EGYT 2100 Social Life In Ancient Egypt Page 4

egyt 2100 social life in ancient egypt page 4 egyt 2510 social life in ancient egypt professor laurel bestock thursdays, 4:00-6:20 p

EGYT 2100 Social Life in Ancient Egypt
Page 4
EGYT 2510 Social Life in Ancient Egypt
Professor Laurel Bestock
Thursdays, 4:00-6:20 pm
Wilbour Dept. of Egyptology & Ancient Western Asian Studies, 3rd floor
The Egyptians had a complex ideology pertaining to the self,
perceiving themselves as multi-faceted individuals whose embodiment
transcended death. They were concerned with questions which have
returned in later European philosophy - questions about being and
non-being, about the meaning of death, the constitution of the body,
about the nature of the cosmos and humanity, and about the basis of
human society. Studying such ideas and their relavence both to
individuals and to broader groups within society requires a careful
examination of often difficult and fragmentary evidence.
This course will draw upon recent theoretical developments in
anthropology and sociology that seek to explore fluid hierarchies of
difference - age, sex, class, ethnicity - providing an opportunity to
link theory and data in an innovative manner. Taking the lifecycle as
its structure, the course covers Egyptian life from conception to
death and burial, drawing a range of data sources such as material
culture, iconography, textual data and human remains.
Assessment:
1. Class presentation/participation (50%)
2. Research paper to be handed in at the end of the term on a topic
agreed to after consultation with the professor (50%).
Texts:
Kemp, B. J. 2006. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization, second
edition.
Meskell, L. M. 1999: Archaeologies of Social Life: Age, Sex, Class
etc. in Ancient Egypt.
Janssen. J. and R. M. Janssen. 1990: Growing up in Ancient Egypt.
Janssen, R. and J. J. Janssen. 1996: Getting Old in Ancient Egypt.
(these are available in one volume now)
Shafer, B. (ed) 1991: Religion in Ancient Egypt
Hornung, E. 1982. Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the
Many.
Robins, G. 1993: Women in Ancient Egypt.
Manniche, L. 1987: Sexual Life in Ancient Egypt.
Additional readings as assigned.
Schedule:
Week 1: Introduction to the study of social life and Egyptian
Chronology.
Only general reading required.
Week 2: Existence and Individuals in Society
Meskell, L. M. 2000: “Cycles of life: narrative homology and
archaeological realities.” World Archaeology: Lifecycles 31(3): 423 -
441.
Hornung, E. (1982). Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and
the Many. Cornell, Ithaca. 170-185
Baines, J. (1991). “Society, Morality and Religious Practice”, B.
Shafer, Religion in Ancient Egypt. Cornell, Ithaca: 123-200.
Kemp, B. J. 2006. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization, Routledge,
London and New York. Ch. 1 and 3.
The Eloquent Peasant
The Satire of the Trades
Book of the Dead: Negative Confession
Week 3: Conception and Birth
Janssen. J. and R. M. Janssen. 1990: Growing up in Ancient Egypt.
London, Rubicon Press.
Ch. 1-3
Roth, A. M. (2000). Father earth, mother sky: ancient Egyptian beliefs
about conception and fertility. Reading the Body: Representations and
Remains in the Archaeological Record. A. Rautman. Philadelphia,
University of Pennsylvania Press: 187 – 201.
Meskell, L. M. 1994: Dying Young: the experience of death at Deir el
Medina, Archaeological Review from Cambridge 13(2): 35-45.
Robins, G. 1994-5: Women and children in peril: pregnancy, birth and
infant mortality in ancient Egypt, KMT 5(4): 24-35.
Roth, A. M. (1993). “Fingers, stars, and the 'Opening of the Mouth':
the nature and function of the ntrwj-blades.” Journal of Egyptian
Archaeology 79: 57-79.
Pinch, G. 1994: Magic in Ancient Egypt. London, British Museum Press,
esp. Ch. 9.
Week 4: Childhood and Adolescence
Feucht, E. 1995: Das Kind im alten Ägypten. Frankfurt/New York, Campus
Verlag.
Janssen, J. J. and R. M. Janssen. 1990: Growing up in Ancient Egypt.
London, Rubicon Press. Ch. 4-6, 8-11.
Meskell, L. M. 1999: Archaeologies of Social Life: Age, Sex, Class
etc. in Ancient Egypt. Oxford, Blackwell.
Wilfong, T. 1999: Menstrual synchrony and the "Place of Women" in
ancient Egypt. (Oriental Institute Museum Hieratic Ostracon 13512). In
God of Praise: Studies in Honour of Professor Edward F. Wente, E.
