28775 - Egyptian Epigraphy (1) (LM)

Academic Year 2018/2019

  • Docente: Marco Zecchi
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: L-OR/02
  • Language: Italian
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Archaeology and Cultures of the Ancient World (cod. 8855)

    Also valid for Second cycle degree programme (LM) in History and Oriental Studies (cod. 8845)

Learning outcomes

- learning the glyphs - recognising the Egyptian 'alphabet', biliteral/triliteral signs, ideograms and determinatives
- translating simple texts found on monuments and artifacts, this gives the students the opportunity of putting what they are learning into context

Course contents

1) Introduction to the hieroglyphic writing system and its monumental context
2) Introduction to the epigraphic tools and methodology
Part of the course focuses on some verbal forms and on the translation and analysis of some epigraphic texts of the Middle Kingdom.

Readings/Bibliography

J.P. Allen, Middle Egyptian. An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, Cambridge University Press 2014

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons

Assessment methods

Oral exam, during which students will have the opportunity to demonstrate an understanding in Egyptian hieroglyphs, demonstrate an understanding in simple Egyptian grammar and demonstrate the ability to translate and analyse at least one of the epigraphic texts translated during the course.

Students who show a solid command of the Egyptian language and an equally good awareness of its grammatical aspects receive an excellent mark. Students with a lesser degree of linguistic competence receive a lower mark. Students who apply their grammatical knowledge mechanically, without showing an adequate awareness of the connections between grammar, meaning and context, who have not acquired the capacity to analyze an epigraphic text do not pass the exam.

Teaching tools

Photocopies with hieroglyphic inscriptions

Office hours

See the website of Marco Zecchi