Syllabus

This syllabus is subject to change until the first day of class

Assessment:
Midterm: 25%
Final: 30%
Writing Assignment: 35%
Course participation: 10%

Exams:
The midterm and final will include a map with site identifications, short answers, and an essay question based on a specific text. Each exam is designed to take 50 minutes. The sites whose location you are responsible for will be posted to the wiki no less than one week before each exam. The short answers on the final will reflect only material from the second half of the class, however, the essay question may ask you to draw comparisons between material discussed in both halves of the class.

Writing assignment:
Write a research paper on an approved topic. Topics and preliminary bibliographies must be handed in and approved three weeks prior to the paper due date. It is important to identify a topic that is not too broad, for which there is sufficient information but no synthetic study already completed. You must use original sources in your research (translations of Egyptian texts into any modern language you can read) as well as secondary sources. While you are encouraged to identify topics in part based on the general readings for the course, you must go substantially beyond these general works in amassing a bibliography. Your research should be thorough enough that you have looked at many if not most of the most relevant and recent discussions related to your topic – be warned that because this is a large class, you need to exercise considerable foresight in tracking down sources. Use ILL, use JSTOR, etc. Failure to consult a source because it is checked out of the Rock is an insufficient excuse. In identifying a topic, it may be helpful to begin by posing questions that you find interesting or identifying areas discussed in class or in the texts that you found ambiguous or unconvincing. You are strongly encouraged to speak to me about potential topics before developing your proposal and bibliography; identifying focused topics is one of the most difficult tasks facing the student of the ancient world and I am more than happy to help you narrow your interests into a feasible question-oriented topic. Your paper should be approximately 2500-3000 words long and must include proper citations. Failure to cite properly will result in a full grade deduction. Papers will be graded on quality of research, strength of argument, organization and style. Late papers are not acceptable.

Course Participation:
Because this is a relatively large class, the opportunity to participate in in-class discussions will be somewhat limited. However, on multiple occasions we will split into groups and engage in discussion of the reading as led by the graduate students in the class. Discussion sessions, their times and locations, will be announced in class and on the wiki one week prior to their occurrence; attendance will be taken at sessions. Questions related to the readings will also be posted on a weekly basis to the wiki, where a running discussion will also take place. All members of the class are encouraged to pose questions in this forum and all will be expected to participate in the ensuing discussion (so make sure you use your real name when commenting on the wiki so I know who you are). Failure to attend sessions, persistent absence from the lecture portion of class, or failure to engage in wiki conversations will result in a lower grade for the participation element of the course.

Books:
Required:
Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Ian Shaw (ed) (this is available in illustrated and unillustrated forms – I suggest the former not only because the illustrations are helpful but because it is larger format and easier to use)
Social History of Egypt, Trigger et al
Texts from the Pyramid Age, Nigel Strudwick
Ancient Egyptian Literature I, Miriam Lichtheim

Suggested (selections from the following will be posted to the wiki as assigned reading, however any student intending to do much study of ancient Egypt should consider owning the following volumes in those cases where they are available):
Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization, second edition (2005), Barry Kemp
Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign, edited by D. O’Connor and E. Cline
The above two are strongly recommended
Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs, Shultz and Seidel (eds)
Complete Pyramids, Mark Lehner
Administration of Egypt in the Old Kingdom, Nigel Strudwick
The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, Grajetzki
Administration of Egypt in the Late Middle Kingdom, Stephen Quirke
Middle Kingdom Studies, Quirke

Schedule:

Note: All readings should be done over the course of the week they are assigned. Readings should be completed before class on Friday of any given week so that discussion sections can be as productive as possible.

Week 1 (Jan 27-29): Introduction
Readings:
• Shaw Chapter 1, 1-16
• John Moreland Archaeology and Text, Chapter 1, 9-32.

Week 2 (Feb 1-5): Defining History in the Ancient World
Chronology; Political vs. Social History
Readings:
•    Shaw, Chapter 2, 17-43
•    Kemp, Chapter 1, 19-59
•    William Ward “The Present Status of Egyptian Chronology” BASOR 288 (1992) 53-66
•    Tait and Uphill in ‘Never Had the Like Occurred’: Egypt’s View of Its Past (ed.) J. Tait, 1-30

Week 3 (Feb 8-12) Rise of the State; Development of Writing
Reading:
Shaw chapters 3 and 4, 44-88
•    Fekri Hassan “The Predynastic of Egypt”, JWP 2 (1988) 135-86
•    Kristiana Köhler “The State of Research on Late Predynastic Egypt” New Evidence for the Development of the Pharaonic State?” GM 147 (1995) 79-92
•    Trigger in Social History, 1-70
•    Baines “Communication and Display: The Integration of Early Egyptian Art and Writing” in Antiquity 63 (1989) 471-82
•    Brandl “Evidence for Egyptian colonization of the southern coastal plain and lowlands of Canaan during the Early Bronze I Period” in Nile Delta in Transition, 441-76

Week 4 (Feb 15-19): Old Kingdom I
Reading:
•    Shaw Chapter 5, 89-117
•    Kemp in Social History part 1: 71-111
•    Recommended: Kemp Anatomy Chapter 4, 163-192

Week 5 (no class Feb 22; Feb 24-26) Old Kingdom II
Reading:
•    Redford “The Egyptian Sense of the Past in the Old and Middle Kingdoms” in Pharaonic King-lists, Annals and Day-books, 127-163
•    Malek “The Original Version of the Royal Canon of Turin”, JEA 68 (1982) 93-106
•    Strudwick Intro 1-63 and the following selections
o    The Palermo Stone and Associated Fragments 65-73
o    Festival Offering Calendar for the Sun Temple of Niuserre 86-91
o    Royal Decrees nos. 16-28, p 97-115
o    State Administrative Texts, 165-174
o    Biographical Texts by number: 198, 200, 205, 212, 227, 232, 241, 242, 243,247, 256, 269, 273, 274

