The History of Ancient Egypt “Passionate, Erudite, Living Legend Lecturers
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“Pure intellectual stimulation that can be popped into Topic Subtopic the [audio or video player] anytime.” History Ancient History —Harvard Magazine The History of Ancient Egypt “Passionate, erudite, living legend lecturers. Academia’s best lecturers are being captured on tape.” —The Los Angeles Times The History “A serious force in American education.” —The Wall Street Journal of Ancient Egypt Course Guidebook Professor Bob Brier Long Island University Professor Bob Brier is an Egyptologist and Professor of Philosophy at the C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University. He is renowned for his insights into ancient Egypt. He hosts The Learning Channel’s popular Great Egyptians series, and his research was the subject of the National Geographic television special Mr. Mummy. A dynamic instructor, Professor Brier has received Long Island University’s David Newton Award for Teaching Excellence. THE GREAT COURSES® Corporate Headquarters 4840 Westfields Boulevard, Suite 500 Chantilly, VA 20151-2299 Guidebook USA Phone: 1-800-832-2412 www.thegreatcourses.com Cover Image: © Hemera/Thinkstock. Course No. 350 © 1999 The Teaching Company. PB350A PUBLISHED BY: THE GREAT COURSES Corporate Headquarters 4840 Westfi elds Boulevard, Suite 500 Chantilly, Virginia 20151-2299 Phone: 1-800-TEACH-12 Fax: 703-378-3819 www.thegreatcourses.com Copyright © The Teaching Company, 1999 Printed in the United States of America This book is in copyright. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of The Teaching Company. Bob Brier, Ph.D. Egyptologist and Professor of Philosophy Long Island University rofessor Bob Brier was born in the Bronx, where he still lives. He received his Pbachelor’s degree from Hunter College and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1970. From 1981–1996 he was Chairman of the Philosophy Department at C.W. Post campus of Long Island University and now primarily teaches Egyptology courses. He was Director of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Egyptology Today Program and has twice been selected as a Fulbright Scholar. He is also the recipient of the David Newton Award for Teaching Excellence. In 1994, Dr. Brier became the fi rst person in 2,000 years to mummify a human cadaver in the ancient Egyptian style. This research was the subject of a National Geographic television special, Mr. Mummy. Dr. Brier is also the host of The Learning Channel’s series The Great Egyptians. Professor Brier is the author of Ancient Egyptian Magic (Morrow: 1980), Egyptian Mummies (Morrow: 1994), Encyclopedia of Mummies (Facts on File: 1998), The Murder of Tutankhamen: A True Story (Putnam’s: 1998), Daily Life in Ancient Egypt (Greenwood: 1999), and numerous scholarly articles. ■ i iiii Table of Contents INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION Professor Biography ............................................................................i Course Scope .....................................................................................1 LECTURELECTURE GUIDEGUIDESS LECTURE 1 Introduction ........................................................................................4 LECTURE 2 Prehistoric Egypt ................................................................................6 LECTURE 3 Ancient Egyptian Thought ................................................................10 LECTURE 4 Napoleon and the Beginnings of Egyptology ...................................12 LECTURE 5 The Rosetta Stone, and Much More.................................................14 LECTURE 6 The First Nation in History ................................................................17 LECTURE 7 The Rise of the Old Kingdom ...........................................................20 LECTURE 8 Sneferu, the Pyramid Builder............................................................23 LECTURE 9 The Great Pyramid of Giza ...............................................................26 LECTURE 10 The End of the Old Kingdom ............................................................29 iii Table of Contents LECTURE 11 The First Intermediate Period ...........................................................32 LECTURE 12 The Middle Kingdom—Dynasty XI....................................................35 LECTURE 13 The Middle Kingdom—Dynasty XII...................................................38 LECTURE 14 The Second Intermediate Period ......................................................41 LECTURE 15 Joseph in Egypt ................................................................................44 LECTURE 16 The Beginning of the New Kingdom— The Fabulous XVIIIth Dynasty ...........................................................47 LECTURE 17 Queen Hatshepsut............................................................................50 LECTURE 18 Obelisks ............................................................................................53 LECTURE 19 Tuthmosis III—King at Last ..............................................................56 LECTURE 20 The Fabulous XVIIIth Dynasty Rolls On ...........................................59 LECTURE 21 Akhenaten the Heretic Pharaoh .......................................................63 LECTURE 22 The Discovery of Tutankhamen’s Tomb ...........................................66 iv Table of Contents LECTURE 23 The Murder of Tutankhamen—A Theory ..........................................68 LECTURE 24 Medicine—The Necessary Art ..........................................................71 LECTURE 25 The End of Dynasty XVIII .................................................................74 LECTURE 26 Mummifi cation—How We Know What We Know .............................77 LECTURE 27 What Mummies Tell Us .....................................................................79 LECTURE 28 Making a Modern Mummy ................................................................81 LECTURE 29 Dynasty XIX Begins ..........................................................................83 LECTURE 30 Ramses the Great—The Early Years ...............................................86 LECTURE 31 Ramses the Great—The Later Years ...............................................89 LECTURE 32 The Exodus—Did It Happen? ...........................................................92 LECTURE 33 The Decline of Dynasty XIX..............................................................95 LECTURE 34 Dynasty XX—The Decline Continues ...............................................98 LECTURE 35 Ancient Egyptian Magic ..................................................................102 v Table of Contents LECTURE 36 Dynasty XXI—Egypt Divided ..........................................................105 LECTURE 37 Dynasty XXII—Egypt United...........................................................109 LECTURE 38 Dynasties XXIV and XXV—The Nubians Have Their Day .............112 LECTURE 39 Dynasty XXVI—The Saite Period ...................................................115 LECTURE 40 Dynasty XXVII—The Persians........................................................118 LECTURE 41 Dynasties XXVIII–XXXI—The Beginning of the End ......................121 LECTURE 42 Alexander the Great .......................................................................124 LECTURE 43 The First Ptolemies.........................................................................126 LECTURE 44 The Middle Ptolemies—The Decline ..............................................129 LECTURE 45 Animal Mummies ............................................................................132 LECTURE 46 Cleopatra’s Family ..........................................................................134 LECTURE 47 Cleopatra—The Last Ptolemy ........................................................137 LECTURE 48 The Grand Finale............................................................................141 vi Table of Contents SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL Classical Egyptian Alphabet ...........................................................144 Timeline ..........................................................................................146 Glossary .........................................................................................148 Bibliography ....................................................................................151 vii viii The History of Ancient Egypt Scope: here is something about ancient Egypt that fascinates almost everyone. Egyptian exhibits at museums draw the largest crowds, mummy Tmovies pull in the largest audiences, and Egypt attracts the most tourists. Part of the attraction is undoubtedly the exotic nature of the beast. Treasures hidden in tombs seem always just around the corner; hieroglyphs, while beautiful, seem impossible to read; and the beautiful sculptures and paintings seem from a time incredibly long ago. In a sense, one goal of this course is to demystify ancient Egypt but not to take the fun out of it. As we learn more and more about Egypt, it will all become familiar. Students will have an idea of how hieroglyphs work and what they say; we will come to know how archaeologists, using scholarship and learning, search for undiscovered tombs; and we will learn the techniques used to create the art of ancient Egypt. But as we learn more and more, the student