Egyptology (research)

Specialisation of: Classics and Ancient Civilisations (research)
Degree: Master of Arts in Classics and Ancient Civilisations (research)
Mode of Study: Full-time
Duration: 2 years
Start date: September, February
Language of instruction: English
Location: Leiden
Croho/isat code: 60039
Share |

The focus of Egyptology covers Ancient Egypt from its beginnings and its role as a major player during the Bronze Age until the Christian period. Textual and material data are studied together.

Leiden University’s Research MA specialisation in Egyptology traces its roots back to the 19th century, when the city’s National Museum of Antiquities acquired and started to study its famous collection of Egyptian antiquities. Today’s programme – the only one of its kind in the Netherlands – combines this tradition with the latest results of international scholarship.

The department is housed in the library of the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO), one of the world’s largest libraries on Egyptology. Its staff is actively engaged in research projects covering a wide range of topics, such as Egyptian mortuary inscriptions, archaeological and epigraphic field work in Egypt, and Coptic magical texts.

Prof. Joan Booth

Joan Booth

“It extends the connection-making process beyond Greece and Rome to the ancient civilizations of the Near-East.”

“Classics, and especially the specialisation Classics within the Research Master Classics and Ancient Near Eastern Civilisations, is about making connections – between Greek and Latin, language and culture, text and image, source and reception, ancient and modern ways of thinking, speaking, believing and behaving.

Almost uniquely within a single programme, the Classics programme offers the opportunity of extending the connection-making process beyond classical Greece and Rome to the ancient civilizations of the Near-East.

The intersection and interaction of East and West around the Ancient Mediterranean and its hinterlands in a particular historical period is the focus one of the common courses (Cultural Contact in the Hellenistic World), while the similarities and divergences in the scholarly approach to the texts of each culture lie at the heart of another (The Commentary). The prospect is an exciting symbiosis of specialised perspective and bigger picture.”