What was the character of ancient
Egyptian thought? How did Egyptian
though influence the development
of Greek thought? How did the ancient
Greeks view the ancient Egyptians?
How do modern scholars view the
Egyptians? These are some of the
questions that will determine the
shape of this course.
In order to address these questions,
the curse is divided into three
parts. In part one, we will take
up the general question of the
nature of philosophical thought
and its origins. Did philosophy
first emerge in Greece or in Egypt?
We will concentrate on the works
of important Greek authors and
Herodotus (5thC, B.C.) in particular
whose “book [on Egypt} was
still the standard travel guide
[to Egypt} in the nineteenth century.” In
part two, we examine translations
of some of the important works
of the ancient Egyptians themselves.
We shall try to determine what
the Egyptians themselves thought
on the basis of the written texts
they have left behind. In the third
part of the course, we turn to
modern views of Egyptian thought.
These views are based on both the
legacy of the Greeks and the deciphering
of the texts written in hieroglyphic.
In this final part of the course,
we will compare ancient views of
the Egyptians with these modern
views and consider in what ways
they impact our understanding of
the ancient Egyptian texts we have
studied.
