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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Introduction to Ancient Egypt and Its Civilization by University of Pennsylvania

4.6
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2,682 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....

Top reviews

SE

Oct 6, 2022

This was an excellent course in the history of ancient Egypt. I have always been fascinated by their culture & this course taught me many things that i was not aware of. I really enjoyed this course.

AR

May 20, 2023

The course was very interactive and offers a tons of activities. The teacher was very nice and the teaching was very easy to understand. The assignments were a bit challenging but very interesting.

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51 - 75 of 817 Reviews for Introduction to Ancient Egypt and Its Civilization

By Barb F

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May 25, 2017

I've always been interested in ancient Egypt and enjoy reading about and testing my knowledge of it when I can. It's interesting to hear from archeologists on what new finds or facts are discovered. I was very happy to be able to visit Egypt and see first hand many of the temples and tombs there and, when it's a bit safer, would love to go back!

Thank you so much for and interesting and informative class. I enjoyed it very much!

By Richard P

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Dec 13, 2020

This course was thoroughly enjoyable, and I would recommend it to everyone interested in ancient civilizations. The textbook is informative and illustrated profusely throughout. Professor Silverman is obviously an expert on all things ancient Egyptian. I agree with other reviewers that some of the quiz questions are problematic and some were based on rather arcane details that were not covered in the lectures.

By Amit D D

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Jun 22, 2020

Special thanks to Dr.David P Silverman Sir and University of Pennsylvania for providing such an authentic and rich content in the subject of Egyptology. I always thought of learning about Egypt, its splendid culture, its marvelous architectures, concept behind mummification, etc. and this course has stands true to my expectations. Definitely the best course for any beginner who wants to learn more about Egyptology.

By Paolo I

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May 31, 2020

I'm not a historian, but always found ancient history to be a fascinating topic to read and study. I think the egyptians were a people whose culture evoke some sort of magic and mystic, but that we didn't studied as much as I liked in school. I think this course helped me learn more about them, but also preserved this magic. The visualization of the art in the Museum was a great way to illustrate many points.

By Thyagarajan S

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Nov 13, 2019

The course is quite unique and mishmashes all the required detail within a short period of six weeks. The course provides a detailed introduction and history of Egypt from all corners, everything from the pharaoh's names to the rise and fall of the empire and even mummification. loved the course and all the knowledge from it. don't know if there is any other way to obtain all such information together at once.

By Daniel S

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May 2, 2020

This was a very insightful course and I thoroughly enjoyed learning from it. As it's just an introduction, it has definitely sparked me to research further into some of information included as well as explore some of Dr. Silverman's other courses here on Coursera. I've also added a future visit to the Penn Museum to my list. A huge thanks to Dr. Silverman and all involved in the production of this course!

By Arancha

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Feb 20, 2020

Personal research is needed in order to complete the quizzes and participate in the forum debate. Other than that ( which is not bad at all) the course is excellent and explanations and videos are clear and helpful. It is my first contact with ancient Egypt and won't be the last. I'm enrolling in the next one. I also liked there's a great amount of photographs many of them from the Penn Museum collection.

By Urbi C

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Oct 7, 2017

As a student of history I can say that this course is fantastic. It is well collated and presented in an attractive way, and there are adequate free online study material provided with each module to supplement the videos. The most exciting part of the course is the sneak peak that you get in the Penn Museum collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts and also the various other photographs in each video.

By Melissa A C

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Nov 27, 2016

Of the courses I've taken through Coursera, Introduction to Ancient Egypt and Its Civilization is, by far, my favorite. My interest in Ancient Egyptian civilization began in early childhood and has stuck with me ever since (I'm in my forties now). Dr. Silverman's lectures are very engaging and highly informative, always leaving you feeling excited for the next lecture. He really knows this subject!

By George G

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Jul 17, 2017

The course was a very comprehensive Introduction into Ancient Egyptian history. I would highly recommend this course to anyone interested in this great civilisation. The lectures were well thought out, engaging and relevant to meeting the course assessment criteria.

I sincerely thank the team at Coursera, the Penn Museum and David Silverman for their efforts in putting together such a great course!

By Tiffany F

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Oct 19, 2022

Excellent course. Loved how open the Professor was about all the artifacts and things in the Penn Museum. I looked really nice to see Mr Silverman stand next to the Sphinx. Maybe make the videos 6-8 minutes long instead of 2-5? Otherwise, I feel like I have to listen to so many videos.

Anyway, I learnt everything I wanted to and more and had a lot of fun.

