Bloomsbury Summer School
Fascinated by ancient civilisations?
We offer anyone with any level of knowledge, inspiring short courses on ancient Egypt and other areas of the ancient world.
BSS in Egypt 2018
21st December 2017
An Expedition to Read Hieroglyphs
5 – 12 November 2018
Course Director: Dr Bill Manley
A new course taught in Luxor by the brilliant hieroglyphs teacher and BSS favourite, Dr Bill Manley, with daily classes and hieroglyphs-reading at fascinating ancient sites, including 5 ‘special openings’ of sites usually closed to visitors.
What made this course special
- A series of ten hieroglyphs classes taught by Dr Bill Manley, an acclaimed teacher of Ancient Egyptian language.
- A carefully-considered programme of site visits in and around Luxor to complement the taught classes and study sessions.
- Busy, exciting days with time to relax at our wonderfully-located 5* hotel in Luxor.
- Plenty of opportunity to socialise with Egyptologist Bill Manley and fellow participants.
- Course Coordination by BSS Co-Director Lucia Gahlin, who accompanied the group throughout. Tour Coordination in Egypt by Galal Alsenusy who has arranged all our BSS in Egypt courses to date.
Bill Manley explains a hieroglyphic inscription in the temple-tomb of Mentuhotep Nebhepetra, one of the sites opened specially for our group
Bill Manley translates an inscription at El Tod with our BSS group
BSS students gather with Bill Manley beneath Hatshepsut's obelisk at Karnak, to read the inscription they had prepared in classes back at the hotel that week
One of our tasty Egyptian group lunches, this one at Nur el-Qurna, at the back of Amenhotep III's temple at Kom el-Hettan
Bill Manley sheds light on the Coptic reuse of the New Kingdom tomb of Amenemopet-Pairy, another of our 'special openings' that week
Our guide Amr El Sharqawy shares with us his knowledge of the temple of Montu at El Tod
Our Course Director Bill Manley tells us about his work at the tomb of Ankhtify at Mo'alla
Amr El Sharqawy guides us around our final site of the week - the rarely-visited West Theban temple of Seti I
BSS students enjoying refreshments between our hieroglyph classes
Bill Manley teaches BSS students hieroglyphs in our classroom - the Horus Room in the garden of Luxor's Winter Palace
Course description
Combining classes in the historic Winter Palace Hotel and site visits in and near Luxor, this was our first hieroglyphs course taught in Egypt. Bloomsbury Summer School has a long-held reputation for providing acclaimed hieroglyphs courses at UCL in London. Bill Manley has been teaching our summer courses for the past 25 years, and we are thrilled that he agreed to teach a Reading Hieroglyphs course in Egypt, focussing on temple and tomb inscriptions, in the sacred landscape of Ancient Thebes. During this course participants read Hatshepsut’s Karnak Obelisk Inscription; the Ahmose, son of Abana tomb biography inscription at El Kab, and Coptic inscriptions in the Temple of Hathor at Deir el-Medina.
This course was available at either an Intermediate or Advanced level.
Course Director
Dr Bill Manley (Photo: Peter Durant)
Bill Manley is a best-selling writer, who teaches Egyptology and Coptic at the University of Glasgow, and works with archaeological projects in Egypt. He was Senior Curator for Ancient Egypt at National Museums Scotland, and has taught hieroglyphs at Bloomsbury Summer School for twenty-five years. His best known books include The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Egypt (1996), How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs (1998, with Mark Collier), Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners (2012) and Egyptian Art (2017). As a result he has spoken at various international book festivals, including The Sunday Times Literary Festival. His specialist output includes many other books, catalogues, articles and exhibitions covering such diverse subjects as ancient texts, the history of Egyptology, gold jewellery, the archaeology of Palestine, and the world’s earliest philosophy. Bill is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool, Honorary President of Egyptology Scotland,and Co-Director of Egiptología Complutense along with Dr José-Ramón Perez-Accino.
Course programme
Day 1
Fly from Heathrow to Luxor.
Check in to 5* Winter Palace Garden Pavilion for the 7 nights.
Day 2
Visit Temple of Montu, Medamud [special opening], and Temples of Khonsu and Mut, Karnak.
Group Lunch.
Session 1: Background to the Hatshepsut Obelisk Inscription and relevant grammar.
Session 2: Hatshepsut Obelisk Inscription: reading/study session.
Welcome Dinner.
Day 3
Visit Temple-Tomb of Mentuhotep Nebhepetra [special opening], Temple of Hatshepsut, and Tomb of Senenmut (TT353) [special opening], all at Deir el-Bahri.
Group Lunch.
Session 3: Background to the Hatshepsut Obelisk Inscription and relevant grammar.
Session 4: Hatshepsut Obelisk Inscription: reading/study session.
Day 4
Visit Temple of Montu, El Tod; Obelisk of Hatshepsut and Open Air Museum, Karnak Temple.
Group Lunch.
Session 5: Background to the Ahmose, son of Abana, tomb biography and relevant grammar.
Session 6: Ahmose, son of Abana, tomb biography: reading/study session.
Day 5
Visit Tomb of Seti I, Valley of the Kings [special opening], Tombs of the Nobles: Rekhmire (T100), Sennefer (TT96), and Amenemopet-Pairy (TT29), brother of Sennefer [special opening], Sheikh Abd el-Qurna.
Group Lunch.
Session 7: Background to the Ahmose, son of Abana, tomb biography and relevant grammar.
Session 8: Ahmose, son of Abana, tomb biography: reading/study session.
Day 6
Visit Tomb of Ankhtify, Mo’alla, and Tomb of Ahmose, son of Abana, El Kab.
Packed lunch.
Session 9: Background to Coptic inscriptions in the Temple of Hathor at Deir el-Medina and relevant grammar (no previous experience of Coptic necessary).
Session 10: Coptic inscriptions in the Temple of Hathor at Deir el-Medina: reading/study session.
Day 7
Visit Deir el-Medina, including the Temple of Hathor, and all open tombs (including those recently opened); Medinet Habu, and Temple of Thoth, Qasr el-Aguz; and Temple of Seti I (‘Qurna Temple’).
Group Lunch.
Farewell Dinner.
Day 8
Fly from Luxor to Heathrow.
