AP/HUMA 2110 9.00
EGYPT IN THE GREEK & ROMAN MEDITERRANEAN
Note: Successful completion of this course fulfills General Education requirements in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.
An examination of Egypt and Egyptians in the imagination and history of the cultures of the Greek and Roman Mediterranean. The place of Egypt in the imagination of the cultures of the Greek and Roman Mediterranean was an important and pervasive fact of both ancient myth and history. Athenians from the Golden Age, Jews from Judea, Alexander the son of Philip, Roman warriors like Caesar and Antonius became directly involved in the life of Egypt of their own day and fascinated by the monumental and exotic features of Egyptian culture.
What they heard and saw made its way into the cultural narratives and even the reconstructed histories of the visitors. Many visitors stayed and provided in turn a fertile home for many important cultural and ritual events of the ancient Mediterranean. The Judean sections of Alexandria, Macedonian monarchs like Cleopatra Philopator, native and imported poets, scientists and scholars contributed to the rich mixture of Egyptian cultures and, in turn, informed the Greek and Roman culture of the rest of the Mediterranean
This course seeks to examine carefully the details of the imaginative and complicated portraits of Egypt and Egyptians fashioned in a variety of cultures around the Greek and Roman Mediterranean and to compare these to the rich remains and narratives created by Egyptians themselves over three millennia of monuments, artifacts and written records. Students are required to become familiar both with the Egyptians of the Greek and Roman Mediterranean and with the Egyptians who stood behind these artistic and cultural events.