History 370
Spring 2015
Course Description
and Goals

This course studies the nature of ancient Egyptian religion and its essential magical character. Taking a texts approach supplemented by archaeology and material culture, it traces the history and character of Egyptian religion and magical practices from the Archaic Period (ca. 3050 BC) through early Christianity (c. 7th cent AD)--yes, Coptic Christian magic!. It defines the role and nature of Egyptian so-called "magic" in its native concept (heka, 'creative power') and sets it against Greek and Roman (i.e., Europe) conceptions of sorcery and witchcraft. It explores the esoteric nature of Egyptian religious thought and the wide variety of beliefs, often contradictory to modern thinking, yet which the Egyptians were able to combine into a unified religious system.

Subjects include: the nature and character of magical practice, deities, mythologies and mythopoeic thinking, cosmology and cosmogony, state religion, personal piety and funerary beliefs and customs, temples and shrines, secret passages and crypts, religious rituals, spells and incantations, mystery rites and religious initiations, and the religious function of sports and athletics. Texts include selections from: the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, Book of the Dead, the magical papyri, the Books of the Netherworld and ritual inscriptions from temple walls. A final project may include a recreation of an authentic mystery/religious ritual.


Student Learning Outcomes

General Education Student Learning Outcomes are to be assessed in the research paper (30% of the course grade), and they include:

  1. Students will learn how to analyze how ideas are represented, interpreted, and valued in various expressions of human culture.
  2. Students will learn how to examine relevant primary source materials and the evidence of material culture as understood by the discipline and interpret the material in writing assignments.