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University of Pennsylvania

Wonders of Ancient Egypt

Colossal pyramids, imposing temples, golden treasures, enigmatic hieroglyphs, powerful pharaohs, strange gods, and mysterious mummies are features of Ancient Egyptian culture that have fascinated people over the millennia. The Bible refers to its gods, rulers, and pyramids. Neighboring cultures in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean wrote about its god-like kings and its seemingly endless supply of gold. The Greeks and Romans describe aspects of Egypt's culture and history. As the 19th century began, the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt highlighted the wonders of this ancient land, and public interest soared. Not long after, Champollion deciphered Egypt's hieroglyphs and paved the way for other scholars to reveal that Egyptian texts dealt with medicine, dentistry, veterinary practices, mathematics, literature, and accounting, and many other topics. Then, early in the 20th century, Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun and its fabulous contents. Exhibitions of this treasure a few decades later resulted in the world's first blockbuster, and its revival in the 21st century has kept interest alive. Join Dr. David Silverman, Professor of Egyptology at Penn, Curator in Charge of the Egyptian Section of the Penn Museum, and curator of the Tutankhamun exhibitions on a guided tour of the mysteries and wonders of this ancient land. He has developed this online course and set it in the galleries of the world famous Penn Museum. He uses many original Egyptian artifacts to illustrate his lectures as he guides students as they make their own discovery of this fascinating culture. This course focused on five key areas in the study of Ancient Egypt: 1) Principles of Egyptian Art, 2) The Basics of the Language of Ancient Egypt: Hieroglyphs, 3) Egyptian Magic, 4) Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and the Religion of the Aten, and 5) The Burial of Tutankhamun and the Search for his Tomb. This course is intended to accompany, and ideally to follow, Introduction to Ancient Egypt (also available on Coursera).

Status: World History
Status: Ancient History
IntermediateCourse10 hours

Featured reviews

MC

5.0Reviewed Mar 20, 2020

I took these 2 courses after visiting the Penn Museum. It certainly makes me want to revisit that museum again and again! This is a great course to learn about Ancient Egypt.

AS

5.0Reviewed Sep 19, 2019

Excellent course, very interesting topic and very well-presented. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in Egyptian history, art, and archaeology.

SS

5.0Reviewed Apr 15, 2018

Very impressing, well-prepared, detailed course. I have learnt a lot and I would recommend this course to anyone who wants to gain insight about Ancient Egyption culture!

ML

4.0Reviewed May 26, 2020

Interesting course although I was expecting more discussions on the actual wonders instead of an introduction to the art, religion, language and history of ancient egypt.

E

5.0Reviewed Jan 19, 2022

This was an excellent followup course on Egypt for me. I found it very indepth and the professor was very cleaer in his presentations and the audiovisuals were awesome! Thank u so much!

BP

5.0Reviewed Feb 1, 2021

Very interesting, and presented in a way that's accessible to anyone. Would highly recommend the course to anybody with even an inkling of interest in Ancient Egypt.

MR

5.0Reviewed Mar 1, 2020

Love this course! I've been obsessed with Egyptology my whole life and after taking both of Dr. Silverman's courses I feel I have a much greater understanding of the mystic civilization!

RO

5.0Reviewed Feb 1, 2022

​Absolutely great course, by an expert in his field, dr. David Silverman.O​nly minor downside of this great course was the fact, that the credits at the end of each clip was taking very long.

DK

5.0Reviewed Dec 1, 2017

This is a very interesting and enjoyable course, and an excellent companion to Professor Silverman's first course, Introduction to Ancient Egypt and its Civilization.

VE

5.0Reviewed Jul 10, 2020

This was an incredibly detailed course that provided an in-depth and interesting view of ancient Egypt. I would highly recommend this as an essential course for those interested in Egypt's history.

CB

4.0Reviewed Jun 18, 2018

Excellent course even if the delivery is a bit dry. The content is top notch from an expert with plenty of visual aids. Time well spent if you like history and/or Ancient Egypt.

DB

5.0Reviewed Jun 25, 2022

D​etailed introduction to Egyptian art; not too time-consuming; not overly focused on ruins or chronology but on artifacts with symbolic purposed or that conveyed meaning to ancient Egyptians.

All reviews

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