Short Course on the Gods, Goddesses, and Demons of the Ancient Egyptians

Over the past year, the Egypt Centre has organised seven successful short courses via Zoom. The COVID lockdown has provided this new platform and allowed us to attract a larger and more international audience. These courses have been attended by 981 participants, which is much more than what would have been possible had they taken place at Swansea. Sessions take place on Sunday evenings and are repeated live on Wednesday mornings. Additionally, recordings of the sessions are made available to students via our online catalogue. Thus, the courses are accessible to participants wherever they are in the world, regardless of time differences or other commitments!

Fig. 1: Khabekhnet and Sahte before Ptah, Ptah-Sokar, and Isis (W927)

This coming Sunday (18 July), we will have the first session of a new course entitled Gods, Goddesses, and Demons of Ancient Egypt (fig. 1). The ancient Egyptians are well known for their worship of hundreds of gods, goddesses, and demons over the course of 3,000 years. Some were seen as creator deities, while others could be evoked for their protection. They could be depicted as humans, animals, or a combination of both. This course will present many of the gods, goddesses, and demons of the Egyptian pantheon, including several deified officials. It will include an examination of their iconography, places of worship, and the hieroglyphs used to identify them. While many of the names will be familiar, such as Amun, Osiris, and Horus, others are more obscure, such as Apedemak (fig. 2), Hatmehyt, Shezmu. Throughout the course, the sessions will incorporate objects from the Egypt Centre collection, many of which are not widely known to Egyptologists (fig. 3).

As with previous courses, this one will take place over five weeks:

Week 1 (Sunday 18 July or Wednesday 21 July)

Week 2 (Sunday 25 July or Wednesday 28 July)

Week 3 (Sunday 01 August or Wednesday 04 August)

Week 4 (Sunday 08 August or Wednesday 11 August)

Week 5 (Sunday 15 August or Wednesday 18 August)

Relief of Apedemak (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Apedemak)

Each week we will be examining a series of gods, goddesses, and demons, focusing on their iconography and cult centres. Additionally, I will provide the most common hieroglyphs used for each deity, which are the primary means of identification. Those of you who have taken courses with me before will know that I like to include pictures of obscure deities, so this course will provide the perfect opportunity for me to do so!

Fig. 3: Coffin fragment depicting several deities (W1050)

This course costs £40, with fees going directly to supporting the Egypt Centre as we continue to remain closed to visitors. Your place on the course can be booked via the following link. We are grateful to everyone who has supported us, and continue to do so, over the past year!