The class readings are located either among the course textbooks, or they are available for downloading
and reading by linking to them from this "Reading Assignments"-web page. Over the course of the semester,
the instructor might make others available through the Addlestone Library (reference, reserve, or periodicals
sections). Those citations in the reading list below not found in the course textbooks are marked with the
locator code:
ELJ =
Electronic journal available through searching and downloading from JStore;
RS =
Addlestone Library Reserve;
Per =
Library Periodicals Room;
W =
this Web Page.
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Week 1: January 10 and 12 (1/10) Introduction: Course Description (1/12) Historiography: Historical Method and Historical Questioning Brewer-Teeter, "An Egyptian Revival," 1-15: Meskell, "The Interpretive Framework," 1-16; W Piccione, "From Queries to Answers: A Taxonomy of Historical Questioning" (click to open) W CHART: Sources and Approaches to the Study of Egyptian Culture (handout) (click to open). (1/13) Last day to Add/Drop _______________________________________________________________________________ Week 2: January 17 and 19 (1/17) Ancient Egypt: Historical Overview I Brewer-Teeter, "A Chronology and History of Egypt," 30-44; McDowell, "Introduction: The Setting," 1-5; Simpson et al., "The Semna Stela," 337-338; W/Ref W. Murnane, "The History of Ancient Egypt: An Overview," in CANE 2/5, 691-701 (click to open); W/ELJ K. Kitchen, "The Chronology of Ancient Egypt," World Archaeology 23/2 (October 1991): 201-208 (click to open). (1/19) Ancient Egypt: Historical Overview II Brewer-Teeter, "A Chronology and History of Egypt," 44-59; Simpson et al., "The Israel Stela," 356-360; W/Ref W. Murnane, "The History of Ancient Egypt: An Overview," in CANE 2/5, 701-717 (click to open); _______________________________________________________________________________ Week 3: January 24 and 26 (1/24) Geography and Environment of Egypt Brewer-Teeter, "The River, Valley and Desert," 17-29; Meskell, "Locales and Communities," 17-25; W M. Hoffman, "The Two Lands: An Ecological Perspective," 23-32 (click to open); W "The Hymn to Hapy (Nile Inundation)" (click to open). (1/26) Irrigation in the Nile Valley; Simpson et al., "The Famine Stela," 386-391; W Kees,"The Countryside," sects. A-B, including: "The Nile and the Seasons," "Irrigation and Soil," 47-61 [click to open]; W Baer, K., "Land and Water in Ancient Egypt", paper read at 28th Int. Congr. of Orientalists, Canberra, 1971 (click to open); W/RS Butzer, K., "Irrigation," in Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, 183-188 (click to open); W Recommended: Piccione, P. "Basin Irrigation in Ancient Egypt" (click to open). _______________________________________________________________________________ Week 4: January 31 and February 2 (1/31-2/1) Calendars, Time and the Agricultural Cycle Meskell, "Postscript," 208-210; RS/W Parker, R. "The Calendars and Chronology," in The Legacy of Egypt, 13-26 (click to open); McDowell, "Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days," 113-114 [82]; Simpson et al., "Coffin Texts Spell 148: The Four Winds," 265-266; W "The Heliacal Rising of Sothis" (letter) (click to open); Ref Robins, G. "Mathematics, Astronomy, and Calendars in Pharaonic Egypt," in CANE, vol. 3, 1799-1814; Per/ELJ Ingham, M. F., "The Length of the Sothic Cycle," Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 58 (1969): 36-40 (available from JStore). _______________________________________________________________________________ Week 5: February 7 and 9 (2/7-2/9) Egyptian Ethnicity, Ethnology, and Concepts of Ethnic Differences Meskell, "Locales, Authenticity and Place," 44-52; RS S. T. Smith, "Race," in Oxford Encyc., vol. 3, 111-116; W Leahy, A. "Ethnic Diversity in Ancient Egypt," in CANE, vol. 1, 225-234 (click to open); W Trigger, B. "Nubian, Negro, Black, Nilotic?" in Africa in Antiquity: The Arts of Ancient Nubia and the Sudan, vol. 1, 26-35, (click to open); W Brace, C. et al., "Clines and Clusters Versus 'Race': A Test in Ancient Egypt and the Case of a Death on the Nile." Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 36 (1993): 1-31. Repr. Black Athena Revisited, ed. Lefkowitz & Rogers, 129-164 (click to open); W/Per/ELJ S. O. Y. Keita, "Studies and Comments on Ancient Egyptian Biological Relationships," History in Africa 20 (1993): 129-154 (click to open); W Recommended: Bard, K. "Ancient Egyptians and the Issue of Race," in Black Athena Revisited, ed. M. Lefkowitz and G. M. Rogers, 103-11 (click to open) (click to open); Per/ELJ Recommended: S. O. Y. Keita, "The Persistence of Racial Thinking, and the Myth of Racial Divergence," American Anthropologist 99 (1997): 534-544 (available from JStore). Video & Writing Assignment: S. O. Y. Keita, Cambridge University Workshop Including Egyptian Ethnicity and Origins Writing Assignment Due 2/14-16. Early submission on 2/14 will garner 4 extra-credit points added to the grade of the assignment._______________________________________________________________________________ Week 6: February 14 and 16 (2/14) Clear previous assignments and readings. (2/16) Egyptian Language and Writing Brewer-Teeter, "Language and Writing," 127-141; Simpson et al., "Scribal Traditions in the Schools", 438-441. W Gardiner, "Introduction," in A. H. Gardiner, /Egyptian Grammar, 5-12 (click to open); W Piccione, "Ancient Egyptian Languages and Writing" (click to