Teeter and J. A. Larson (Ed.). Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Week 5: Partnership
Janssen, J. J. 1988: Marriage problems and public reactions (P. BM
10416). In Pyramid Studies and Other Essays Presented to I. E. S.
Edwards, J. Baines, T. G. H. James, A. Leahy and A. F. Shore (Ed.).
London, Egypt Exploration Society, pp. 134-137.
Robins, G. 1993: Women in Ancient Egypt. London, British Museum.
Toivari, J. 1997: Man versus woman: interpersonal disputes in the
workmen's community of Deir el Medina, Journal of the Economic and
Social History of the Orient 39(4): 1 - 21.
Toivari, J. 1998: Marriage at Deir el Medina. In Proceedings of the
Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists, C. J. Eyre (Ed.).
Leuven, Uitgeverij Peeters, pp. 1157 - 1163.
Hekanakht letters
Week 6: Inequalities
Cruz-Uribe, E. 1982. “Slavery in Egypt during the Saite and Persian
Periods” in Revue Internationale des Droits de l’Antiquité, Brussels.
Bakir, A. el-M. 1952. Slavery in Pharaonic Egypt. Cairo.
Lorton, D. Treatment of Criminals in Ancient Egypt
O’Connor, D and D. Silverman. 1995: Ancient Egyptian Kingship. Leiden,
New York and Cologne, E. J. Brill.
Brumfiel, E. M. 1992: Distinguished Week in archaeology: breaking and
entering the ecosystem — gender, class, and faction steal the show,
American Anthropologist 94: 551 - 567.
Meskell, L. M. 1999: Archaeologies of Social Life: Age, Sex, Class
etc. in Ancient Egypt. Oxford, Blackwell.
Wilfong, T. G., Ed. 1997: Women and Gender in Ancient Egypt: From
Prehistory to Late Antiquity, Ann Arbor, MI, Kelsey Museum of
Archaeology.
Week 7: Women
Bryan, B. M. 1996: In woman good and bad fortune are on earth: status
and roles of women in Egyptian culture. In Mistress of the House,
Mistress of Heaven: Women in Ancient Egypt, A. K. Capel and G. E.
Markoe (Ed.). New York, Hudson Hills Press, pp. 25-46.
Roehrig, C. 1996: Women’s work: Some ocupations of nonroyal women as
depicted in ancient Egyptian art. In Mistress of the House.
Lesko, B. S. 1994-5: Researching the role of women in ancient Egypt,
KMT 5(4): 14-23.
Robins, G. 1993: Women in Ancient Egypt. London, British Museum.
Week 8: Organizing principles: Religion and Law in Society
Baines, J. 1991: Society, morality, and religious practice. In
Religion in Ancient Egypt, B. E. Shafer (Ed.). London, Routledge, pp.
123 - 200.
Eloquent Peasant
Johnson, J. 1996: The legal status of women in Ancient Egypt. In
Mistress of the House.
Lorton, D. Legal and Social Institutions of Pharaonic Egypt, in Sasson
(ed.) Civilizations of the Ancient Near East vol. 1.
Jasnow, R. 2003. several chapters from Westbrook, R. (ed). A History
of Ancient Near Eastern Law
Sadek: Popular Religion in Egypt during the New Kingdom
Schaefer: Temples Priests and Rituals in Temples of Ancient Egypt
Week 9: Attitudes to Death
Cerny, J. 1945: The will of Naunakhte and related documents, Journal
of Egyptian Archaeology 31: 29-53.
D'Auria, S., P. Lacovara and C. H. Roehrig, Eds. 1988: Mummies and
Magic: The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt, Boston and Dallas, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts and Dallas Museum of Art.
Janssen, R. and J. J. Janssen. 1996: Getting Old in Ancient Egypt.
London, Rubicon Press.
Lloyd, A. B. 1989: Psychology and society in the ancient Egyptian cult
of the dead. In Religion and Philosophy in Ancient Egypt, W. K.
Simpson (Ed.). New Haven, Yale Egyptological Studies, pp. 117 – 133.
Week 10: Facing the Afterworld
Assmann, J. 1989b: Death and initiation in the funerary religion of
ancient Egypt. In Religion and Philosophy in Ancient Egypt, W. K.
Simpson (Ed.). New Haven, Yale Egyptology Series 3, pp. 135 - 159.
Hornung, E. 1982. Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the
Many. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Hornung, E. 1989. Idea Into Image: Essays on Ancient Egypt. New York,
Timken Publishers, Inc.
Hornung, E. 1999. The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife. Ithaca,
Cornell University Press.
Week 11: Student Presentations (presenters will assign reading)
Week 12: Student Presentations (presenters will assign reading)
Week 13: Student Presentations (presenters will assign reading)