Egyptology Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Textbooks
Quirke, Stephen. Ancient Egyptian Religion. London: British Museum, 1992.
Lichtheim, Miriam, trans. Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 1: the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Paperback ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.
________. Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 2: the New Kingdom. Paperback ed. Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1978.

Lectures and readings
Readings are listed before the lecture (and discussion) to which they relate. Some of the texts in Lichtheim appear more than once, since they are relevant to more than one lecture (e.g., obelisk inscriptions that relate to the cult of Amun and to divine kingship). Reading ahead, particularly in Ancient Egyptian Religion, may be helpful; note that I have reversed chapters 4 and 5 in the reading list. The student may wish to read the chapters in the original order, then review Chapter 4 before we talk about magic and medicine.

Examinations (2) will consist of short identifications and a choice of essay questions.

Week 1. Introduction. Outline of Egyptian history; Egyptian geography and resources; introducing the gods. Defining terms: religion, divinity, monotheism, polytheism, immanence and transcendence, syncretism.

Readings. Quirke, Introduction and Chapter 1: "Power in Heaven."

Week 2. Temple, town, nome, and nation: theological geography of ancient Egypt. Archaeological evidence for prehistoric and early dynastic religion. The earliest shrines and temples; unification of Egypt. Development of religious iconography.

Readings. Quirke, Ch. 2: "Power on Earth."
Lichtheim, vol. 1, "The Memphite Theology," pp. 51-57. "A spell from the Coffin Texts," pp.131-133
Lichtheim, vol. 2: "Two Hymns to the Sun God," by Suti and Hor, pp. 86-89. "The Destruction of Mankind," pp. 197-199.

Week 3. Cosmogonies. Heliopolitan cosmogony; the "Memphite theology"; myth of the destruction of mankind. Images of creation in temple design. Ideas of time, eternity, and everlastingness.

Readings. Quirke, Ch. 3: "Preserving the Universe."

Week 4. What is an Egyptian temple? The temple as the god's earthly mansion, model of the universe, "power station", administrative center. Daily cult; priestly duties through the day and night; offerings and reversions thereof. Festivals: the New Year's Festival, the Beautiful Festival of the Desert Valley, Feast of Lights, Opet Festival, royal jubilee, Sokar festival.

Readings. Quirke, Ch. 5: "Surviving Death."
Lichtheim, vol. 1: Excerpts from the Pyramid Texts, pp. 29-50.
Lichtheim, vol. 2: "The Prayers of Paheri," pp.15-21.
"A Harper's Song from the Tomb of Neferhotep," pp.115-116.
"From the Book of the Dead," pp. 119-132.

Week 5. Funerary beliefs. Osiris and other divine patrons of the necropolis; aspects of the human personality; preservation of the body; judgement of the dead. Tomb paintings and funerary texts.

Week 6. Funerary beliefs, part II. The royal afterlife; the underworld books in the Valley of the Kings.

Readings. Lichtheim, vol. 1: "The Instruction of Ptahhotep," pp. 61-80
"The Instruction addressed to King Merikare," pp. 97-109.
Lichtheim, vol. 2: "Chapter 125: the Judgement of the Dead," 124-132.
"Instructions," 135-163.

Week 7. Moral and ethical content of Egyptian religion. Ma'at (truth, right order, and justice); wisdom literature; the virtuous person. Personal piety.

Readings. Lichtheim, vol. 1: Stelae of Intef, Ikhernofret, and Sehetepibre, pp.120-129.
Lichtheim, vol. 2: "The Great Hymn to Osiris," pp. 81-86.
"Horus and Seth," pp. 214-223.

Week 8. Exam (90 min.) Abydos, a holy city. Elephantine, a border town: its temples from the archaic period to Graeco-Roman times. Memphis, the ancient capital: temples to Ptah and Hathor; deities of the Memphite necropolis.

Readings. Lichtheim, vol. 2: "Obelisk inscriptions of Queen Hatshepsut," 25-29. "The Poetical Stela of Thutmose III," 35-39. "Stela of Amenhotep III," 43-48. "Three penitential hymns from Deir el-Medina," pp. 104-110. Prayers to Amun and Amun-Re, pp. 111-112.

Week 9. The gods of Thebes. Theban temples: the Karnak complex, largest religious structure in the world. Temple of Mut in Asheru. The "Southern Sanctuary" of Amun at Luxor. "The West, She-Who-Is-Opposite-Her-Lord." Deities of the Theban necropolis: Hathor, Meretseger, Amenhotep I and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. Royal mortuary temples of Mentuhotep II, Queen Hatshepsut, Seti I, Ramesses II, and Ramesses III.

Readings. Lichtheim, vol. 1: "The Instruction addressed to King Merikare," 97-109. "A cycle of hymns to King Sesostris III," 198-201.
Quirke, ch. 3: "Preserving the universe."
Lichtheim, vol. 2. "Inscriptions from royal monuments," 25-78.

Week 10. Divine kingship. Old Kingdom: ruler as incarnation of the sun-god. Changing views on kingship during the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom. Religious restoration under the Thutmosid kings of the New Kingdom. The son of Amun-Re as warrior, sportsman, and priest. Amenhotep III and his deification. Ramesses II; Ramesside cults of royal ancestors. Decline of royal prestige after the New Kingdom.

Readings. Lichtheim, vol. 2: "The later boundary stelae of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten", pp. 48-51. "Hymns and prayers from el-Amarna," 89-100.
Quirke on Akhenaten, passim.

Week 11 The Amarna crisis. Akhenaten's theology: was the "heretic king" really a heretic? Was he really a monotheist? Temples to the Aten; the role of Queen Nefertiti in Amarna theology; Amarna art; private house-shrines; recent discoveries at the workmen's village.

Readings. Lichtheim, vol. 2: "Horus and Seth," pp. 214-223. "Hymns, prayers, and a harper's song," pp. 100-116.

Week 12. Evolution of solar religion in the New Kingdom. Ramesside reactions to Amarna theology; personal piety in Ramesside Egypt; religious life in the workmen's village of Deir el-Medina.

Readings: Quirke, ch. 4, "Preserving life." Handout: oracular decisions of Amenhotep I from Deir el-Medina.

Week 13. Oracles and divination. Oracles and the king; consultation of oracles by commoners; classical accounts of Egyptian oracles; Ammon of Siwa and Alexander the Great. Magic and medicine. Dreams and their interpretation.

Readings. Quirke, Epilogue: "Egyptian Deities Abroad."

Week 14. Egyptian religion and the larger world. Foreign cults in Egypt and Egyptian gods abroad; Isis and Serapis in the classical world. Religion in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt; the recluses of the Serapeum and other temples; letters to the gods; Ptolemaic relations with Egyptian priesthoods; the Hermetic tradition.

Week 15. Final exam (90 min.) The influence of Egyptian thought on the Old Testament and on Christian iconography and belief. Renaissance images of Egyptian religion.