I. Egypt and the Nile
  A. Inundation, Emergence, and Dry Time
  B. Precarious life
  C. Pharaoh’s role in reconciliation (Ma’at) of order and chaos (Seth)
  D. Birth as perilous, Bes & Beset
  E. Desire for rebirth after death
     1. Akh - astral afterlife
     2. Ka - restricted to burial chamber & offering chapel of tomb
     3. Ba - travel through Elysian Fields, sky, & Underworld with sun-god
  F. Nun, watery void at the beginning of the world
  G. Mounds of fertile silt emerge from receding flood
  H. Sun-god appears on mound, brings life, plunges back into chaos
  I. Continuously unfolding cosmic cycle of creation

II. Predynastic Egypt, 4500-3100 BCE
  A. Spirits of the Dead, Buto and Hierankonpolis
  B. Writing, 3250 BCE
  C. Two Dog Palette, 3200 BCE

III. Early Dynastic Egypt, 3100-2686 BCE
  A. Burial mounds associated with mound of creation
  B. Mastaba, upper & lower, King Den’s tomb
  C. Step Pyramid, King Djoser

IV. Old Kingdom, 2686-2125 BCE
  A. Resurrection machines
     1. Shape & orientation of pyramid complexes suggest aspirations toward the immortal stars
     2. Pyramids at Giza, Sphinx as Khafra reborn
     3. Dynamic and active institutions
  B. Pyramid texts
     1. King Unas, Fifth Dynasty, 2375-2345 BCE
     2. Spells & ritual utterances, tabulations of food, drink & clothing for eternity, hymns to gods, litanies of sacred names & funeral incantations

V. New Kingdom, 1550-1069 BCE
  A. Mountain (el-Qurn) replaces pyramids
  B. Immortality reinforced with texts and pictures
      1. Apep, from Tomb of Seti I, 1294-1279 BCE
      2. Perception, Sia and magic, Heka
      3. Servant in the Place of Truth, Pashedu
      4. Papyrus of Ani, names as passage to Underworld
      5. Demons of disorder and danger
      6. Shabti as substitute laborers in Field of Reeds
      7. Final judgment

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