TEMPLES AND TOMBS: EGYPTIAN RELIGION AND CULTURE
ARCH 1625
Thursdays 4:00-6:20pm
Wilson Hall 309
Professor Laurel Bestock
Office Hours: Wednesday 1:00-3:00pm and by appointment, Joukowsky Institute, 70 Waterman St. Room 308
Teaching Assistant Erin Fairburn
Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00-3:00pm and by appointment, Egyptology Department, 2 Prospect St. Room 303
Wiki: http://proteus.brown.edu/templesandtombs/Home
Course description:
Religion is a complicated subject, understood differently even by people who share the same religion. It
encompasses patterns of thought and action and can exist on levels ranging from the personal to the social to the
state. The ancient Egyptians had no word that corresponds to our concept of religion, yet we understand them
to have been profoundly religious people. While texts give us access to the theological and cosmological ideas of
the Egyptians, it is in the remains of their material culture that we are able to most closely approach actual
religious practice. Although fragmentary, the archaeological record of Egyptian religion is rich and revealing.
This course will examine ancient Egyptian religion on the basis of its material remains, focusing
primarily on tombs and temples. Tombs, from the poorest pit grave to the largest pyramid, demonstrate some
of the most profound beliefs the Egyptians had about how their world worked and how they would continue to
exist after death. Looking in depth at tombs over time we will approach not only some of the underlying
principles of Egyptian religious thought but also how these ideas changed, sometimes profoundly, during the
course of Egyptian civilization. Temples, including both royal mortuary temples and gods’ temples, provide a
look at a very different though not unrelated sphere of religious practice. This is more overtly cosmological and
less personal, though the ability of ordinary Egyptians to engage in temple ritual expanded through time.
Goals:
Students will leave this course with a thorough understanding of the types of physical remains that are
available to scholars of Egyptian religion. They will be aware of changes in religious thought over time, and how
this is reflected in the material record. Critical thinking skills as well as research and writing skills will be
emphasized in demonstrating these understandings.
Assessment:
Two exams will be given, each of which will last one hour and twenty minutes. The first exam will focus on
Egyptian tombs, the second on temples (i.e. the “final” is not cumulative though it will be given during the final
period).
A 10-12 page paper is due at the end of the semester. Design your own Egyptian tomb. Pick a time, place, and
station in life (preferably relatively high or you’ll not have enough to describe). Concentrate on the structure of
tomb (above and below ground), decoration of tomb, texts in tomb, preparation of body (and additional bodies
if they’re in there), and artifacts or other things placed in the tomb. You can discuss the process of the creation
of the tomb if you wish, though you are not required to do so. Please do not discuss your actual funeral, as our
evidence for most periods is extremely limited. Do include a diagram of your tomb and images of comparable
scenes and artifacts from actual excavated tombs to illustrate your points.
Group presentations in the second half of the semester will give everyone a chance to present briefly. Each
class session after the exam will include one hour of presentations. Each group will have half an hour and will be
assigned a temple or group of temples to present to the class. Presentations should include a discussion of the
history, layout, decoration and function of the temple as well as any other salient information.
Grading:
Exam 1: 25%
Exam 2: 25%
Paper: 25%
Presentation: 20%
Class participation: 5%
Readings:
Required Books (available at Amazon but not in the Brown Bookstore):
Dodson, Aidan and Salima Ikram, The Tomb in Ancient Egypt, London: Thames and Hudson, 2008
Shafer, Byron (ed.), Temples of Ancient Egypt, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997.
Recommended (but not in print so not available new; selections that are required reading will be posted to the
wiki):
Quirke, Stephen, Ancient Egyptian Religion, London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1992.
Readings are listed according to the date on which they will be discussed in class, therefore it is necessary to do
the readings before the day under which they are noted. Readings from texts that are not required will be
posted to the wiki. Reading assignments are subject to change.
Schedule:
January 22: Introduction
January 29: Tombs Overview, and Predynastic burial practices
Reading:
Quirke 7-69, 141-171
February 5: Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom royal tombs
Reading:
Dodson and Ikram 8-22, 132-185
Lehner Complete Pyramids 6-19, 34-35
Allen Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts Introduction
February 12: Old Kingdom private tombs; Middle Kingdom tombs and the rise of Osiris
Reading:
Dodson and Ikram 23-55,77-131, 186-208
February 19: New Kingdom tombs
Reading:
Dodson and Ikram 209-246
Hodel-Hoenes 1-26
Hartwig, Melinda “Style and Visual Rhetoric in Theban Tomb Painting”
February 26: Late New kingdom and subsequent tombs
Reading:
Dodson and Ikram 247-304 (skim the bits about mortuary temples – we’ll
those later)
March 5: EXAM (1 hour 20 minutes); Temples overview
Reading:
Quirke 70-104
March 12: Early Temples
Reading:
Shafer 1-73
March 19: Middle Kingdom Temples
Reading:
Shafer 74-85
March 26: NO CLASS (Spring Break!)
April 2: New Kingdom Divine Temples
Reading:
Shafer 127-184
April 9: New Kingdom Mortuary Temples
Reading:
Shafer 86-126
April 16: Late Temples
Reading:
Shafer 185-238
April 23: Personal religion
Reading:
Quirke 105-139
Friedman, Florence “Aspects of Domestic Life and Religion”
April 30: (additional presentation day depending on enrollment)
Final period: EXAM
deal with