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Syllabus Sailing on the Nile: Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Religious Thought - 24437
עברית
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Last update 17-10-2021
HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 1st degree (Bachelor)

Responsible Department: Comparative Religion

Semester: 1st Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Racheli Shalomi-Hen

Coordinator Email: msrhen@huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: By appointment

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Racheli Shalomi-Hen

Course/Module description:
The course will focus on the principal creation myths, the myth of kingship and the myth on the destruction of mankind. Furthermore, the course will discuss the Afterlife, and the relation between birth, burial and sunrise.

Course/Module aims:
To introduce the principal Ancient Egyptian myths and the basics of its religious thought. To introduce concepts of the Afterlife and the relations between the living and the dead.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
To discuss the principal Ancient Egyptian myths.
To trace the development of principal religious ideas.
To recognize elements of religious meaning in Ancient Egyptian art.
To read and understand דselect Ancient Egyptian texts in translation.
To describe Ancient Egyptian art scenes which bear religious significance.
To understand the complex role of the Egyptian king in maintaining cosmic order (Maat).

Attendance requirements(%):
100

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Lecture and discussion.

Course/Module Content:
Before Rosetta Stone and the Birth of Egyptology.
Ideas of the Beginning.
The King and the Kingdom.
The Step Pyramid and Real Pyramids.
Private Burials.
Between the Living and the Dead.
Pyramid Texts.
From Creation to Kingship.
The Destruction of Mankind.
The Judgment of the Dead.
Amun, Thebes and the Temple.
Akhenaten and the Revolution.
Post-Amarna - Tutankhamun.
Temples.

Required Reading:
The list is subject to change and addition.

Creation Myths
Horus and Seth
The Destruction of Mankid
BD 125
The Great Hymn to the Aten

Assmann J., Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt, tr. Lorton D., (Ithaca and London, 2005), Ch. 3, 'Death as Enemy', pp. 64-86
Bárta M., Journey to the West. The World of Old Kingdom Tombs in Ancient Egypt (Prague, 2011), 'Six Steps to Divinity', pp. 89-121.
Hornung E., Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt. The One and the Many, tr. Baines J., (Ithaca, 1982), 'The Challenge of the Non-Existence', pp. 172-185.
Hornung E. Idea into Image. Essays on Ancient Egyptian Thought, tr. Bredeck E., (New York, 1992), 'The Temple as Cosmos', pp. 115-129.
Pinch G., Egyptian Myth, a Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2004), 'The Gods themselves: deities and Myths', pp. 30-53.
Redford D.B., Akhenaten the Heretic King (Princeton, 1987), 'The Object of Akhenaten's Worship', pp. 169-181
Reeves N., Akhenaten Egypt's False Prophet (London, 2001), chpters 2-3, pp. 29-73.
Snape S., Ancient Egyptian Tombs, the Culture of Life and Death (Chichester, 2011), ''Lords of Life' Coffins', pp. 136-147.

Additional Reading Material:
קורות מצריים בתרגום:
ישראלי ש., המיתולוגיה המצרית (תל-אביב, 2005)
Borghouts J. F. (tr.), Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts (Leiden, 1978)
Faulkner R. O. (tr.), The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (Warminster, 1969)
— (tr.), The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, 3 vols. (Warminster, 1973-1978)
— (tr.), The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (London, 1985)
Lichtheim M. (ed. & tr.), Ancient Egyptian Literature, 3 vols. (Berkeley, Los Angeles & London, 1973-1980)
Pritchard J. B. (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3rd. ed., (Princeton, 1969)
Struswick N. C., Texts from the Pyramid Age (Boston, 2005)
מקורות יווניים בתרגום:
הרודוטוס, היסטוריה, תרגום: ב. שימרון ור. צלניק אברמוביץ (תל-אביב, 1998)
Diodorus Siculus, The Antiquities of Egypt. A translation With Notes of Book I of the Library of History of Diodorus Siculus, tr. & ed. Murphy E., (New Brunswick & London, 1990)
Herodotus, Histories, tr. & ed. Godley A. D. (London, 1931)
Manetho, History of Egypt, tr. & ed. Waddell W. G., (Cambridge Mass & London, 1940)
Plutarch, Moralia, vol. 5, tr. & ed. Babbitt F. C., (Cambridge Mass & London, 1936)

ביבליוגרפיה כללית:
Baines J. & Malek J. (eds.), Atlas of Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 1984)
Hart G., A Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses (London & New-York, 1986)
Helck W. & Otto E. (eds.), Lexikon der Ägyptologie, 7 vols., (Wiesbaden, 1975-1989)
Schulz R. & Seidel M. (eds.), Egypt. The World of the Pharaohs (Köln, 1998)
Shaw I. (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 2000)
Shaw I. & Nicholson P., The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt (London, 1996)
מחקרים וספרות יעץ:
ויליס ר. (עורך), המיתולוגיה של עמי העולם, תרגום: ע. לוטם (אור-יהודה, 1999)
Assmann J., The Search for God in Ancient Egypt, tr. Lorton D., (NY, 2001)
Assmann J., Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt, tr. Lorton D., (Ithaca and London, 2005)
Bárta M., Journey to the West. The World of Old Kingdom Tombs in Ancient Egypt (Prague, 2011)
Hart G., Egyptian Myths (London, 1992)
Hornung E., Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt. The One and the Many, tr. Baines J., (Ithaca, 1982)
Hornung E. Idea into Image. Essays on Ancient Egyptian Thought, tr. Bredeck E., (New York, 1992), pp. 115-129.
Pinch G., Magic in Ancient Egypt (London, 1994)
Pinch G., Egyptian Myth, a Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2004)
Quirke S. (ed.), The Temple in Ancient Egypt (London, 1997)
Redford D.B., Akhenaten the Heretic King (Princeton, 1987)
Reeves N., Akhenaten Egypt's False Prophet (London, 2001)
Roth A.M., “Fingers, Stars, and the ‘Opening of the Mouth’: The Nature and Function of the nTrwj-Blades”, JEA 79(1993), pp. 57-79.
Smith M., Following Osiris. Perspectives on the Osirian Afterlife from Four Millennia (Oxford, 2017)
Snape S., Ancient Egyptian Tombs, the Culture of Life and Death (Chichester, 2011)
Verner M., The Pyramids, The Mystery, Culture, and Science of Egypt’s Great Monuments, tr. S. Rendall (NY, 2001)

Grading Scheme :

Additional information:
 
Students needing academic accommodations based on a disability should contact the Center for Diagnosis and Support of Students with Learning Disabilities, or the Office for Students with Disabilities, as early as possible, to discuss and coordinate accommodations, based on relevant documentation.
For further information, please visit the site of the Dean of Students Office.
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