CLAS/ART 250: Women in Ancient Egypt

CLAS/ART 260: Women in Ancient Egypt

Wednesdays 5:30 - 7:30
Art Annex Lecture Hall

Christina A. Salowey
Turner B32
362-6200 (office) 362-6386 (home)
csalowey@hollins.edu

Goals:

1. A general understanding of the geography, history, art, society, and religion of the very long-lived Egyptian civilization.

2. Familiarity with the different categories of material used to study the ancient world - sculpture, painted relief, architecture, papyri, later historical documents, and archaeological finds.

3. Reconstruction of the lives of ancient Egyptian women and their roles and responsibilities as mothers, daughters, slaves, wives, queens, goddesses, priestesses, and pharaohs.

4. An introduction to the different methodologies used to reconstruct the lives of women in antiquity.

Required Texts:

Gay Robins. Women in Ancient Egypt. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1993.

William H. Peck. Splendors of Ancient Egypt. Abbeville Press: New York. 1997.

Course Requirements: (for a total of 500 points)

ATTENDANCE at every class session is required.

(150 points) There will be three QUIZZES, testing a mastery of facts, terminology, and important concepts.

(100 points) Each student will give a 10-minute PRESENTATION on a document or artifact assigned by the professor. See attached sheet.

(100 points) Attendance at the Classics Symposium on November 10^this required. Each student will write a SYNOPSIS AND CRITIQUE of one of the two lectures.

(150 points) All READINGS must be completed before coming to class. Each student should be prepared to contribute comments, questions, or insights on the day's topic to class discussion. Study guides for each week's readings are available on the Cyberclass section of the Hollins Intranet. Each student will prepare an ESSAY on one of these reading questions during the course of the semester.

Schedule of Events: (Warning: Course schedule always subject to change due to the needs of the class.)

DATE	Classroom Topic	Homework (To Be Done in Advance). (RES means readings are on library reserve)
September 1	Introduction Expectations Geography and Chronology of Ancient Egypt
September 8	History I: Outline of History Egyptian Studies and the World Wide Web	Splendors 1 - 27. Robins 7 - 20.
September 15	History II: Art and Architecture	Splendors 28 - 59.
September 22	Myth, Religion, and Death	Splendors 61 - 86.
September 29	Women and/in Literature	Inscriptions of Ni-Sedjer-Kai Instruction of Ptahhotep The Autobiography of Weni The Two Brothers Truth and Falsehood Robins 176 - 190.
October 6	Queens and Political Power I	Robins 21 - 55.
October 13	Queens and Political Power II	The Royal Women of Amarna, 7 - 16; 85 - 119. (RES)
October 20	Courtship and Marriage	Robins 56 - 74.
October 27	Sex and Kids	Robins75 - 110. Gynecological Prescriptions Magical Spells to Protect a Child (RES) Love Poems from the N.K.
November 3	Women's Work QUIZ 2: Queens I, Queens II, Marriage, Sex and Kids.	Robins 111 - 141.
November 10	CLASSICS SYMPOSIUM "Ports and Portals of Ancient Egypt"
November 17	Women and Religion I: Goddesses SYMPOSIUM SYNOPSIS DUE!	Mistress of the House, Mistress of Heaven, 121 - 144. (RES) Hymns to Hathor in the Temple of Dendera (RES) Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys (RES)
November 24	THANKSGIVING
December 1	Women and Religion II: Priestesses and Personal Spirituality QUIZ 3: Women's Work, Women and Religion I and II.	Robins 142 - 175. Two Intercessory Hymns (RES)
December 8	Attire, Adornment and Health QUIZ 4: Optional Makeup Quiz. Cumulative. Will replace grade of one other quiz.	Life of the Ancient Egyptians, 77 - 90. (RES)

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