by Bob Brier
This is a fantastic series of 48 lectures, each one around thirty minutes long. Professor Brier starts with the earliest records of humans in the Nile delta and follows the Egyptian civilization up to the Roman conquest and the death of Cleopatra, focusing mainly on the elite and pharaohs.
The professor is not a Christian, but he has two fascinating lectures on the two most famous Hebrews of Egypt: Joseph and Moses. His treatment is refreshingly positive, showing how the people and civilization described in the Biblical narrative is, if nothing else, accurate as far as we can tell from archaeological evidence.
I do think he mistakenly attributes the "idea" of a single omnipotent God to Akhenaten. While Akhenaten did turn away from the hundreds of Egyptian deities, his devotion to One God was hidden by the priests of Egypt and did not contribute to the growth of the Hebrew religion following the time of Abraham.
I listened to this course because the three younger children will study ancient Egypt at the beginning of the school year (Connecting with History volume 1) while the oldest will study Africa in his geography course. I always enjoy expanding my own background knowledge even though it's not really necessary. After listening to a few lectures, I started to consider sharing the whole course with the kids. After a few more, I convinced myself it was just too much and would take us years to get through the whole thing. But by the end, I was swayed. It's really too excellent not to share, especially when Second Daughter is completely fascinated by ancient Egypt. So I think we will listen to them together while riding in the van. We may take breaks for other books if we're overwhelmed and it will certainly take more than the few weeks of the ancient Egypt unit, but it's worth it.
For those who are considering sharing it as well, you can use just some lectures. While they build on each other, each one can stand on its own. Please be aware the lectures are meant for adult or mature listeners so there are some off-hand comments that may be surprising for younger listeners, though mostly they'd probably be ignored or not understood.
There are two lectures that deserve special attention and probably a pre-listen. Lecture 17 (Queen Hatshepsut) refers to her intimate relationship with a man who was not her husband, including descriptions of graffiti depicting them together in...disreputable circumstances. Lecture 33 (The Decline of Dynasty XIX) describes Merneptah’s unusual method of counting the Libyans killed in a battle. Often they would cut off one of the hands, but in this case they might have wanted to prove they were fighting men. It's more than just a brief mention of the episode.
I purchased this audiobook, probably during one of the 2-for-1 sales that often include the Great Courses. I have received nothing in exchange for this honest review, but the link to Amazon above is an affiliate link.
