Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies,
Pennsylvania State University
Egypt's story spans more than three thousand years—longer than the gap between us and the pyramid builders themselves. This course walks through that vast timeline dynasty by dynasty: the god-kings of the Old Kingdom raising Giza's pyramids, the turbulent power struggles of the Intermediate Periods, the imperial ambitions of Thutmose III and the religious revolution of Akhenaten, and the slow twilight of pharaonic rule under Kushite, Persian, and finally Ptolemaic conquerors.
Rather than a monolithic "ancient Egypt," students discover a civilization constantly in flux—collapsing, reinventing itself, and entangling with Nubians, Hittites, Assyrians, and Greeks along the way. We read the Egyptians in their own words: royal boasts carved in stone, letters between kings, tomb autobiographies, and love poetry. And we ask why this particular civilization still captivates the modern imagination, from Hollywood to video games, three thousand years after the last pharaoh fell.