St. Olaf College

Global Semester

1978-1979

Itinerary

Program

 Photos Songs

Reunion 1  Reunion 2

Group
   
Physical Geology History of Egypt

Our course in Egypt was conducted primarily at the American University in Cairo (AUC), concentrating on the History of Egypt -- traditional and emergent, including lectures, discussions, and extensive educational sightseeing in and around Cairo.  Our coordinator in Egypt was Ms. Suzanne Sidhom.
Egypt History
India Sociology
Taiwan Art

Japan Religion
 

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Program

Sept 19, 1978 

  • Arrival in Cairo at 19:20; transfer from Airport to Hotel Cosmopolitan

Sept 20, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Morning Free

  • Orientation Meeting at Hotel

  • Lecture:  "Main Aspects of Ancient Egyptian Civilization and Political History", Dr. Zaki Iskander, Former Director of Antiquities Dept

Sept 21, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Lecture:  "Religious and Social Life in Ancient Egypt", Dr. Zaki Iskander, Former Director of Antiquities Dept

  • Arabic session at Hotel

Sept 22, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Lecture:  "Islam", Dr. Arnold Green, Associate Professor of History

  • Sailing on a felucca boat on the Nile

Sept 23, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Lecture:  "The Rise of Modern Egypt in the Nineteenth Century", Dr. Arnold Green, Associate Professor of History

  • Group visit to the Khan Khalili Bazaar

Sept 24, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Whole day guided tour to the Pharaonic Monuments at Memphis and Saqqara

  • Lunch at Andrea Restaurant at Pyramids

  • Tour to the Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza

  • Dinner at Hotel

Sept 25, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Lecture:  "The Emergence of the Egyptian Nation in the Twentieth Century", Dr. Arnold Green, Associate Professor of History

  • Lecture:  "Living in Egypt: An American Review", Mrs. Ann Shalaby, TEFL Teacher

Sept 26, 1978 

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Guided Tour to the Museum of Egyptian Monuments

  • Lecture:  "Egypt During the Greco-Roman Period", Mr. Jack Lorimer, Director of the American Mission in Egypt

Sept 27, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Free

  • Attending the Sound and Light Show at the Giza Pyramids

Sept 28, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Lecture:  "Economic Development in Egypt between The Social Contract and National Conscientiousness", Dr. Farouk Shalaby, Economic Consultant, AID Program

  • Evening at an Egyptian Home (Hosts:  Dr. and Mrs. Farouk Shalaby)

Sept 29, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Guided Tour to the Coptic Monuments of Old Cairo:  the Coptic Museum, the Coptic Churches, and the Fortress of Babylon

  • Visit to the Papyrus Institute

  • Lecture:  "Economic Planning Once More", Dr. Farouk Shalaby, Economic Consultant, AID Program

Sept 30, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Free

  • Group visit to the Khan Khalili Bazaar

Oct 1, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Departure to Alexandria by bus

  • Guided Tour to the Monuments of Alexandria:  The Greco-Roman Museum, the Catacombs, Pompey's Pillar, and the Roman Amphitheater

  • Lunch at Hotel

  • Optional activities, such as swimming

  • Dinner at Hotel

Oct 2, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Whole day trip to Maamoura Beach

  • Lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant

  • Dinner at Hotel

Oct 3, 1978 

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Visit to Montaza Gardens and swimming at Montaza Beach

  • Lunch at Hotel

  • Departure to Cairo by bus

  • Dinner at Hotel

Oct 4, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Free

  • Lecture:  "Coptic Egypt", Bishop Samuel (St. Andrew's Church Hall)

Oct 5, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Free

  • Lecture:  "Reflections on the Geology of Egypt", Dr. Rushdi Said, Consulting Geologist and Former Director of Geological Survey Dept.

  • Evening at an Egyptian Home (Hosts:  Dr. and Mrs. Farouk Shalaby)

Oct 6, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Lecture:  "Industrialization and Technological Development in Egypt", Dr. Rushdi Said, Consulting Geologist and Former Director of Geological Survey Dept.

Oct 7, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Lecture:  "Population and Urbanization Problems in Egypt", Dr. Saad Ibrahim, Associate Professor of Soc. Anth.

