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

4.8
stars
977 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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276 - 300 of 325 Reviews for Wonders of Ancient Egypt

By Oliver G

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Jun 24, 2020

A good course that looks at Ancient Egypt, like the other course that the Pen does on Ancient Egypt I think the videos could have been a little longer and more fleshed out in terms of content. Still it is another quick and easy course with some very interesting parts like the introduction into hieroglyphs and the look into the various burial methods of the Ancient Egyptians.

By David D

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Jul 27, 2021

The material is interesting but in some parts a little dry. Lovely pictures which illustrate the monlogue but sometimes they changed a little to fast to really appreciate. In fact a suggestion to improve the student interest is to focus the image less on the static lecturer and more on the wonderful material, or perhaps vary the lecturers as is often done.

By Asante T

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Aug 14, 2020

This is a really great course about one of the most interesting civilizations in human history. The topics covered are engaging and well-organized, and the attention to detail is admirable. I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to learn to write hieroglyphs, and unearth some ancient mysteries that tell a dramatic tale of ancient human life.

By Kofi D

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Oct 9, 2020

For all lovers of ancient Egypt, this course gives kind of an opening scene to culture, architecture, and other facets of the ancient kingdom. I look forward to continuing my pursuit of the subject and hopefully some day the online course will take on a virtual reality exposition into the museums and on site into the valley of the kings...

By Tanya H

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Mar 11, 2018

Very interesting course, but the flow of the lecture videos is seriously disrupted by the inclusion of the credits for the entire week's lecture videos, which sometimes takes up as much as half of the video time. This was fixed in the more recent course of this type, but the videos in this series could use a re-edit to match.

By Lucy H

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Nov 10, 2019

Thoroughly enjoyed this course as it gave me something interesting to learn since finishing university.

I would suggest making the lectures a little more exciting as something they can seem very monotone.

I really enjoyed the hieroglyphs and was impressed with Dr Silverman's skills of writing backwards!

By RESSE B

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May 10, 2019

Nice class, I particularly enjoyed the part 5 and 6. The part about the hieroglyphes could have been very interesting also, but you should try to "bring (more) life" (di-'nx) to these videos. But any wayn thank you for your workd, it was nice to study from this mooc.

By Richard F

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Jan 5, 2022

Very clear and straighforward course. The visual illustrations are excellent. I would have liked to learn more about the tools and techniques of the Egyptian craftsmen and architects. However all in all I found it a very satisfying introduction.

By Josef P

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Oct 27, 2021

Great content, pictures as well as informations, but somewhat unclear division of videos in parts and very long and I think redundant of final titles in videos (I guess the titles - attributions - create the half of some videos).

By Greyson B

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Apr 18, 2022

Interesting to learn about. The only thing I didn't care for was how the quizzes looked on my computer, it was spaced all weird, and hard to tell where the question ended and where the choices began.

By Isabela A L

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May 4, 2022

Super interesting content, but at times Dr.Silverman is a bit monotone and lacks expressions during his explanations. Other than that, it was wonderful and a pleasure to be able to participate!

By Abdul R

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May 22, 2023

The assignments were difficult but very intuitive and the teacher was very nice and the topic was very interesting, especially the "How to write Hyroglyphs" was very interesting and fun.

By Christine B

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Jun 19, 2018

Excellent course even if the delivery is a bit dry. The content is top notch from an expert with plenty of visual aids. Time well spent if you like history and/or Ancient Egypt.

By Gail M

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Jun 3, 2021

Excellent Course - found it fascinating

Like the first course, I do suggest that the notes be proofed and corrected although for the most part I could figure out the errors

By Maria C F L

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May 27, 2020

Interesting course although I was expecting more discussions on the actual wonders instead of an introduction to the art, religion, language and history of ancient egypt.

By plann

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Jul 25, 2019

I chose ancient Egyptian history because I wanted to see the Pyramids, the Nile River. Now, after understanding the culture here, there is a sense of awe in my heart.

By Celeste H

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Jun 27, 2018

This was a great course to do! Quick and easy! Sometimes I found the lectures weren't quite linear and became a bit confusing, but it was really fun to learn!

By Miguel P

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Feb 19, 2021

Highly interesting and well exposed. It really open the appetite for further knowledge of such amazing subject.

Congratulations to everyone involved!!!!

By Myvanwy E

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Dec 12, 2019

i enjoyed this more than the last ancient Egypt course, I think the delivery was better. Overall well organised and easy to follow

By Elizabeth L

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Jan 22, 2018

Loved the amount of information in this course. I have always been fascinated by Egypt and it ancient dynasties. Thanks :)

By Krzysztof B

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Oct 6, 2020

The Professor speaks a bit slowly but the problem can be easily solved by going onto 1.25 or even 1.50 speed.

By Imanuel d

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Mar 3, 2019

Despite feeling like a bit of a basic entry-level course, I learned a lot of new things. Great quality MOOC.

By Lorenzo G

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Jul 12, 2020

It was really great to get a close insight into Ancient Egyptian history, culture and rituals

By rishad m

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Jul 21, 2021

A great course on Egypt and a must for every student of Egyptian history and civilisation.

By Reggie W

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Jun 9, 2021

Too many videos. Quizzes often had some obscure questions. Need some interactive lessons.