How do I prepare for an Egyptology Major?

College Majors
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<p>I am very interested in Egyptology and I see that Brown has this major. I got so excited when I saw this but then I became disheartened when I realized I have no coursework or ECs that can show that I like this major. I have done a lot of independent reading which can prepare me for the major to an extent; but I am afraid admissions will think I am BSing about what I want to major in because I haven’t pursued the interest in ways that can be shown on my transcript. Are my fears irrational? What can I do to pursue this interest?</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

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<p>any ideas?</p>

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<p>build a pyramid =/</p>

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<p>I don’t think you really need to “prepare” for the major in advance. If you are concerned that the admissions people will not believe you, maybe one of your references could mention your interest in Egyptology in his letter of recommendation?</p>

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<p>Oh really? Hm…does it matter if they have nothing to do with that field? As of now I am thinking of getting a rec from my bio/genetics professor and my philosophy professor.</p>

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<p>Make sure your essays reflect your interest-why the subject intrigues you, how you got interested, what you hope to accomplish by studying this area, what you bring to the subject area that is unique, etc…</p>

<p>A student with the initiative to undertake independent study of a topic that facinates them is likely to be very appealing. Since very few high schools (other than those located in Egypt) offer egyptology as a subject area, you are not competing against a broad field of potentially more accomplished egyptologists.</p>

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<p>One more observation: If you are seriously planning to study Egyptology, it means you will be working in Egypt eventually. Get started on Arabic now. Even if you don’t end up in Egyptology, there is a shortage of fluent speakers of Arabic in the US, so you are positioning yourself well for future work in the middle east.</p>

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<p>Oh! Oh! Oh! I got the answer to this one… practice your skills at making coffee or fast food sandwiches. If you are very lucky, you may also need the skills of filling out unemployment forms. You may want to team up with some Basketweaving majors for more ideas. :)</p>

<p>Well, perhaps M’s Mom has better advice, such as the idea about learning Arabic. Good luck and remember you’ll need to be very proactive to convert such a specific training into fulltime employment in the field.</p>

<p>Your best bet is to talk to professors and professionals already in that field. They will have a better idea of what you need to do to prepare for the major as well as advice (or warnings) on the practical viability of your chosen major.</p>

<p>Annika</p>

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<p>M’sMom, thank you very much. Your suggestions are very, very insightful.</p>

<p>annikasorrense, your blub made me laugh :), hehe thanks! Yeah I am trying to contact some egyptology departments but ugh they haven’t responded yet!!</p>

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<p>As is said above, if you want to be a practising archaeologist or want to spend time there to study (although not all Egyptologists are archaeologists, and all don’t go there), learn Arabic.</p>

<p>Egyptian Arabic is a dialect which can be learnt in classes, although not as commonly as Modern Standard Arabic… A saving grace is that Egyptian Arabic is easier than MSA.</p>

<p>Secondly, if you’re really interested in Egyptology, start now. There’s no reason why you can’t dive into the content. Learning the language of Ancient Egypt is a must in any university major. I would recommend Collier’s book ‘How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs’, which is straight-forward and quite basic. Even learning the history and showing an interest in that would surely help your application? </p>

<p>Good luck with it all.</p>

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<p>pawr, thank you so much for the tips about Arabic. I have been reading some of Zahi Hawass’ books and I will definitely look into purchasing or borrowing the Collier book.</p>

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<p>Don’t bother with learning Arabic. If you are serious about egyptology you should learn French and German because much of the work in egyptology is done in those languages. That, plus a solid grounding in art history, history, archaeology and anthropology coursework, will demonstrate your preparedness for the subject. There are only a dozen or so universities that offer an undergraduate egyptology/near eastern studies major. If you live near one, you could take a course in Egyptian language or history in summer. I think that will demonstrate your interest very well. Or get yourself a copy of “Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs” by James P. Allen, and teach yourself some Middle Egyptian. It’s a very good book. Then you can write to the author afterwards. He’s a prof at Brown.</p>

<p>(My CC user name is an egyptian word)</p>

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<p>Your advice about not learning Arabic is certainly incorrect for obvious reasons. As stated numerous times, German and (to a much lesser extent) French is important. That being said, a reading knowledge of German and French is important, whilst a speaking knowledge of Arabic is going to not only help you navigate Egypt, but will immensely help with getting your head around the nature of Afro-Asiatic languages (of which English, German, and French are not part).</p>

<p>There are obviously also pedagogical reasons for doing Arabic early with regards to how fast one can pick up another language like German or French vs Arabic, Hebrew, Middle Egyptian, etc. To maximise your chances in the career of Egyptology, you really want to be an equipped archaeologist. You cannot be equipped and not at least communicate well.</p>

<p>Your advice to pick up Allen’s book is also very dubious. As Allen himself has said on a number of occasions, Collier’s book is much more approachable. If you’re interested in teaching yourself Middle Egyptian, pick up Collier’s book. If you’re interested in taking formal classes (or giving up after a few pages), pick up Allen’s.</p>

<p>I have no idea why you’d want to “write to the author afterwards”… After what? Allen would be much more impressed with someone who can actually read a little ME, rather than someone who owns his book.</p>

<p>PS: Your user name is how an Egyptian word is said today, it isn’t an Egyptian word.</p>

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<p>Zahi’s interesting… I would personally stay clear of his stuff as it’s very political.</p>

<p>If you want a good introduction, I would recommend Ian Shaw’s The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. The book is great on two accounts: Firstly, it’s straight-forward and can be digested in parts. Secondly, the authors make their claims without apology. The latter means that once you’ve read a chapter, you can pick up one of the numerous reviews of the book and get involved in historical discussion. It’s really important that you understand the arguments in Egyptology from the beginning. </p>

