History, Art History and Culture

Session 1 & 2: The range of materials and techniques used by the ancient Egyptian artists, craftsmen and sculptors.

Session 3 & 4: The conventions of art in ancient Egypt - its style, context, and characteristic principles of representation.

Session 5 & 6: The symbolism in which ancient Egyptian art is steeped is fascinating to unravel, particularly representations of the 'Other World' in funerary art.

Session 7 & 8: Art as the expression of an ideology - representation of the pharaoh and the iconography of divine kingship.

Session 9 & 10: Being an artist in ancient Egypt; life in the artists' village of Deir el-Medina, Luxor.

Suggested Reading:

Bierbrier, M. (1982) The Tomb-builders of the Pharaohs.British Museum Press (reprinted 1989, American University in Cairo Press).

Parkinson, R. (2008) The Painted Tomb-Chapel of Nebamun. British Museum Press.

Robins, G. (1986, reprinted 2008) Egyptian Painting and Relief. Shire Egyptology.

Robins, G. (1997) The Art of Ancient Egypt. British Museum Press.

(revised 2008, Harvard University Press)

Robins, G. (2001) Egyptian Statues. Shire Egyptology.

Romer, J. (1984) Ancient Lives: Daily Life in Egypt of the Pharaohs. Holt, Rhinehart & Winston.

Tooley, A.M.J. (1995) Egyptian Models and Scenes. Shire Egyptology.

Wilkinson, R.H. (1992) Reading Egyptian Art. Thames & Hudson.

Wilkinson, R.H. (1994) Symbol & Magic in Egyptian Art. Thames & Hudson.

No essential equipment necessary for students to bring. Just pen and paper if they'd like to take notes.

Lucia Gahlin

BA (Hons) Ancient History/Egyptology

About Lucia

Lucia Gahlin is an Honorary Research Associate at UCL's Institute of Archaeology. She has taught Egyptology to undergraduates at the Universities of London (UCL), Bristol, Exeter and Warwick; and for the extra-mural departments of the Universities of London (Birkbeck College), Reading, Surrey, Sussex, Exeter and Bristol. She has worked at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London and has been Small Finds Registrar for the archaeological expedition at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt. She lectures around the world and regularly leads tours to Egypt. Her publications include Egypt. Gods, Myths and Religion, and chapters in The Egyptian World (ed. Toby Wilkinson). She is Chair of the Friends of the Petrie Museum and an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society.