open); _______________________________________________________________________________ Week 7: February 21 and 23 (2/21) Clear previous assignments and readings. (2/23) Literacy, Scribal Training and Social Advancement Brewer-Teeter, Egypt and the Egyptians, 91-94; W Piccione, "The Egyptian Educational System" (click to open); McDowell, "Education," 127-133 [93-97]; Simpson et al., "Satire on the Trades", 431-437; W R. J. Williams, "Scribal Training in Ancient Egypt" Journal of the American Oriental Society 92 (1972): 214-221 (click to open). Palaeoastronomy Project: Determining the Heliacal Risings of Sirius/Sothis Across Egypt (due 3/1) Instructions: Each student will be assigned a specific ancient year-date in class. Dowload the following form, fill in the year date, and complete each of the questions posed: EXERCISE IN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY AND CHRONOLOGY (click to open) _______________________________________________________________________________ Week 8: February 28 and March 1 (3/1) Palaeoastronomy Project Due 3/1 _______________________________________________________________________________ + + + SPRING BREAK: March 3 through 11 + + + (3/12) Midterm grades available to students on MyCharleston. _______________________________________________________________________________ Week 9: March 13 and 15 (3/13-15) Egyptian Society and Class Structure Brewer-Teeter, "Government and the Governed", 79-91, 110-126; McDowell, "Law", 165-175 ["Sources", 120-129]; Simpson et al., 129-148, 223-243, 401-407. _______________________________________________________________________________ Week 10: March 20 and 22 (3/22) Economic Structures: Government and Temple Administrations Brewer-Teeter, "Taxation," 94-97; McDowell, "Economics," 73-75, 76-78, 82-83, 84-85 [45, 48, 53, 55]; W/Ref E. Bleiberg, "The Economy of Ancient Egypt," in CANE 3, 1373-86 (click to open); W/Ref R. Leprohon, "Royal Ideology and State Administration in Pharaonic Egypt," in CANE 1, 273-287 (click to open); RS/W Wente, Letters from Ancient Egypt, 120-122, no. 143 (click to open). (3/19) Last day to withdraw with grade of "W" _______________________________________________________________________________ Week 11: March 27 and 29 (3/27) Status of Women, Love and Marriage Meskell, "Founding a House," 94-125; McDowell, "Love and Marriage," 32-35, 38-40 [6-11, 14]; "Support of Women," 40-46 [15-20]; W Gaballa, "The Legal Text" (Inscription of Mes) (click to open). (3/29) Maternity, Birthing and Obstetrics W Stevens, "Gynaecology from Ancient Egypt: The Papyrus Kahun," The Medical Journal of Australia 21 (December 1975): 949-952 (click to open); W Iversen, E. Papyrus Carlsberg No. VIII with Some Remarks on the Egyptian Origin of Some Popular Birth Prognoses (click to open); W Riddle, "Egyptian Papyrus Sources," in Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance, 66-73 (click to open). _______________________________________________________________________________ Week 12: April 3 and 5 (4/3) Sexual Attitudes and Mores Meskell, "Love, Eroticism and the Sexual Self," 126-147; McDowell, "Adultery," 46-49 [21-23]; W L. Manniche, "Some Aspects of Ancient Egyptian Sexual Life," 11-23 (click to open); Per/ELJ R. Parkinson, "'Homosexual Desire' and Middle Kingdom Literature," Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 81 (1995): 57-76 (also available from JStore); Simpson et al., "Chester Beatty Love Song," 322-329 [stanzas no. 31-40]. _______________________________________________________________________________ Week 13: April 10 and 12 (4/10-4/12) Class Presentations: Virtual Musem Exhibits (4/12) Final Written Reports Due _______________________________________________________________________________ Week 14: April 17 and 19 (4/19) Last Day of Class: Interim Exam _______________________________________________________________________________ FINAL EXAMINATIONS: !! NONE !! Final Grades Due Monday, May 7, 12:00 Noon. Final Grades Available to Students Tuesday, May 8, 12:00 Noon.
Instructions: Write a single integrated formal essay as a reaction paper (1-page, single space, not more than 2.5 pp.) on Dr. Keita's lectures that combines the answers to the questions below. Do not separate the questions into separate answers. While not required, employing footnotes with references to related readings will enhance the grade. A cover page is not necessary, but do type your name and course number at the top of page 1.
- What are the main points in Keita's presentations regarding the origins of the ancient Egyptians and their physical and cultural relations and connections specifically to: 1) Western Asia, and 2) the rest of Africa? Be sure to describe the kinds of evidence that he uses to advance his arguments. Be succinct.
- Again succinctly, how do Brace's and Trigger's arguments concerning clines in the Nile Valley accord with Keita's arguments and conclusions?
- According to Keita, who were the ancient Egyptians, and where did they come from?
- What arguments does he advance concerning the extent to which all Africans were or were not related physically and culturally to each other, and where might the Egyptians fit into this scenario?
- Finally, what race were the ancient Egyptians? (Caution: a wrong answer could reduce grade-points accumulated above)
The following question is additional extra credit (up 3 points), and allows the paper to exceed the 2.5-page limit if necessary:
- How did the Egyptians perceive themselves, and how did they differentiate themselves from Asians and other Africans?