Week 6 (Mar 1-5) First Intermediate Period
Reading:
•    Shaw chapter 6, 118-147
•    Strudwick Royal Decrees nos. 29-40, p. 115-124
•    W. C. Hayes “The Middle Kingdom in Egypt: Internal History from the Rise of the Heracleopolitans to the Death of Ammenemenes III” in Cambridge Ancient History I.2, 464-531
•    Brovarski. “Ahanakht of Bersheh and the Hare Nome in the First Intermediate Period” in Simpson and Davies (eds.) Studies in Ancient Egypt, the Aegean and the Sudan (Festschrift D. Dunham) 14-30.
•    Brovarski “Akhmim in the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period” in Melanges Gamal eddin Mokhtar 117-53.
•    G. Björkman “Egyptology and Historical Method” Orientalia Suecana 13 (1964) 9-33.
•    Lichtheim, Merikare and EP, 97-112, 169-83
•    Fischer “The Nubian Mercenaries of Gebelien during the First Intermediate Period” Kush 9 (1961) 44-80
•    Kemp in Social History, 112-116; 174-182

MIDTERM MARCH 8th

Week 7 (Mar 8-12) Middle Kingdom I
Reading:
•    Shaw Chapter 7, 148-183
•    Grajetzki Part 1, 7-63
•    David Lorton “Terms of Coregency in the Middle Kingdom” VA 2 (1986) 113-120
•    Do. Arnold “Amenemhat I and the Early Twelfth Dynasty” MMJ 26 (1991) 5-48
•    Allen Intro to Hekanakht and selections

PAPER TOPIC PROPSOAL AND PRELIMINARY BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE MARCH 19th

Week 8 (Mar 15-19) Middle Kingdom II
Reading:
•    Grajetzki Part 3, 139-166
•    J. Wegner “The Nature and Chronology of the Senusret III-Amenemhat III Regnal Succession” JNES 55 (1996) 249-79
•    Kemp, Anatomy of a Civilization Chapter 5: 193-244
•    Parkinson Voices from Ancient Egypt p. 40-54, 97-112
•    Lichtheim, 113-20, 123-25, 134-44, 149-63
•    Galan “Royal Commisioners and Royal Inscriptions” in Proceedings of the 7th International Congress of Egyptologists, 419-428

Week 9 (Mar 22-26) Egypt and the Outside World through the Middle Kingdom
Reading:
•    Shaw Chapter 11
•    Kemp in Social History, 116-174
•    Williams “Serra East and the Mission of Middle Kingdom Fortresses in Nubia” in Gold of Praise, 435-53.
•    S. T. Smith “Askut and the Purpose of the Second Cataract Forts” JARCE 28 (1991) 107-32.
•    Smither “The Semna Dispatches” JEA 31 (1945) 3-10.
•    Bourriau “Relations between Egypt and Kerma during the Middle and New Kingdoms” in Davies (ed.) Egypt and Africa 129-44.
•    Adams “The First Colonial Empire: Egypt in Nubia 3200-1200 BC” Comparative Studies in Society and History 26 (1984): 36-71.
•    Ben Tor “The Relations between Egypt and Palestine During the Middle Kingdom as Reflected by Contemporary Canaanite Scarabs” in Proceedings of the 7th International Congress of Egyptologists, 149-63.

March 29-April 2 Spring Break

PAPER DUE APRIL 9th

Week 10 (Apr 5-9) Second Intermediate Period
Reading:
•    Bourriau in Shaw Ch. 8, 184-217
•    Säve-Söderbergh “The Nubian Kingdom of the Second Intermediate Period” Kush 4 (1953) 54-61
•    Matthiae, G. S. “The Mace of Pharaoh Hotepibre and the Connections between Egypt and Syria-Palestine in the XIII Dynasty.” Studies in the History and Archaeology of Palestine 2: 49-58.
•    Redford, DB. 1970. “The Hyksos Invasion in History and Tradition.” Orientalia 39: 1-51.
•    Bietak, Manfred. “Canaanites in the Eastern Nile Delta.” Egypt, Israel, Sinai, pp. 41-56.
•    Quirke “Royal Power in the 13th Dynasty” in Middle Kingdom Studies
•    Bourriau “Beyond Avaris: The Second Intermediate Period in Egypt outside the Eastern Delta” in Oren (ed) The Hyksos
•    Allen, Allen and Ben-Tor, review of The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period by Kim Ryholt

Week 11 (Apr 12-16) 18th Dynasty through Thutmosis IV
Reading:
•    O’Connor in Social History, 183-232.
•    Shaw Chapter 9, 218-71.
•    Dorman “The Early Reign of Thutmose III: An Unorthodox Mantle of Coregency” in Cline and O’Connor Thutmose III: A New Biography, Ann Arbor 2006, 39-68.

Week 12 (Apr 19-23) Amenhotep III-Amarna Period
•    Murnane “The Organization of Government under Amenhotep III” in Amenhotep III, Perspectives on His Reign, O’Connor and Cline (eds), 173-222
•    Baines “The Dawn of the Amarna Age” in Amenhotep III, Perspectives on His Reign, O’Connor and Cline (eds), 271-312
•    Moran Amarna Letters selections to be determined

Week 13 (Apr 26) Late Amarna-Late 18th Dynasty
•    Shaw 272-287
•    Kemp Anatomy of a Civilization 247-335
•    Van Dijk The New Kingdom Necropolis of Memphis: Historical and Iconographical Studies, 10-83

FINAL: APRIL 28