Overview. This week we have the opportunity to engage in a collective
construction of funeral papyri for one member of your team. The physical
product of this assignment will be an illustrated collection of spells/prayers
on makeshift sheets of papyrus that would be buried with the dying member
of your team to aid her/him to pass through the dangers of the Underworld
and to attain a blissful afterlife in the Field of Reeds. On Wednesday,
July 11 each team will need to select a team member for burial. Each team
member should assume a different primary role as a dying person, scribe,
illustrator, and/or spokesperson. These various tasks should be divided
amongst the group members as equally as possible. By Monday, July 16 each
team member should have reviewed the Egyptian
Book of the Dead and the dying person, in consultation with others,
should have prepared a list of possible prayers for inclusion and the scribe
and illustrator should have begun construction of the funeral papyrus.
Students will have some opportunity to work together on the papyrus in
class on Monday, July 16. On Wednesday, July 18, teams must show the papyrus
they've constructed to the full class and explain which prayers they selected
and why (i.e. they should reflect some of the fears, concerns & wishes
of the "dying person"). Teams who engage in a role playing demonstration
of the funeral for the dying student will receive extra credit.
Technical Suggestions. My first priority is for this assignment
to be a fun way to expose you to Egyptian conceptions of death and its
consequences. That said, many of you may want a more specific idea of what
I'm expecting to see so I'll outline some possibilities. These possibilities
are suggestions, however, not requirements. As long as you work well together,
get some in-depth exposure to Egyptian culture, produce an attractive set
of something that looks a bit like funeral papyri, and know why you selected
the spells you chose; then you will accomplish the goals of the assignment.
A set number of spells is not required but a collection of twenty to thirty
of them would give you more than enough exposure to the variety of possibilities.
If you have good reasons to do more or less then I'm willing to entertain
that possibility. One good reason for doing less might include putting
extra effort into the illustration, performance, and/or appearance of some
key spells.
The makeshift sheets of papyrus can be constructed and illustrated in a
manner that to some degree resembles the photos shown in class. They should
look nice but may need to be modified to accommodate some form of English
script (if you prefer to focus your energy on the content and quantity
of the spells rather than their illustration and appearance). While those
of you who have good drawing skills are encouraged to use them, you should
feel free to use colored paper, (color) photocopying, cutting and pasting,
scanning and modification with Photoshop (or something similar), older
looking fonts, digital hieroglyphs (converters & encoders for names
and sentences are available from links on Guardian's
Egypt Hieroglyph page), etc. To aid you in your endeavors, I have prepared
a slide show
that offers suggestions for a successful project and provides sample images
from previous classes.