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.
2025 Course timetable
Saturdays and Sundays, 25 – 26 January and 1 – 2 March
DEMOTIC: A BEGINNERS’ COURSE
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)