The BA Antiquities Museum, in cooperation with the BA Center for Calligraphy Studies, is organizing an advanced course in ancient Egyptian language, titled “Hieratic Writing: From the Age of the Pyramids to the Ramesside Period”. The course is part of a series of educational academic courses offered by the BA in the field of calligraphy studies and ancient languages. The BA offers similar educational courses due to the importance of the ancient Egyptian language, which characterized a period of ancient Egyptian history and was considered the language of science and education in Egypt for a long time.
The course will be taught by Dr. Giacomo Cavillier, Professor of Egyptology and Coptic Civilization at the Università Popolare del Mediterraneo in Torino, Italy.
The five-day course will begin with an introduction on the emergence and development of the Hieratic script—one of the scripts of the ancient Egyptian language that was used for writing on papyrus, porcelain, ostacon, and wooden planks as a rapid means of recording events. The course will also highlight the development of Hieratic script from the age of the Pyramids up to the Ramesside Period through the texts inscribed on papyrus, porcelain, and stones. Participants will learn how to read said texts and translate them. A visit to the BA Antiquities Museum will also be organized as part of the course so that the participants can become acquainted with some of the antiquities in Alexandria with Hieratic inscriptions and also apply what they have learned throughout the course.