Admission requirements
Regular MA admission.
Description
See below.
Course objectives
- The course encourages a critical appraisal of current practices in the publication of monuments and inscriptions, with particular attention being paid to aims and methods. – The course anticipates on the experiences of the Cairo semester, during which the students become acquainted with monuments in situ in Egypt, as it highlights the various ways in which these monuments are approached in the published record. – It expands the knowledge gained during the BA-course in ‘Hiëroglifische epigrafie’ (5703VHEP). It also serves as an introduction to the practice of writing a scholarly book review.
Timetable
- 30 October Epigraphic Recording of Old Kingdom Elite Tombs (lecture by R. van Walsem)
- 6 Nov The Chicago House Epigraphic Method (lecture by H.M. Hays)
- 13 Nov The Epigraphic Recording of Graeco-Roman Temple Decoration (lecture by O.E. Kaper)
- 20 Nov Greek and Coptic Epigraphy (lecture by J. van der Vliet)
- 18 Dec student presentations
- For the most recent update of the timetable click “here“http://www.hum.leiden.edu/classics-and-ancient-civilizations/timetables-classics-and-ancient-civilizations/time-schedules.html.
Mode of instruction
A combination of lectures and seminars.
The course starts with a series of lectures by five different staff members. Each lecture outlines the status questions on a different topic, and discusses the achievements and drawbacks of the currently practiced epigraphic methods and forms of publication, ending with an outline of the desired direction of research and practices for the future. There will be a specific focus on the desirability and form of epigraphic drawings and the role of photography in publications. The emphasis will lie on the publication of two-dimensional inscriptions and reliefs, more than on the recording and publication of objects. A selective bibliography is provided for each topic.
A research task is associated with each lecture topic, for which the student carries out a case study of one particular monument or group of inscriptions, and discusses critically the published record. At the start of the course each student will be assigned an individual research task. The case study may be of a monument of which various publications exist, or of a published monument or inscription (or group of inscriptions), where the comparison of a photographic record with other types of recording allows the student to judge the merits of the publication. The publications discussed include recent titles.
The research should be presented in an oral presentation during the seminar, while a written version of the critique should be handed in at the end of the course. Often this will be appropriately done in the form of a book review.
Assessment method
Oral presentation during the seminar (30%)
Book review (topics assigned at the start of the course) (70%).
Blackboard
Reading list
A selected bibliography will be available for each topic of the lectures.
Registration
Registration via uSis
Contact information
Prof. dr. O.E. Kaper and other staff members.