an
intellectual development, running from ancient Egypt, via ancient Greece,
to ancient Rome and eventually the modern west, regarding the validity
and usefulness of empirical observation and critical inquiry in understanding
the chains of cause and effect in the natural world. Students are thus
invited to reflect upon the history and roots of the modern scientific
paradigm and upon the correlations between knowledge, authority, legitimacy,
and control in the history of the formation of this paradigm.
ANE 121A - The Empire under Construction: Historical
Texts from Kamose to Hatshepsut (c. 1545-1458)
This course is a thematic reading course that builds upon the knowledge
and skills acquired in the introductory course Elementary Ancient Egyptian
(ANE 120A-C). Having passed for the elementary course is a prerequisite
for participating in the intermediate class. Whereas Elementary Ancient
Egyptian is an introduction to the writing system and grammar of so-called
Middle Egyptian, this reading course aims at preparing students to independently
apply their theoretical knowledge to authentic Middle Egyptian texts and
at making students familiar with the most important philological tools
and methods. Through reading a thematically coherent group of texts and
discussing their historical, cultural, and social contexts, students are
challenged to reflect upon the ideological nature of ancient Egyptian texts,
to appreciate the genre conventions of specific text corpora, and to fully
realize the limitations and problems of using Egyptian texts as sources
for the modern study of ancient Egypt.
The topic of the fall quarter 2007 is the corpus of historical texts of
the early New Kingdom. These texts were inscribed on temple walls and stelae
and are nowadays important sources for studying the military exploits,
policy decisions, and ideological concerns of the kings of the early New
Kingdom. Three aspects stand out as characteristic for this period: the
prominent role of the queens and king’s mothers, the ‘war of
liberation’ that eventually led to the establishment of an Egyptian
empire in Nubia and the Levant, and the close relationship between the
royal family and the god Amun – or his priesthood, for that matter.
In this class we will read a selection of 6 texts that bear upon these
aspects and study how public inscriptions were meant to justify and legitimize
pharaonic autocracy and to establish relationships of mutual dependency
between the king and priestly and provincial elites.
ANE 220 - Historical texts of the New Kingdom
In this course we read and discuss the Kamose texts, the Speos Artemidos
text of queen Hatshepsut and the Thutmose III annals and reflect upon
the concepts of history and historiography in ancient Egypt.
ANE 121B - The rise of writing in the Old Kingdom
This undergraduate course is an introduction to the textual sources of
the Old Kingdom and to the grammar of the so-called Old Egyptian language
phase. In the first two weeks we will focus on the earliest evidence
for writing, i.e. the ivory labels from tomb U-j, the Predynastic palettes
and seals, the Early Dynastic jar labels, and the earliest self-contained
sentences. The other eight weeks will be spent with reading Old Kingdom
autobiographies and a selection of spells from the corpus of Pyramid
Texts. The text book for this class is Elmar Edel, Altägyptische
Grammatik (Rome 1955-64); two extensive and updated summaries in
English will be made available.
ANE 211A - Egyptian temple texts of the Greco-Roman period
This graduate course is an introduction to the idiosyncratic hieroglyphic
writing system of the Greco-Roman period. The Ptolemaic period is characterized
by an explosion of creativity in the composition of religious texts and
by a tendency to systematize and reinterpret religious traditions of
old. By combining and exploiting the phonetic and pictorial values of
the hieroglyphic sign priests were able to compose texts with multiple
layers of meaning that are stunning in their intellectual depth. The
corpus of texts written in the Ptolemaic writing system is large and
indispensable for the study of Egyptian religion: the temple walls of
Edfu, Denderah, Philae, Kom Ombo, Esna – to name only a few – are
filled with these texts from top to bottom. The texts are written in
a form of Middle Egyptian. We will read a variety of text types, such
as morning hymns, instructions to the priests, invocations of Sakhmet,
cult topographies, and passages from the handbooks for the Choiak mysteries.
The required text book for this class is Christian Leitz, Quellentexte
zur ägyptischen Religion I: Die Tempelinschriften der griechisch-römischen
Zeit, Bd. 2 (Münster 2004) ISBN 3-8258-7340-4 – ordered
through UCLA bookstore.
ANE 123A - Introduction to Sahidic Coptic
This two-quarter undergraduate course is an introduction to the latest
Egyptian language phase, written in a modified Greek script, which is
attested in writing from ca. 100 to 1400 CE. The course focuses on the
Sahidic dialect. The first quarter is spent with learning the Coptic
alphabet and grammar, whereas the second quarter is a reading course
introducing students to a variety of text genres. Coptic may not appeal
to Egyptology students at first sight; however, it holds the key to a
true understanding of the Egyptian language, as the so-important vowels
are written out (which makes learning and understanding the language
so much easier). For this reason knowledge of Coptic is required for
anybody who would like to teach Egyptian in the future (you will not
be considered in job searches if you cannot demonstrate familiarity with
this language phase). The text book for this class is Thomas O. Lambdin, Introduction
to Sahidic Coptic (several editions) – ordered through UCLA
bookstore.
© 2007 Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
