Archaeology of the Ancient Near East - (course II) lecture

The course concerns archaeology of ancient Egypt and Nubia in the period between the 11th millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD. It discusses geography, natural resources, chronology, religion, architecture and art.

The class shows the most important archaeological sites in Egypt and Nubia, dating from the 11th millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD. The course will show what traces were left in the archaeological material by various historical, social and cultural processes. It discusses different aspects of the Egyptian and main Nubian cultures – funerary rites, religious systems, economy, material culture, visual arts.

Egypt:

1. State and society. Royal ideology, formation of the state, administration, crises of the state.

2. Religion. Theological systems: Heliopolitan, Memphite and Hermopolitan, divine triads.

3. Writing and literature. Major religious text corpora: Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, Book of the Dead. Beginnings of literature.

4. Visual arts. Sculpture, painting, relief. Canon of art. Architecture

5. Various types of artefacts as sources of information on various aspects of Egyptian civilization And Egyptian archaeology in chronological order:

6. Neolithic Period

7. Upper and Lower Egyptian Cultures

8. Unification of Egypt and Archaic Period

9. Old Kingdom

10. First Intermediate Period

11. Middle Kingdom

12. Second Intermediate Period

13. New Kingdom

14. Third Intermediate Period

15. Late Period

16. Greco-Roman Period – an introduction

Nubia:

1.Geography and climate-Neolithic cultures

2. Group A – pre-Krema cultures

3.Kerma horizon: Krema, Group-C and Pan-grave cultures

3. Napatan period

4. Meroitic period

Egypt:

Bard, K.A. (red.), 1999, Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, Routledge.

Dodson, A., S. Ikram, 2008, The Tomb in Ancient Egypt. Royal and Private Sepulchres from the Early Dynastic Period to the Romans, Thames & Hudson.

Hartwig, M.K. (red.), 2015, A Companion to Ancient Egyptian Art, Wiley Blackwell

Ikram, S., 2002, Death and Burial in Ancient Egypt, Longman.

Kemp, B.J., 2006, Ancient Egypt. Anatomy of a Civilization, Routledge.

Lehner, M., 1997, The Complete Pyramids, Thames & Hudson.

Lloyd, A.B. (red.), 2010, A Companion to Ancient Egypt, Wiley Blackwell.

Nicholson, P.T., I. Shaw (red.), 2000, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, Cambridge University Press.

Reeves, N., R.H. Wilkinson, 1996, The Complete Valley of the Kings. Tombs and Treasures of Egypt’s Greatest Pharaohs, Thames and Hudson.

Riggs, Ch., 2017, Lost Civilizations. Egypt, Reaktion.

Robins, G., 1993, Women in Ancient Egypt, British Museum Press.

Robins, G., 2008, The Art of Ancient Egypt, Harvard University Press.

Shaw, I., E. Bloxam (red.), 2020, The Oxford Handbook of Egyptology, Oxford University Press.

Snape, S., 2014, The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson.

Tyldesley, Joyce, 2005, Egypt. How a Lost Civilization Was Rediscovered, BBC Books.

Wilkinson, R.H., 2003, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson.

Wilkinson, R.H., 2000, The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson.

Nubia:

1. Baud, M. (ed.), 2010, Méroé. Un empire sur le Nil, Paris.

2. Eide, T., Hägg, T., Pierce, R.H., Török, L., 1994, Fontes Historiae Nubiourum. Textual Sources for the History of the Middle Nile Region Between the Eighth Century BC and the Sixth Century AD I. From the Eighth to the Mid-Fifth Century BC, Bergen.

3. Lacovara, P., 2012, Ancient Nubia. African Kingdoms on the Nile. The American University in Cairo, Cairo.

4. Morkot, R., 2000, The Black Pharaohs: Egypt's Nubian Rulers, Rubicon Press.

5. Török, L., 1997, The Kingdom of Kush. Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization, Brill.

6. Török, L., 2009, Between Two Worlds: the Frontier Region between Ancient Nubia and Egypt, 3700 BC-AD 500, Brill.

7. Valbelle, D., Bonnet, C., 2007, The Nubian Pharaohs: Black Kings on the Nile, Cairo.

8. Welsby, D.A., 1998, The Kingdom of Kush: the Napatan and Meroitic Empires, Markus Wiener Publishers.

9. Welsby, D.A., Anderson, J. R, 2004, Sudan: Ancient Treasures: an Exhibition of Recent Discoveries from the Sudan National Museum, British Museum Press.

- The student knows the basic terminology associated with the Egyptian and Nubian archaeology (K_W02).

- The student knows the basics of ancient Egyptian and Nubian civilisations (K_W05).

- The student knows the latest discoveries and theories related ancient Egypt and Nubia (K_W08).

- The student knows how to analyze, judge, select and use information concerning archaeology of Egypt and Nubia (K_U01).

- The student knows how to obtain knowledge and develop scientific skills in case of Egyptian and Nubian archaeology (K_U04).

- The student appreciates the unique values of archaeological sources and their role in reproducing the past of man (K_K02).

- the student can critically assess the interpretation of archaeological and historical sources with an awareness of the multifaceted interpretation (K_K04).

Mandatory attendance (two absences are acceptable).Written or oral exam.