Oct 8, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Guided Tour of the Islamic Monuments:  the Museum of Islamic Arts, Ibn Tulun Mosque, Gayer Anderson Museum, Sultan Hassan Mosque, Mohammed Ali Mosque and the Citadel, al Azhar Mosque

Oct 9, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Final Exam

  • Lunch at Hotel

  • Departure to Luxor by train

  • Dinner and Overnight on train

Oct 10, 1978 

  • Arrival to Luxor and breakfast at Hotel

  • Guided Tour to Luxor Temple

  • Lunch at Hotel

  • Optional visit to Luxor Museum

  • Dinner at Hotel

Oct 11, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Guided Tour to Karnak Temple

  • Lunch at Hotel

  • Attending Sound and Light Show at Karnak Temple

  • Dinner at Hotel

Oct 12, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Guided Tour to the Necropolis of Thebes, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, the Ramesseum, Madinet Habu, and the Colossi of Memnon

  • Lunch at the Hotel

  • Dinner at the Hotel

  • Departure to Cairo by train sleepers

Oct 13, 1978

  • Breakfast on train

  • Arrival to Cairo and transfer to Hotel

Oct 14, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Free Day

Oct 15, 1978

  • Breakfast at Hotel

  • Transfer from Hotel to Airport for flight to Amman

 

Texts

1.  Mansfield, Peter, The Ottoman Empire and its Successors, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1973 

 

Chronological Chart of the History of Egypt

 

Ancient Egypt (Pre-Dynastic Period)    
    5000 - 3100 B.C.    
Dynastic Period    
  The Old Kingdom 3100 - 2686 B.C.   Dynasties 1 - 2 The Archaic Period
    2686 - 2181 B.C. Dynasties 3 - 6 The Pyramid Period
  First Intermediate Period 2181 - 2050 B.C. Dynasties 7 - 11  
  The Middle Kingdom 2050 - 1786 B.C. Dynasties 11 - 12  
  Second Intermediate Period 1786 - 1576 B.C. Dynasties 13 - 14  
      Dynasties 15 - 16 Hyksos Rulers: "The Shepherd Kings"
  The New Kingdom 1567 - 1085 B.C. Dynasties 17 - 20 The Empire
    1085 - 709 B.C. Dynasties 21 - 24 The Late New Kingdom
    709 - 332 B.C. Dynasties 25 - 30 The Late Pharaonic Period
Greco-Roman Egypt    
  The Ptolemaic Period (Greek) 332 - 30 B.C.

The Alexandrine Age
  The Roman Period 30 B.C. - 640 A.D. Initiated by Emperor Octavian Augustus; Introduction of Christianity into Egypt; The Byzantine Period
Islamic Egypt  
    640 - 868 A.D. The Arab Conquest of Egypt; The Period of the Arab Caliphate; The Ummayid and Abbasid Dynasties
    868 - 969 A.D. The Tulunid Dynasty
    969 - 1171 A.D. The Fatimid Dynasty; the foundation of Cairo as Capital
    1171 - 1260 A.D. The Ayyubid Dynasty; Saladin and the religious conversion to Sunni (orthodox) Islam
    1260 - 1517 A.D. The Mamluk Dynasty
    1517 - 1789 A.D. The Ottoman Caliphate; the Conquest of Egypt and destruction of Mamluk power
Modern Egypt  
    1789 - 1801 A.D. The Napoleonic Conquest; the French occupation of Egypt
    1805 - 1882 A.D. The Dynasty of Mohammed Ali; the social and political foundations of Modern Egypt
    1882 - 1952 A.D. The period of British occupation; the growth of national movements and the struggle for independence; royal Egyptian rule; prelude to revolution
    1952 - 1970 A.D. The revolution and the Republic; the Nasser Period
    1970 - Present

The Sadat Period

 

Gallery of the Gods of Egypt

 

The ancient Egyptians did not think of their deities as abstract and distant beings, but believed that they had the same desires and physical needs as all living things.  Gods were sometimes represented as humans, sometimes as animals, sometimes as a mixture of both.  It was easy for Egyptians to bring the deities into every phase of their lives; nothing happened anywhere that was not arranged by one god or another.

