Recordings will be made available for those unable to attend the live sessions!
Whether you just want to impress your friends and family in a museum or on holiday in Egypt, or you want to learn the ancient Egyptian language with a view to further study, this is the course for you.
We will concentrate on the hieroglyphs of the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000-1600 BCE), but you’ll be able to apply a lot of what you have learnt to monuments from all periods of pharaonic history. In this course, we’ll continue to look at how the Egyptians expressed themselves on their funerary monuments, this time including autobiography. We will also look at some simple passages from Middle Egyptian literature and finish by reading an excerpt, in hieroglyphs, from the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor, an Ancient Egyptian tale of adventure, magic snakes, and strange vegetables.
By the end of this course, you’ll have a grasp of almost all the basic grammar needed to read the Middle Egyptian stage of the Ancient Egyptian language.
This course continues where the EES Beyond Beginners’ class left off and assumes that you are fairly confident with the hieroglyphic writing system and know some elements of basic Middle Egyptian grammar; you might have done a beginners’ class before or read a teach-yourself book. The first lesson will be a recap of what we did in the last course, but please get in touch with [email protected] if you want to discuss your level.
There are no tests or exams but each week, to practise what we have learnt, a simple task will be given to do at home and feedback for it will be provided. These tasks will be optional.
Please note: If you are not confident with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, then our next Beginners Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs is planned for April/May 2025.
Tutor
Dr Joseph Clayton
Course Outline
Please note that main content will be delivered between 18:00-19:30, though some optional participation (quizzes, Q&A, etc.) may continue beyond that time.
Tuesday 4 November 2025, 18:00-19:30 (UK) time
Week one – Recap of how to read hieroglyphs and the grammar covered last term – Revising all the things we did in the last course.
Tuesday 11 November 2025, 18:00-19:30 (UK) time
Week two – Expressing one’s excellent character and serving the king – Independent pronouns.
Tuesday 18 November 2025, 18:00-19:30 (UK) time
Week three – Verbs, the past tense – Autobiography and telling stories.
Tuesday 25 November 2025, 18:00-19:30 (UK) time
Week Four – More autobiography – More verb forms.
Tuesday 2 December, 18:00-19:30 (UK) time
Week Five – The Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor – Reading an excerpt from a piece of Egyptian Literature.
Recordings of the live sessions will be made available to attendees following the weekly session for those unable to attend in person.
Booking and information
Register for your place in advance using the link below. Here, you can select to pay for optional add-ons. You can buy a personalised certificate for £5.99, featuring your name, the event name and start date, which will be signed by the EES Engagement Manager to confirm your attendance at this online course.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about your booking. If you do not receive your email, then please check your junk folders before contacting the Egypt Exploration Society. The course will be held on our Zoom platform and attendees will be able to interact by asking questions, using the chat and polls. It is not necessary to have a working webcam or microphone for this course. The online course will be complemented by Google Drive, where resources will be uploaded.
Recordings will be made available for those unable to attend the live sessions! These recordings will be available via a YouTube playlist for approximately three months after the final class.
Please ensure that you have read our guide to attending EES online events before the course begins.