<p>Good luck with it all. :)</p>

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<p>

Eh? All excavation reports are required by the Supreme Council of Antiquities to be published in Arabic. The ability to read these reports is an essential skill.</p>

<p>

A more tactful description than what I would have used (phrases like “media hog” and “bully” come to mind).</p>

<p>The Oxford History is written by experts, but it can be a bit overwhelming for those just venturing into the field. Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs and Red Land, Black Land by Barbara Mertz are two very reader-friendly works revised by the author just last year.</p>

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<p>I am no egyptologist, so take what I say below with a grain of Nile natron.
Arabic and Egyptian are members of the Afro-Asiatic language family, so both languages share certain grammatical and phonological features not found in other language families. But that’s not saying much. It’s like telling someone who wants to learn English to learn German first because it can help. (And German is far more closely related to English than Arabic is to Egyptian.) The ability to read German and French is essential to egyptology but Arabic is not. Someone who wants to be a specialist of the Egyptian language would study Coptic, a language that actually descended from Ancient Egyptian.</p>

<p>I agree that the book by Collier and Manley is a good suggestion for an easy introduction to hieroglyphs. Allen is difficult for beginners, but it is a standard textbook. With some effort one can go through the book and complete the lessons. I did. It’s a lot easier reading than, say, Alan Gardiner’s book, which used to be the standard textbook until recently. Another reason I recommended Allen’s book is because OP wants to transfer to Brown to study Egyptology. The OP can talk to Prof. Allen for advising and information about Brown’s egyptology department and its curriculum, and perhaps foster a relationship that can help get him/her into the program. Do you not agree?</p>

<p>BTW, “nefer” is an Egyptian word with "e"s standing for the unwritten vowels. No one knows how exactly any Egyptian word was spoken. This is a convention by which Egyptologists pronounce Egyptian words. (The vowel ‘e’ is a poor choice because the original vowel were more likely to have been an ‘a’, ‘u’, ‘o’, ‘i’, than ‘e’)</p>

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<p>Archaeologist,
hmm. Does it mean archaeologists working at Egyptian digs have that level of proficiency in Arabic?</p>

<p>(BTW, in case anyone misunderstood me. I never said Arabic is not useful. Obviously, it’s useful for egyptology and elesewhere today. The point I wanted to make was that Arabic is not needed for learning Egyptian. Given the limited time the OP has, he/she would be better served by learning French, German and Egyptian.)</p>

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<p>Thank you all for your insights. I am so thankful for all the recommendations for books and languages.</p>

<p>Yea I was wondering about how I should tackle the language issue as well…As of now I have had 4 years of Latin and 2 of Spanish so I’m not prepared in any way.</p>

<p>I looked at the Egyptology programs at UChicago, Brown, Penn, Hopkins, etc, and I see that they require learning middle Egyptian and not necessarily other languages. (Maybe I missed something on their websites?)
But I am wondering whether I should wait till after I complete my undergraduate to learn the other languages, or simply one or two.
Thank you, everyone, very much for all of your help and insights!</p>

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<p>Oh also, sorry I did not mention this earlier, I go to a community college so we have only basic anth and art history courses – would this still be good preparation?</p>

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<p>nefer: I completely understand your point. However, I find it very unlikely that anyone is going to learn a significant amount of ME before university (cf Arabic). I also find it even more unlikely that anyone is going to learn it out of Allen’s book, which is meant for an aid in formal classes (despite the “do it yourself” tone in which he writes).</p>

<p>I don’t think we’re on the same wavelength with Arabic. Learning Arabic takes a lot longer than German and French, and, unlike the latter two languages, gets you into the mindset of how Afro-Asiatic languages work. In my experience, students really have problems with the basic functioning of the language, namely the transformation of root/stem to the modified word and clauses. People get so obsessed with “Hieroglyphs” that they stop treating what you see as a language which functioned sort of under the script. For the same reason, many universities also like Egyptology students to do Hebrew, although they also add the fact that Hebrew and its closely-related languages records some historical events relating to Egypt.</p>

<p>More and more, though, I think teachers are realising that Arabic can help students the same way as Hebrew, whilst at the same time helping them should they chose to actually practice archaeology. I cbfed discussing it more; point out one successful Egyptologist who now hasn’t made Arabic a priority, and I’ll concede the point. If you think that Arabic is easier to learn than German/French in the long run, then bleh… The bottom line is that when I was working in Egypt, and when I’ve gone to a few conferences, Egyptologists will even converse with each other in the language.</p>

<p>And by the by, if you pick up Peust’s book on Egyptian phonetics and phonology, you’ll see a very well-accepted phonological reconstruction for the word nfr.</p>

<p>ccTransfer10: They would certainly help you with regards to study, but I’m unfamiliar with the application procedure, so I can’t help there. :(</p>

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<p>Contrary to people urging in learning Arabic, I think you should instead study French. Egyptology started with the discovery of Rosetta stone not by the Muslims, but by Napoleon’s expedition. Arabic would be a beneficial language to learn, but it will not suffice as the sole language in its academic research.
Majority, if not all, scholarly works done during the 18-20th century on the subject are written by British and French Orientalists.
Egypt is an interesting place, and ancient Egypt is simply fascinating. A country filled by hieroglyphics and pyramids; later destroyed, vanished from the earth completely. Only to be recovered thousand of years later. How wonderful is that!</p>