Gods were often merged when political and philosophical fashions changed.  For example, during the long period when the cult of Ra had official sanction, the compound divinities of Ammon Ra, Khnum Ra, and Sobek Ra enabled priests to maintain their local cults while paying homage to the state deity.  Since there were so many gods, there were bound to be rivalries and contradictions, but the flexible Egyptian religion absorbed them all.  Horus, who avenged the murder of his brother Osiris, was worshipped, but so was Seth, the murderer.  This easy tolerance fitted well with the Egyptians' optimistic belief that "the gods are content and happy of heart, and life is spent in laughter and wonder".  Twelve of the most important of the Egyptian deities are pictured below, most of them wearing the distinctive crowns of divinity.

ISIS, wife and sister of Osiris was gifted with great magical powers.  Among other good works, she protected children -- which made her most popular of Egyptian goddesses.

RA, the sun god of Heliopolis, became a state deity in the Fifth Dynasty.  Some traditions made him the creator of men, and the Egyptians called themselves "the cattle of Ra".

ANUBIS, the jackal-god of mummification, assisted in the rites by which a dead man was admitted to the underworld.  He holds the divine scepter carried by kings and gods.

NEPHTHYS, sister of Isis, was a goddess of women.  Her name means "Lady of the Castle", and she was associated with the home of Osiris, who she helped restore to life.

HORUS, the falcon-headed god, holds in his right hand the ankh, symbol of life.  The kings of Egypt associated themselves with Horus, who was the son of Isis and Osiris.

OSIRIS, a god of the earth and vegetation, symbolized in his death the yearly drought and in his miraculous rebirth the periodic flooding of the Nile and the growth of grain.

HATHOR, horned cow-goddess of love, was also deity of happiness, dance and music.  When a child was born, seven Hathors came to his bedside to decide his future life.

SETH was regarded as the Lord of Upper Egypt and was represented by a big-eared imaginary animal resembling a donkey.  He was associated with the desert and storms.

THOTH, depicted as an ibis or a baboon, was the god of wisdom and is associated with the moon; as the sun vanished, Thoth tried to dispel the darkness with his light.

PTAH, a local god of Memphis, was the patron of craftsmen.  Some legends say he spoke the names of all the things in the world and thereby caused them to spring into existence.

SOBEK, a crocodile-god, was worshipped in cities that depended on water, such as the oasis city of Crocodilipolis, where the reptiles were kept in pools and adorned with jewels.

AMMON, god of Thebes, was usually shown as human, but sometimes as a ram or a goose.  The Romans later worshipped him as Jupiter.  Ammon and consulted oracles as his temple.

 

Final Exam, Egyptian History

 

Exam Time:  2-1/2 hours

Part I:  (15 points)   Write short notes on five (5) of the following:

1.   Development of the pyramid structure

2.  Mummification of the bodies

3.  The Osirian legend

4.  Akenaton

5.  The ptolemies

6.  The Library of Alexandria

7.  Serapis

8.  St. Mark

 

Part II:  (15 points)   Write short notes on five (5) of the following:

1.   640 A.D.

2.  Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt

3.  Mustapha Kamel

4.  Khedieve Ismail

5.  Pan Islam

6.  The Wafd Party

7.  al Azhar

8.  The Five Pillars of Islam

 

Part III:  (10 points each)   Answer three of the following questions:

1.   Discuss the importance of industrialization for a developing country like Egypt and describe how this might occur here.

2.  The influence of the Coptic Church extended beyond the boundaries of Egypt.  Discuss with reference to the contribution of the Coptic Church to the Church Universal.

3.  Egypt's demographic and urban problems may be viewed as functions of Egypt's distorted development.  Elaborate this contention in historical and contemporary perspectives.

4.  Enumerate Mohammed Ali's contribution to the regenesis of Modern Egypt in the Nineteenth Century.  What were his motivations and what was the external response.

5.  Major problems face the Egyptian people and their government if they are to raise the standard of living.  Outline the economic measures which must be taken and the constraints within which these must operate.