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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Wonders of Ancient Egypt by University of Pennsylvania

4.8
stars
976 ratings

About the Course

Colossal pyramids, imposing temples, golden treasures, enigmatic hieroglyphs, powerful pharaohs, strange gods, and mysterious mummies are features of Ancient Egyptian culture that have fascinated people over the millennia. The Bible refers to its gods, rulers, and pyramids. Neighboring cultures in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean wrote about its god-like kings and its seemingly endless supply of gold. The Greeks and Romans describe aspects of Egypt's culture and history. As the 19th century began, the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt highlighted the wonders of this ancient land, and public interest soared. Not long after, Champollion deciphered Egypt's hieroglyphs and paved the way for other scholars to reveal that Egyptian texts dealt with medicine, dentistry, veterinary practices, mathematics, literature, and accounting, and many other topics. Then, early in the 20th century, Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun and its fabulous contents. Exhibitions of this treasure a few decades later resulted in the world's first blockbuster, and its revival in the 21st century has kept interest alive. Join Dr. David Silverman, Professor of Egyptology at Penn, Curator in Charge of the Egyptian Section of the Penn Museum, and curator of the Tutankhamun exhibitions on a guided tour of the mysteries and wonders of this ancient land. He has developed this online course and set it in the galleries of the world famous Penn Museum. He uses many original Egyptian artifacts to illustrate his lectures as he guides students as they make their own discovery of this fascinating culture. This course focused on five key areas in the study of Ancient Egypt: 1) Principles of Egyptian Art, 2) The Basics of the Language of Ancient Egypt: Hieroglyphs, 3) Egyptian Magic, 4) Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and the Religion of the Aten, and 5) The Burial of Tutankhamun and the Search for his Tomb. This course is intended to accompany, and ideally to follow, Introduction to Ancient Egypt (also available on Coursera)....

Top reviews

VE

Jul 10, 2020

This was an incredibly detailed course that provided an in-depth and interesting view of ancient Egypt. I would highly recommend this as an essential course for those interested in Egypt's history.

NP

Feb 18, 2024

I really enjoyed this course and really appreciate the effort of Dr. Silverman and the team to be able to allow us a comprehensive glimpse into this fascinating ancient civilization. Thank you!!!

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301 - 325 of 325 Reviews for Wonders of Ancient Egypt

By Simone H

Mar 29, 2020

interesting information, but I had to play the videos in 2x speed bc he talked so slow

By David O C

May 16, 2020

Excellent course in Egyptian culture, language, artifacts, and archeology research.

By Miss L

Apr 3, 2019

Unenthusiastic and talks a little slow. 2x speed fixes it tho lol

By Varun N

May 26, 2020

The course was concise and is highly recommended for beginners

By Clotilde D

Feb 2, 2019

Great course, interesting topics and explanations, thanks !

By Jennifer A

Jan 25, 2021

Great information dispersed in small segments.

By Susan A

Mar 14, 2018

Fascinating! Glad I took this one.

By John T R

Jul 18, 2022

Interesting and well organized

By bishwaksen b

Mar 11, 2018

Nice course,really enjoyed it

By Tara D

Jul 20, 2022

I really like this course.

By Sandra M

Mar 11, 2023

Many interesting sections

By Nicholas M B

May 2, 2020

I liked it a lot

By Gabriela R H

Oct 1, 2022

great

By Rodolfo T M

Jul 6, 2018

.

By Alan G

Dec 21, 2020

What should be an interesting subject was spoiled by the rather dry delivery of the 'lecturer'.

Additionally it appears that these courses are also a good way of them gaining royalties from the recommendation of their own book for the course, this seems to be a regular occurence with any of the courses I've done on this platform!

Lastly, did we really need the huge list of credits after every lecture? Sometimes they lasted longer than the lecture did!

By Alena T

Dec 29, 2020

From the course, you can learn some interesting facts about ancient Egypt. But I would not call the course well structured. In some places, the narrative seems cut off and unrelated.

Anyway, many thanks to David for his contribution and the opportunity to learn something new.

By Bruce w

Dec 17, 2017

The presentations were interesting but why doe every segment include almost three minutes of credits? Most annoying. Credits once in the course are expected, maybe once a week but every segment??? I'll think twice about subscribing to a U Penn course again

By Cansu Y

Jul 24, 2023

I don't know if it is because of the convoluted script or the fact that the professor reads from a prompter but it was hard to follow the lectures, and I got more out of doing quizzes than listening to the lectures.

By Lindsay S

May 20, 2021

Detailed information, but the lectures were not very interesting to listen to.

By nuria a

Dec 18, 2021

es un curso facil i poco concreto

lo hice para practicar ingles

By Alexandra B

Feb 25, 2018

The sound quality isn't very good.

By Вавилова Е Г

Nov 20, 2017

Курс не соответствует названию. При упоминании Чудес Древнего Египта больше представляются храмы Карнака, гробница Нефертари. В текстах под видео полно ошибок. Вместо Тутмоса IV - Моисей, Пенн музей стал Пейн музей.

By Deleted A

Dec 19, 2017

I did not understang how videos were cut each week. Why 10 videos of 5 to 10 minutes with half the time for photographic credits (!!!!) where all could be said in one 30 minutes video ? Students can concentrate for 30 minutes in a row.

Course was easy, sometimes even light. As long as you like Ancient Egypt, you already know, for example, everything that is said in week 6 regarding Tut's tomb discovery.

I have no doubt that Dr Silverman is an extremely capable professionnal but he is not an the best speaker for a course : the tone is grim and lacks some passion.

By Kimberly C

Nov 20, 2020

It wouldnt let me do anything but read the transcripts. I have tried to unenroll so it won't hurt my grade but it wont let me.

By Gulasal A S

Oct 23, 2020

Thanks