Hist 414: History of Ancient Egypt

Fall 2015
TTh 2:00-3:15
East Hall 111

Mr Lehmann
Office Hours: 11-12 TTh, immediately after class, and by appointment
East Hall 210
clehmann@usd.edu; clehmann.org

This course surveys the history of ancient Egypt from the prehistoric through the Roman periods. Students will undertake an elementary survey of the basic historical issues in ancient Egyptian culture and society and learn historical approaches to those issues through lectures, slide shows, readings and discussions, and work on an individual project.

ELECTRONIC-DEVICE-FREE CLASSROOM. Turn off and put away your electronic devices before the class begins. Students should attend all meetings, read all assignments, and participate actively in discussions. A student who expects to miss more than three meetings should confer with the instructor before the end of the second week. The instructor may remove from enrollment students who cannot meet these requirements. He will excuse no student from the final series of presentations for any reason other than medical or family emergency on the recommendation of the Dean of Students.

Each student must take six surprise quizzes on assigned readings (5 points each; the best five will count), complete two examinations (50 points each) and a semester project that includes a class presentation (10 points) and a final paper (30 points for the paper, 10 points for the preliminary plan and bibliography). The instructor expects students to support each other: missing another student's presentation will result in a penalty of 5 points. Of a total of 175 possible points 158-175=A, 140-157=B, and 105-173=D. Papers should conform to Chicago style: see K L Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7th ed (Chicago: Univ of Chicago Press, 2007), or The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed (Chicago: Univ of Chicago Press, 2010).

The Semester Project: Perceptions of Egypt

The semester project involves reflecting on the various notions people have held about ancient Egypt, where those notions came from, and what they did with them. How have people looked at ancient Egypt, its people and culture? What did they see? What did they want or expect to see? What did they get right, what wrong, and why? How did they use ancient Egypt for their own ends? These are the questions you will ask as you select your specific topic, write a short paper (8-10 pages) about it, and prepare a short presentation (no more than 15 minutes) for the class. Possible subjects include Egypt in the Bible, Egypt in Herodotus's history, the Crusaders' view of Egypt, early modern travelers to Egypt, Egyptian style in art of the Renaissance or of the nineteenth century, historical novels or plays such as Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra or mummies in the movies, Egypt in operas such as Aida or Akhenaten, or the Egypt of the Napoleonic expedition.

All written work must conform to Chicago style (see Turabian or The Manual of Style). Select your subject and secure the instructor's apporval by 15 Sept; submit a plan with annotated bibliography by 1 Oct. The bibliography of 5-10 items may not include encyclopedias or websites (cite articles you consult online in their print form; do not include a URL to the online source such as JSTOR). The paper is due 17 Nov; the instructor will return the paper the following week and students have the option of rewriting by 3 Dec to improve the grade by one letter grade.

Follow this link to BOR- and college-mandated statements.

Required Books

• Ian Shaw, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ Press, 2000. 0192802933
• William Kelly Simpson, ed. The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry. 3d ed. New Haven: Yale Univ Press, 2003. 0300099207

Recommended

• Kate L Turabian. A Manual for Writers. 7th ed. Chicago: Univ of Chicago Press, 2007. 0226823377

Reference Works

• See Mr Lehmann's home page for reference works. The following in particular concern ancient Egypt.
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (online access via library)
• Abzu
• Egyptology Resources
• Propylaeum

Schedule of Lectures and Assignments