(Summer Camp) Ancient Egyptian Creation-Of-The-World Stories
In this 5-day summer camp students will be introduced to various stories about the creation of the world as were imagined by the Ancient Egyptians from the time of the early Pharaohs to the end of the Greek and Roman rule in Egypt
Spyridon (Spiros) Loumakis
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:(783)
What's included
5 live meetings
5 in-class hoursHomework
1 hour per week. At the end of the camp students will be assigned an (optional) multiple-choice quiz, in order to test their memory, attention and observation. This test may also include one or two questions requiring a very short answer, in order to assess the learners' comprehension.Assessment
I do not believe that a letter grade is meaningful for a summer camp on mythology. However, as I often do with my one-time classes, which are always small classes, I communication with the parents and the children directly, providing my personal comments, private feedback and an informal assessment, especially if they complete the (optional) quiz assigned at the end of the camp.Grading
includedClass Experience
US Grade 5 - 8
(A) Required Experience: This is an *educational* camp, suitable for learners who are genuinely interested in ancient mythology, motivated to learn more, and willing to follow this camp in order to acquire a deeper knowledge about a few major (and often vexing) questions all ancient mythologies tried to answer: How was the world created? Who created the world? Why was the world created? What kind of world was created in the beginning? And many more.. This is a camp for those learners who believe that learning mythology is fun. (B) Teaching style and students interaction: The learning process of this camp is based on a combination of a power-point presentation, a lecture that asks students to participate, class dialogue, questions based on the ongoing lecture, and new ideas based on the participants. There is not one universal solution to teach. Rather I combine techniques to achieve the maximum of my strengths and of my students. Having taught so far young kids, teenagers, University students and mature learners, I know that teachers need to approach students with understanding. After all, such a small class has the advantage of making the combined technique of ppt presentation-lecture-dialogue feasible and efficient. Thanks to Zoom, engaging students and interacting with them is always possible. (C) Class format and topics to be covered: In this five-day journey in the world of the ancient Egyptians, we are going to use their art, archaeology and mythology to imagine and understand some of the stories told in ancient Egypt about how the world was created, when, why and by whom. Therefore, these five days are dedicated to the following thematic subunits: 1) Introduction to Egypt - The Five Major Stories of the Creation of the World in ancient Egypt (Part 1) 2) The Five Major Stories of the Creation of the World in ancient Egypt (Part 2) 3) The Sun god - His Day Journey in the Sky and his Night Journey in the Underworld - His Battle against the Forces of Chaos 4) Alternative Egyptian Stories of the Creation of the World 5) Rituals and Other Beliefs of the ancient Egyptians related to protecting the World and keeping it from falling back to Chaos
Learning Goals
In this class students will understand that the magic of myths lies not only in the stories themselves, fascinating as they are, but in the logic behind them and in their deeper meaning. Myths will be appreciated as a system of beliefs and a way of thinking about the world, as it was created by the ancient Egyptians.
The goal for the students is to learn at an introductory level how ancient people were structuring their myths and some of the narrative patterns that they were employing to tell meaningful stories about how the world was created according to each ines observation and imagination.
We will discuss together how were these stories played out in ancient art, and especially in relation to a world that is inhabited by living beings and, in particular, by humans; often the latter depicted as a creature superior to animals and plants, favored by the creator gods.
We will finally delve into ancient religions with respect, so as to learn from theses examples two very important lessons: that there is no absolute truth, and that nothing unchangeable in time, when it comes to religious traditions, old and new.
Other Details
Parental Guidance
(a) I use only and exclusively ancient art, original artworks created by the ancient people whose stories I teach in my classes, and this is the reason why I spend hours finding images that are from museums and collections of art from all over the world;
(b) this course is based on what some of the ancient civilizations believed, which means that their ideas may have been based on their observations, their imagination or their fears and hopes, but not on facts;
(c) the class is about the ancient world and not modern religions, which means that I approach the ancient world, based on the work of scholars (like me) who study it historically from a secular perspective.
Language of Instruction
English
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Sources
A great source of information created by a group of leading scholars of ancient mythology and literature is the book Ancient Cosmologies, edited by Carmen Blacker and Michael Loewe (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1975), based on lectures given at Cambridge University in 1972 by prominent scholars such as J.M. Plumley ("Cosmology of Ancient Egypt").
Any recent scientific contributions in the study of cosmologies (especially through the translation and publishing of more ancient texts since 1975) will be incorporated in my lectures and power-point presentations.
Joined March, 2020
4.9
783reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
I have a B.A. and M.A. in ancient Greek and Roman history and archaeology, as well as an M.A. in history and phiosophy of religions (especially ancient religions). I have excavated in ancient Greek sites, I speak ancient and modern Greek, as well as archaic and classical Latin and I have some knowledge of ancient Egyptian (Coptic script) and I am currently finishing my PhD. Reviews
Live Group Class
$100
for 5 classes5x per week, 1 week
60 min
Completed by 5 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 12-15
3-8 learners per class
