Bloomsbury Summer School (text)

Bloomsbury Summer School

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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.

2025 Course timetable

Saturdays and Sundays, 25 – 26 January and 1 – 2 March

DEMOTIC: A BEGINNERS’ COURSE

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Course Director: Dr Luigi Prada (Uppsala University)

 

Saturday 25 January

09:45 – 10:00
Participants login to Google Meet; BSS Director’s Welcome Address

10:00 – 11:15
1. What is Demotic? Egypt’s script and language in the Late and Graeco-Roman Periods

11:45 – 13:00
2. Studying Demotic: The right tools for the job

14:15 – 15:30
3. Taking the First Steps: The Demotic ‘alphabet’

16:00 – 17:15
4. More Basic Signs and the Determinatives

Sunday 26 January

10:00 – 11:15
5. The Building Blocks of Demotic Grammar: Nouns (part 1)

11:45 – 13:00
6. The Building Blocks of Demotic Grammar: Nouns (part 2)

14:15 – 15:30
7. Moving Forward: The articles and the genitive

16:00 – 17:15
8. Starting to Read: The independent pronouns and the nominal sentence (part 1)

Saturday 1 February

10:00 – 11:15
9. Starting to Read: The nominals sentence (part 2) and some exercises

11:45 – 13:00
10. Introducing the Verb: The sḏm=f form, past and future (part 1)

14:15 – 15:30
11. Introducing the Verb: The sḏm=f form, past and future (part 2)

16:00 – 17:15
12. Reading More and More Text: The suffix pronouns and some exercises

Saturday 2 February

10:00 – 11:15
13. Learning New Words (with attention to palaeography): The dependent pronouns and some exercises

11:45 – 13:00
14. Expanding our Lexicon: Prepositions (part 1)

14:15 – 15:30
15. Expanding our Lexicon: Prepositions (part 2) and adverbs

16:00 – 17:15
16. Reading Full Sentences: Some exercises

17:15 – 18:30
Virtual Farewell Drinks Party on Google Meet (guests welcome)