Survey of Ancient Egypt This course is a social history of ancient Egypt dealing specifically with the life of the common person in Egyptian society from the Old Kingdom through the Ptolemaic Period (c. 2600-30 BC). Topics are arranged conceptually (not chronologically) to provide insight into Egyptian social practices and institutions.

Subjects include: language and writing (including elementary lessons in reading and writing Egyptian hieroglyphs), the decipherment of hieroglyphs, the educational system and issues of literacy social advance-ment and structure of society, economic institutions, occupations and labor conditions, technology and engineering, medicine and obstetrics, status of women, motherhood, marriage, romance and love, sexual mores and activities, games and recreation, including the role of athletics in religious worship, and conceptions of drama and the earliest recorded use of sacred drama in religious rituals.