Urbanism and Urban Society in Ancient Egypt

Graduate / Professional

The aim of this seminar is to challenge prevailing views on Egypt’s non-urban past and to investigate Egypt as an early urban society. The emergence of urban features are traced diachronically starting with the predynastic period up to the disintegration of the powerful Middle Kingdom state into the New Kingdom with its powerful royal cities and up to the urban transformation of the Late Period and Graeco-Roman times. This seminar offers a synthesis of the archaeological data that sheds light on the different facets of urbanism in ancient Egypt and looks at theoretical concepts and models of urbanism more generally, and how they can be applied to ancient societies. Drawing on evidence from recent excavations, the changing settlement patterns are explored by contrasting periods of strong political control against those of decentralization. On a microlevel, the characteristics of households and the layout of domestic architecture are addressed, which are key elements for understanding how society functioned and evolved over time. In addition, settlement patterns provide further insights into the formation of complex society and the role of the state in the urban development of ancient Egypt. Prerequisite: Some background knowledge of ancient Egyptian history is required. TTh 4pm-5:15pm