egypt syllabus s10

Spring 2010

Class i c s 130Egypt in the Greco -Roman Wor ld

9:30—10:50 TR Knapton 114

Professor Joel C. [email protected]

http://www.wheatoncollege.edu/Faculty/JoelCRelihan.html

Knapton 124Office Hours: TR 1—2, MW 2—3, and by appointment

Required Texts:

Alexander = Richard Stoneman, trans., The Greek Alexander Romance. Penguin Classics, 1991.Apuleius = Joel C. Relihan, trans., Apuleius: The Golden Ass: Or, a Book of Changes. Hackett Pub Co Inc,

2007.Egyptian Stories = King Cheops and the Magicians, The Two Brothers, The Man Who Was Tired of Life (a

handout, not on e-reserves)Euripides = James Michie and Colin Leach, transs., Euripides, Helen. Oxford University Press, 1992.Horapollo = George Boas, trans., The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo. Princeton University Press, 1993.Manley = Bill Manley, The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Egypt. Penguin Books, 1996.Pinch = Geraldine Pinch, Egyptian Myth: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2004.Pollard = Justin Pollard and Howard Reid, The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern

Mind. Viking, 2006.Redford = Donald B. Redford, From Slave to Pharaoh: The Black Experience of Ancient Egypt. The Johns

Hopkins University Press; new edition 2006.

e-reserves: (Wheaton Home Page ➔ Academics ➔ Library ➔ Course Materials/Course Reserves ➔ Electronic Reserves & Reserves Pages ➔ Search “Relihan” ➔ click on CLAS 130 ➔ password “Relihan”) Bold titles are the labels by which the texts are referred to in the syllabus; then follows the label they are identified by in the e-reserves list for the course; then follows the bibliographical data.

Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush = M.A.F.Witt, et al., The Humanities: Cultural Roots and Continuities. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. pp. 31-61.

Herodotus = History: Herodotus Book Two = David Grene, trans., Herodotus: The Histories. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. Chapter 2, pp. 131-210.

Homeric Hymn to Demeter = Helene P. Foley, trans., The Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994. pp. 2-27.

Juvenal = Satires XV = Peter Green, trans., Juvenal: The Sixteen Satires. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1967. Satire 15, pp. 281-92.

The Life of St. Paul the First Hermit = St. Jerome in Helen Wadddell, trans., The Desert Fathers. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1957, pp. 26-39; also selections from Rufinus, History of the Monks of Egypt, pp. 40-57.

Plato, Atlantis = Critias 106a—120c and Timaeus 17a—26e,Poimandres, Asclepius = (Discourse) of Hermes Trismegistus: Poimandres; Asclepius = Brian

P.Copenhaver, trans., Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. pp. 1-7, 67-92.

Egypt syllabus, page 2

The nature of the course

1) From the Classics Department’s Writing Statement:

100-level courses function as introductions to what it means to read across temporal and cultural boundaries. … Classics courses taught in translation offer a different glimpse into the past by requiring beginning students to read multiple works of literature in translation and to think critically about them. Writing at this level is above all aimed at honing reading skills. Paper assignments encourage the accurate and succinct formulation of thought, and may include any of the following: informal response papers (responses to assigned reading, to class discussion, to a particular quotation), formulations of discussion questions, creative writing, descriptions of historical, social or cultural phenomena, identifications of problems and/or disagreements, and basic expressions of interpretive or synthetic thinking skills through writing in essay exams.

2) Readings and Exams

As this is a 100-level course, it has no expectations of independent research. It depends on reading (quite a bit of reading), lecture, discussion, and slides. The course does not intend to teach Egyptian history, though the history will be surveyed; rather, what the ancient Greeks and Romans (and those moderns who worry about the ancient Greeks and Romans) think about Egyptian civilization and culture. Students in the course will be expected to read a wide variety of works and bring to them the necessary critical skills: ancient historical and cultural accounts of Egypt—serious if uncritical (Herodotus), bogus (Horapollo), and racially biased (Juvenal); ancient fictions involving Egypt (Euripides, Alexander, Apuleius); some native Egyptian fictions (Egyptian Stories); mythical documents both ancient and primary (Hymn to Demeter) and modern and secondary (Pinch); philosophical myths (Plato); religious documents, both histories (Jerome) and esoteric texts (Poimandres, Asclepius); and modern histories of various sorts (Manley, Redford, Pollard). Along the way you will learn how hieroglyphs work, as well as the myths surrounding their meaning; the decline of Egypt, and whether Egypt was the more influential in world history when it was weak or strong, conquered or conquering; the religious history of late Egypt (Isis, Gnosticism, Coptic Christianity and desert monasticism prior to Islam); the nature of the Black Athena controversy; the Nubian experience of ancient Egypt. Our questions can be boiled down to two: To what extent does Greco-Roman Egypt belong to western history? To what extent does Egypt belong to African history? This course also counts toward the African, African American, Diaspora Studies major.

The readings given for each day in the syllabus are to be read before that class meeting. Typically, the readings assigned for Tuesday classes are more extensive than those assigned for Thursdays.

3) onCourse

As this is a relatively large course, it must be admitted that even when discussion is our goal, it can be difficult for all to speak who want to speak, and easy to hide for all who want to hide. But I am going to do what I can to discourage students from skipping the readings. There will be frequent, simple quizzes based on the day’s reading that will need to be taken before the day’s class. These quizzes will be accessed through the course’s onCourse site, and will be done on-line and without collaboration; all elements of the Wheaton Honor Code apply. It is absolutely crucial that you check onCourse regularly for new announcements; I will send e-mails as well to alert you to your obligations.

