Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series in
which reporters drop in on interesting classes throughout
the university's eight academic divisions. Suggestions are
welcome at
gazette@jhu.edu.
The course: Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll in Ancient
Egypt. 3 credits. Freshmen only. Offered by the
Department of Near Eastern
Studies in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.
Cross-listed with
Women, Gender and Sexuality.
The instructor: Betsy Bryan, Alexander Badawy
Professor of Egyptian Art and Archaeology and chair of the
Near Eastern Studies Department. Bryan specializes in the
Egyptian New Kingdom (18th to 20th dynasties), spanning the
time from 1567 B.C.E. to 1085 B.C.E. Her many publications
include The Quest for Immortality: Hidden Treasures of
Egypt, which she co-edited; the book was published in
conjunction with a National Gallery of Art exhibition by
the same name for which Bryan was guest curator. A Web site
that chronicles her excavation each January at the Temple
of Karnak in Luxor, Egypt, garners thousands of hits each
winter.
To see a day-to-day account of the 2005 excavation and
to find links to digs dating back to 2001, go to
www.jhu.edu/neareast/egypttoday.html
Meeting time: 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and
Thursdays, fall 2005.
Syllabus: This course explores the ancient Egyptian
notions of divine experience and the ritual magic that
assisted with it. The means of experiencing the gods in
ancient Egypt often involved rituals that included
drunkenness and music, Bryan says. Sexuality helped to
guarantee the maintenance of world order and was important
to all notions of life and death.
Photos from Bryan's excavations and her related
travels throughout Egypt are important teaching tools in
this course. Using her laptop computer and a projector,
Bryan lights up one wall of the classroom with slides of
tomb art. Parsing the images, she helps her students see
that the paintings are rich with sexual symbolism. For
example, students learn that lettuce is featured in several
scenes depicting feasts because the vegetable was
considered an aphrodisiac. Figs appear in the paintings to
echo love poems of the day, when the fruit was often shared
between lovers. Actions associated with amorous behavior
are also all over the tomb walls; women fixing their hair,
beds being made and wives handing arrows to their husbands
are all considered to be sexual gestures, Bryan says.
Course work: Class participation and a class
presentation are each worth 25 percent of a student's
grade. Two short essays are each worth 15 percent, and a
final essay makes up the remaining 20 percent of the
overall grade.
Required reading: There are many articles on
electronic reserve and posted online through the course's
WebCT site, which requires a user name and password in
order to protect the copyrighted materials. They include
"Sexuality, Statuary and the Afterlife: Scenes in the
Tomb-chapel of Pepyankh (Heny the Black)"; "An Interpretive
Essay," by David O'Connor; "Ancient Egyptian Sexuality," by
Gay Robins; "Some Graffiti From the Reign of Hatshepsut,"
by Edward F. Wente; "Wine for Pouring and Purification in
Ancient Egypt," by Peter Dils; "From Prehistory to History:
Beer in Egypt," by Jeremy Geller; "The Earliest History of
Wine and Its Importance in Ancient Egypt," by T.G.H.
James.
Overheard in class: "In the first dynasty, there is
evidence that people were ritually killed at the time when
the king died. After the first dynasty, this practice seems
to disappear. ... In general, the tombs in Egypt were
family tombs. The chapel areas were always open to friends
and family of the tomb owner to visit. The tomb area was
sealed and reopened when the wife and kids died. People had
to pay for their own tombs. Peasants were buried but
probably very simply in small cemeteries. One of the big
problems for archaeologists in Egypt is to locate those
cemeteries because the bodies haven't survived [because
they weren't as well preserved as the bodies of the wealthy
people]."
— Betsy Bryan
Students say: "I'm a freshman Near Eastern studies
major, and I have to say that Dr. Bryan is now definitely
one of my role models. Not only is she extremely
knowledgeable and masterful when speaking about Egyptology,
but she is also very passionate about this topic, and for
someone like me who was never taught anything ancient
Egypt-related in high school, it's fantastic to find
someone who shares my passion. I also respect her
down-to-earth and open-minded attitude toward learning
about new things, even if the ideas come from her freshman
students. I am really enjoying the class discussions, and I
consider myself very lucky that I was able to start off my
experience at Hopkins with one of her classes."
— Jessica Popkin, 18, Near Eastern Studies major,
East Windsor, N.J.
"I'm not gonna lie — what grabbed my attention about
this seminar was the name. I thought it sounded incredibly
interesting, so I came to class ready for a good time. It's
a lot of reading, but it's interesting, so you breeze right
by it. Professor Bryan is great; she's really funny in
class and always makes sure the class discussions are
really interesting."
— Chad Williams, 19, international relations
major, Berwyn, Pa.
"The course caught my eye because it had 'sex' and 'drugs'
in the title. Not too many college courses cover those
topics, especially ones offered to freshmen. Ancient Egypt
and ancient Egyptians have always been an interest to me,
ever since I was 5 or 6. I thought it would be pretty
interesting to see what a college course about my childhood
passion would be like. Also, since I'm a neuroscience
major, I thought this class would be a fascinating change
from all of my science courses. Dr. Bryan wants us to form
our own opinions on the topics we learn about and not
always agree with the authors of our readings. Of course,
laughter is commonplace in the class, as are awkward
moments, but those are what make the class fun and
hilarious."
— Dorothy Knutsen, 18, neuroscience major,
Lakewood, Ohio