At the Crossroads of Three Continents: Ancient Egypt’s History from the Collapse to Cleopatra

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The year is c. 1170 BCE: Egypt is already ancient, but gone are the days of building pyramids, and for hundreds of years, the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom had managed an empire stretching from Syria to Egypt following the Nile south into Sudan. Starting with the ‘Bronze Age Collapse’ and continuing through the equally seismic shifts that followed, this course examines the latter half of ancient Egyptian history. Students will learn how this ancient state constantly reinvented itself, through the rule of an elite class of priests, Kushite Pharaohs and Assyrian invaders, a Saite Renaissance and interactions with Greek colonists, Persian occupations and revolts, and the rise and fall of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Using archaeology and written sources in translation, we will explore this broad but captivating chapter of human history. No prerequisites.