4) Exams and Grading Structure

There are 27 class meetings, punctuated by two exams (3/2, 4/8) and a final (5/12). A list of essay topics will be distributed a week before each of these three equally weighted exams. These two-page essays will be turned in on the day of the exam; in fact, the essay must be turned in in order for you to receive an exam. The exam will consist of identifications and short answers. There are seven equal components of the final grade: three 2-page essays, three identification exams, and an aggregate grade for quizzes, attendance, and participation.


5) Field trip

A field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is scheduled for Saturday, March 27 (the day after the first week of classes after the Spring break). Plan for this now; funding for the trip requires that attendance be mandatory. A Wheaton ID gets you into the museum for free. Students who would like to get some extra credit may write a report on some of the items on display in their Nubian or Late Egyptian collections. Talk to me for further details. 6) About Attendance

An attendance sheet will be passed around at the beginning of each class. Attendance is expected. Certain things that happen in class cannot be duplicated afterwards: drawings on the blackboard, slides shown from carousels, work with maps. The exams will feature terms for identification: everything that is put on the board is fair game. I hope that the material of this course and the nature of my classes will be sufficient to keep you engaged, and that I don’t really have to beg; but absences will count against the attendance/participation component of your final grade.

7) A few class rules

No caps please. There is an expectation of polite language. I have no objections to drinks in class, and will myself often show up with a cup of tea. The rule is: this is a lecture hall, not a cafeteria. I hope that people will refrain, except in obvious emergencies, from leaving the room and coming back in; this is distracting to all of us. My goal is a civilized discussion of the nature of civilization.

Syllabus of Readings and Assignments

Week 1: Introduction: Myths of Egypt, Biblical Egypt, General IntroductionR 1/28: Witt, all (e-reserves)

Week 2: Egyptian History: what the Greeks and Romans didn’t knowT 2/2: Manley begun, Parts I-III, pp. 12-83.R 2/4: Manley completed, Parts IV-V, pp. 84-131.

NOTE: Registration ends; last day to request permission for audits

Week 3: The Greeks in EgyptT 2/9: Herodotus Book 2 begun: sections 1-98, pp. 131-171 (e-reserves).

This part of Herodotus is more a description of the land and its people from the author's point of view.

R 2/11: Herodotus Book 2 completed: sections 99-182, pp. 171-210 (e-reserves).This part of Herodotus is more concerned with history and kings, and claims to be more what the Egyptians say themselves about their past.

Week 4: Egyptian Fantasies T 2/16: The philosopher’s view of Egypt: Plato, Atlantis (e-reserves)R 2/18: Egypt in the Trojan War: Euripides. Reread Herodotus, 2.112-120, on king Proteus and

the Egyptian account of Helen and the Trojan War, before you read the Euripides.F 2/19: NOTE: Last day to declare a course Pass/Grade/Fail


Week 5: Egyptian Stories, Egyptian MythologyT 2/23: Pinch, Chapters 1-7, pages 1-88. The second of the on-line quizzes that will count will

cover this material and will be made available by early Monday evening.NOTE: Essay questions for the first exam will be distributed today, along with a grading rubric and a model paper.

R 2/25: Isis and Osiris: Pinch, Chapters 8-10, pages 89-122; Egyptian Stories (a handout distributed on Tuesday); Hymn to Demeter (e-reserves)

Week 6: The romance of EgyptT 3/2: first examR 3/4: Alexander, Book 1

Week 7: Black EgyptT 3/9: Alexander, Books 2 and 3W 3/10: NOTE: mid-semester notices dueR 3/11: a lecture: the romance of Heliodorus

NOTE: The only preparation for today's lecture is to re-read Manley, pp. 118-129, from "The Sack of Thebes" to "After Alexander." Redford is to be begun (pp. 1-30), though we will not discuss this book until after break.

Week 8: Spring Break

Week 9: Black Egypt, continuedT 3/23: Redford, continued: pp. 31-92R 3/25: The Black Athena controversy: Redford, completed, pp. 93-147.F 3/26: NOTE: Last day to drop a class; last day to submit a Self-Initiated Connection proposal.Sa 3/27: NOTE: Field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Week 10: Alexandrian Egypt, Part I

T 3/30: Alexander the Great, again: Pollard, Chapters 1-5R 4/1: Hellenistic mathematics: Pollard, Chapters 6-9

NOTE: Essay questions for the second exam will be distributed today.

Week 11: Alexandrian Egypt, Part II: Pollard, continuedA D V I S I N G W E E K

T 4/6: Cleopatra: Pollard, Chapters 10-12R 4/8: second exam

Week 12: Roman EgyptA D V A N C E R E G I S T R A T I O N

T 4/13: Medicine and science: Pollard, Chapters 13-15R 4/15: The tale of Lucius: Apuleius, Books 1-6

NOTE: L O S E R C O N C E R T : Jonathan Biss, pianist

Week 13: Roman EgyptT 4/20: The cult of Isis: Apuleius, Books 7-11R 4/22: A day to catch up: Juvenal 15 (e-reserves)F 4/23: NOTE: A C A D E M I C F E S T I V A L X I X

Week 14: Late EgyptT 4/27: Religious history: Pollard, Chapters 16-19R 4/29: Hermeticism and Gnosticism: Poimandres, Asclepius (e-reserves)


Week 15: Monastic EgyptT 5/4: The lure of the desert: Jerome; Rufinus (e-reserves)

NOTE: Essay questions for final exam will be distributed today.R 5/6: The cult of Egyptian wisdom: HorapolloF 5/7: NOTE: L A S T D A Y O F C L A S S E S

May 8-9: R e v i e w P e r i o d

F I N A L E X A M : Wednesday, May 12, 2:00 PM

C O M M E N C E M E N T : Saturday, May 22

egypt syllabus s10

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