Saturdays 21, 28 March, 11 April, & Saturday 18 to Sunday 19 April 2026
Course Director: Mr Kit Devine (MPhil University of Oxford)
This is a 5-day course to be held online, and will also be available on video recording afterwards.
Course description:
As usual we have planned a new course for those of you who love to experience the culture of pharaonic Egypt up close by reading ancient texts. This time we will be exploring responses to the inevitability of death as expressed in a selection of sources. In particular, we will look at The Dialogue of a Man with his Ba, an extraordinarily dark work of Middle Egyptian literature which takes the form of a dispute between a man and this aspect of his soul, as well as excerpts from harpists’ songs, and spells from the Book of the Dead (the selection can be fine-tuned based on class interest).
Note that this is an advanced reading class for students with good experience of hieroglyphic Middle Egyptian. Normally we expect you to have taken both BSS courses HIEROGLYPHS FOR BEGINNERS (first stage) and HIEROGLYPHS: THE NEXT STEP (second stage) beforehand. As a rule of thumb, before you begin this course you should be comfortable reading all the texts in How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs (see Recommended reading). Nevertheless, do not worry about the intensity of this course; throughout the week there will be plenty of time for your own work and for questions and answers with your tutor.
Timetable:
Saturday 21 March
10:45* – 11:00
Students login to Zoom
11:00 – 11:30
BSS Director’s Welcome Address; Introductions
11:30 – 13:00
1. Introduction and Book of the Dead
14:15 – 15:30
2. A Letter from the Dead: Ghostly activity
16:00 – 17:15
3. Book of the Dead: Fear of a ‘second death’
Saturday 28 March
10:00 – 11:15
4. Harpists’ Songs: Reassurance through praising the afterlife
11:45 – 13:00
5. Harpists’ Songs: Scepticism and enjoying life while it lasts (1)
14:15 – 15:30
6. Harpists’ Songs: Scepticism and enjoying life while it lasts (2)
16:00 – 17:15
7. Guided Reading and Wrap Up
Saturday 11 April
10:00 – 11:15
8. The Dialogue of a Man and his Ba (1)
11:45 – 13:00
9. The Dialogue of a Man and his Ba (2)
14:15 – 15:30
10. The Dialogue of a Man and his Ba (3)
16:00 – 17:15
11. The Dialogue of a Man and his Ba (4)
Saturday 18 April
10:00 – 11:15
12. The Dialogue of a Man and his Ba (5)
11:45 – 13:00
13. The Dialogue of a Man and his Ba (6)
14:15 – 15:30
14. The Dialogue of a Man and his Ba (7)
16:00 – 17:15
15. The Dialogue of a Man and his Ba (8)
Sunday 19 April
10:00 – 11:15
16. The Dialogue of a Man and his Ba (9)
11:45 – 13:00
17. The Dialogue of a Man and his Ba (10)
14:15 – 15:30
18. The Dialogue of a Man and his Ba (11)
16:00 – 17:15
19. Conclusions and Considerations
17:15 – 18:30
End-of-Course online social (you are welcome to invite guests)
You may also like the following events from Bloomsbury Summer School & Academy:
- This April, 18th April, 09:00 am, REVOLUTIONS IN NEOLITHIC ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE FERTILE CRECSENT AND BEYOND (online) in London, United Kingdom
- This May, 17th May, 09:00 am, A Taste of Hieroglyphs in London, United Kingdom
- This June, 28th June, 10:00 am, CRIME, SORCERY, AND SCANDAL: A SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT VIEW OF ANCIENT EGYPT in London
Also check out other
Workshops in Brentwood,
Arts events in Brentwood,
Literary Art events in Brentwood.