Thanks so much!!!

Warm regards,

Tiffany

By Maisha K

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Jul 11, 2020

Seriously loved this course. Dr. David P. Silverman has explained things in a simple yet effective manner and its really interesting to learn so many new things about the Ancient Egyptians that I never knew before. I really look forward to more courses like these before I am finally of age to go to college, so I can learn more about the favorite topic right here, right now,

Thank you so much :)

By Kevin D

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Apr 5, 2021

Easy to understand and informative without being overwhelming the course expertly develops your understanding of the civilization and clears up misunderstandings and some myths about the great culture. Would highly recommend to anyone with an interest in history or one who wants a concrete understanding of the basics of what is obviously a highly influential culture till this day.

By Karolina P

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Sep 14, 2021

This course was a great introduction. I learned somethings I did not know, example, I have a huge framed papyrus that I brought from Egypt more than 10 years ago. I always thought it was Isis but I learned it was Maat. That knowledge that I could differentiate thrilled me. My only critique would be to take off the articles on the optional reading where " page is not found."

By Amanda S

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Mar 13, 2020

I really enjoyed this course and have now begun the second course offered on Ancient Egypt that delves into the art and hieroglyphs. Dr. Silverman is a very informative teacher and provided a good foundation in the course. I did not find it intermediate level as I found the quizzes easy, but perhaps that just means I am on that level lol. I learned some new things that I enjoyed.

By Eric L

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May 10, 2021

A really enjoyable course that does the best it can with the limitations of the online format. After completing it I feel I have a much better understanding of Ancient Egypt and its culture. I will certainly be doing the follow up course and going more in depth with reading about the subject. I was uncertain I would be interested before taking the course, now I have a new hobby.

By Megan F

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Jan 7, 2018

This course gave me a wonderful insight into the ways of Ancient Egypt. The lectures with Dr. Silverman were clear, concise, and highly interesting. I found myself thinking of the different topics of the week, even when I wasn't working on the course. I would definitely recommend this course to others, and I would likely take it again. Thank you so much for offering this!

By Tetala V d

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Nov 4, 2022

I was very passionate about learning about Egypt's history because it is vast and we can get deeper into it and can get to know many things it's one of my most admired courses and I have learnt a lot especially thank professor David for teaching me this valuable course and university of Pennsylvania, for providing me with this opportunity to collaborate and work with you

By Erin T

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Sep 1, 2022

I found this class to be WONDERFUL! I loved learning about a subject I loved when I was a child. You really get to emerce yourself into Ancient Egypt. The professor is fantastic and the objects and art you get to see are just amazing. 10/10 100% would reccomend this class to anyone wanting to learn about a facinating people in a fascinating period of history!!

By Milinda Y

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Jun 15, 2022

I was always curious about ancient Egypt and I think this was a perfect course for setting up a solid background. I visited Metropolitant Museum of Arts about an year ago and I am confident that I would be able to understand a lot of things if I were to visit it again. Make sure you listen to every word and write most of it down and study before doing quizes.

By Vivek B S

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Nov 13, 2020

I liked the course very much. Dr David takes it in a very organised manner along with showing the pictures or images. This helps in remembering the concepts learnt. It was an amazing course which gave me insight and also made me realise how wrong certains facts that are taught to us during school days. Looking forward to more of such courses.

By Raquel S C

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Apr 26, 2017

The course was pretty interesting and the lectures were engaging most of the time. I learned many things I was oblivious of before. It was quite interesting to participate in the forums as well because the questions made one think deeply about many different things. I am glad I took the course, I'm quite satisfied with my grade and results.

By Bethany W

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May 10, 2020

I really loved this course, as someone who has always been greatly fascinated by Ancient Egypt and had wanted to pursue some form of education in Egyptology that I could do alongside the other things in my life and I would definitely recommend this. I really enjoyed the lectures and will be doing more of these courses in the future <3

By Lovely L

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Apr 7, 2018

I love to learn about colossal pyramids, imposing temples, golden treasures, enigmatic hieroglyphs, powerful pharaohs, strange gods, and mysterious mummies are features of Ancient Egyptian culture that have fascinated me so much. I hope in the future could reach more information about priest. Thanks In-depth knowledge of the course.

By Dominique

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Sep 27, 2020

Thank you so much David and all involved. I thoroughly enjoyed this short course and have a deeper understanding of Egyptian life, history and their conception of the world and the afterlife. Your lectures were full of interesting information and clearly communicated and they spurred me to further research aspects of the topic.