2023 SPRING AND SUMMER COURSES

A TASTE OF HIEROGLYPHS

Course Director: Dr Bill Manley (Egiptología Complutense)

This is a 1-day course to be held online via Zoom and will be available on video recording.

For those of you intrigued by learning how to read hieroglyphs and perhaps wondering whether to take the plunge, this 1-day course will show you the basics behind reading ancient Egyptian and also give you a taste of the way we do things at Bloomsbury Summer School.

A TASTE OF HIEROGLYPHS assumes you have no prior experience in the subject but, through a series of presentations and reading sessions, we will show you how to read some pharaonic monuments on display in world-famous museums by the end of the day.

A TASTE OF DEMOTIC

Course Director: Dr Franziska Naether (University of Leipzig)

This is a 1-day course to be held, on two separate dates, online via Zoom and will be available on video recording.

Come delve into the Demotic script! This 1-day course offers a brief introduction to this cursive form of Egyptian writing, starting with the Rosetta Stone. For roughly 1200 years (between the 7th century BCE and 5th century CE), Demotic was used to write a late phase of the Egyptian language often referred to as “the language of Cleopatra”. Although the script is challenging to read, Franziska will take you through step by step. Your efforts will be rewarded with glimpses into daily life, from temple documents and shopping lists to literary and magical texts. You will become familiar with the alphabetic signs, basic grammar, and syntax, and soon be reading simple but important words. The day will conclude with a reading of Demotic on Egyptian papyri.

Note: A TASTE OF DEMOTIC assumes you have no prior experience in the subject. However, the script is challenging and you will glean more from the class if you have a basic familiarity with Egyptian hieroglyphs. We recommend our 'Taste Of Hieroglyphs' course (running on 25 March). Should you have any questions about your knowledge level, contact the Course Director by email (naether@uni-leipzig.de) to discuss your case.

EGYPT REINVENTED: DISCOVERING GRAECO-ROMAN EGYPT

Course Director: Dr Luigi Prada (Uppsala University)

This is a 4-day course to be held online via Zoom and will be available on video recording.

It is often through the rich heritage of the Graeco–Roman Period that many of us become captivated by Egypt’s ancient civilisation: think of the best-preserved temples, such as those at Edfu or Philae, or great historical figures, such as Alexander the Great or Cleopatra. Yet, many of us often know relatively little about this fascinating period. This course—which is intended for both students of ancient Egypt and of the classical world—offers a full introduction to this period. Join Luigi in exploring the manifold identities and aspects of Greco-Roman Egypt, spanning its archaeology, art history, textual culture, religion, and much more. You will discover its complex reality, where century-old Egyptian traditions and ways of life were reinvented through contact with the civilisations of the Greeks and Romans.

HIERATIC: READING HORUS AND SETH, LOVE POEMS, AND MORE

Course Director: Dr Luigi Prada (Uppsala University)

This is a 5-day course to be held in person, livestreamed via Zoom, and will be available on video recording.

Following the success of last year’s introduction to Hieratic, Luigi is offering a new class this summer, giving students the opportunity to read more texts in the original hieratic, the cursive script of pharaonic Egypt. We will read together texts in both Middle and Late Egyptian, beginning with one of ancient Egypt’s literary masterpieces, ‘The Contendings of Horus and Seth’. Other readings will include New Kingdom love poems, and a selection of other texts. The course includes initial refreshers to reading hieratic and Late Egyptian, and can be attended also by students who did not follow the previous course. Participants are expected to have knowledge—minimum one year’s study—of hieroglyphic Middle Egyptian. Sessions to observe original artefacts at the British Museum and Petrie Museum will also be included.

VISUAL CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT AMERICAS: FROM ROCK ART TO QUIPUS AND CODICES

Course Director: Dr Elizabeth Baquedano (University College London)

This is a 5-day course to be held in person, livestreamed via Zoom, and will be available on video recording.

This course looks at the indigenous cultures of the Americas through the lens of visual culture from 500 BCE to the 16th century CE and beyond. Join us for a fascinating journey through the rich artefactual evidence, including materials of manufacture, stylistic changes, and elaborate iconography and symbolism. Examine with Elizabeth multimedia objects that combine different materials and different techniques and the reasons behind these artistic choices and the multiplicity of ideas they signified. This course will be approached from an array of disciplines: archaeology, archeoastronomy, art, and anthropology. Together with your Course Director and special guest lecturers, you will enjoy learning about the wealth of visual culture from North America, Mesoamerica, and South America.

READING HIEROGLYPHS: 'ALL THAT IS WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK'

Course Co-Directors: Dr José-Ramón Pérez-Accino (Complutense University of Madrid) and Dr Bill Manley (Egiptología Complutense)

This is a 5-day course to be held in person on 10 - 14 July AND online via Zoom on 24 - 28 July, and will be available on video recording.

As usual we are bringing you a brand new course for those of you who love to experience the culture of pharaonic Egypt first hand by reading the ancient texts. This time, to celebrate the publication of Bill’s new book, we will be exploring the language and ideas of some of the earliest literature that has come down to us, including the wisdom of The Loyalist Teaching and The Teaching of Kagemni.

Happily, this year’s Reading Hieroglyphs course makes a return to our London classrooms. In response to ever-increasing demand for “Reading Hieroglyphs”, however, we are going to run the same course online, two weeks later on 24–28 July. The content will be the same for each iteration of the course.

Our READING HIEROGLYPHS courses assume you already have a good reading knowledge of Egyptian hieroglyphic texts. Normally we expect you to have taken both of the BSS courses HIEROGLYPHS FOR BEGINNERS (first stage) and HIEROGLYPHS: THE NEXT STEP (second stage) beforehand. As a rule of thumb, before you come along you should be comfortable reading all of the texts in How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs (see Recommended reading). Nevertheless, do not worry about the intensity of this course: throughout the week there will be plenty of time for your own work and for questions and answers with your tutors.