Deir-el Medina (1 Viewer)

[asquith]

i'm doing deir-el medina for my assignment and i am having trouble finding information. if anyone did deir-el medina in year 11 could you suggest any good places for info?
any good sites? books? etc

 

[xeuyrawp]

Leiden Uni has some good links...

Other than that, I'll post up a few, although you might need to go into either the State of a Uni library - USyd and Macquarie are your best bet.

• M Bierbrier, The Tomb-Builders of the Pharaohs, London, 1982,
• J Cerny, A Community of Workmen at Thebes in the Ramesside Period, Cairo, 1973,
• RJ Demaree and A Egberts (eds.), Village Voices, Leiden, 1992,
• RJ Demaree and JJ Janssen (eds.), Gleanings from Deir el-Medina, Leiden, 1982,
• LH Lesko (ed.), Pharaoh's Workers, London, 1994...

Antiquity I also has a good section on it.

I've got a lot of other source references (which I will one day scan/type up), so if you need more, yell out.

 

[angelduck]

Gae Callender's book had some stuff on it as well, from memory there was a web site somewhere specifically on dier-el-medina, try googling it, im sorry i cant remember the name, perhaps rob can help

 

[asquith]

yes please PwarYuex!
also, am i allowed to used books from uni libraries?

 

[xeuyrawp]

yes please PwarYuex!
also, am i allowed to used books from uni libraries?

Hmm, this a common question, so I might just highlight what I know about libraries.

First and foremost, do not rock up to a library and look in the 'history' section. This does not work in larger libraries such as Fisher and Macquarie. You need to know what you're looking for - ie via the catalogue. Furthermore, you should note that research in the library takes a long time; allow yourself half a day to find, photocopy / borrow books.

Uni Libraries:

For ancient history, Macquarie and Sydney University libraries are the go.

Sydney:

Sydney Uni library, which Fisher Library is the main collection, is located in the main (Camperdown) campus. It has a slightly wider range of resources on Classical matters, ie Greece and Rome, than Macquarie.

For browsing, the library is open to everybody. Similarly, photocopying cards are available to everybody, so you can photocopy books. You buy the card on the spot and add money to it.

If you're a year 11 or year 12 student, you can apply for a special borrower's card which costs $50 and lasts 12 months from October. This is if you want to borrow.

Macquarie:

Macquarie Uni library is located in the North Ryde campus. It has a wide range of resources, but has excellent resources on Egypt.

For browsing, the library is open to everybody. Similarly, photocopying cards are available to everybody, so you can photocopy books. You buy the card on the spot and add money to it.

There are various schemes for borrowing if you're a high school student.

Public Libraries:

You may get lucky with your local library (Gordon, Chatswood, Hornsby, etc), but your best bet is the State Library.

The State Library of NSW:

The State Library is located in the city.

You cannot borrow from the library at all. Furthermore, most books are put in what is called the 'Stack'; ie the basement of the library. This is because the library has a huge number of books, of which only a few are on display.

To get access to a book, you fill out a form at a service desk, and a book is brought up from stack for you. This is not a hassle - the librarians do it all the time - although I'd recommend doing it in less busy periods, and not right before the library closes. Make sure you ask where the book will end up and how to return it.

Photocopying is done the same way as at the uni libraries - you buy a card and top it up.

 

[priesty]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_el_Medina - Wikipedia has an alright section on it. pretty brief but I'm sure it can help you get started.

 

[asquith]

thanks heaps. just another question: what would be a good area to study about deir-el medina? at the moment for my ancient assignment focus question is: how did the life for men and women in deir-el medina differ?
i just talk about work and leisure and maybe religion.
is this a good focus question or is it too broad/specific?
anyhow, the thing is...i dont know much about deir-el medina so i dont know what things are interesting to research.

 

[xeuyrawp]

thanks heaps. just another question: what would be a good area to study about deir-el medina? at the moment for my ancient assignment focus question is: how did the life for men and women in deir-el medina differ?
i just talk about work and leisure and maybe religion.
is this a good focus question or is it too broad/specific?
anyhow, the thing is...i dont know much about deir-el medina so i dont know what things are interesting to research.

Sounds good to me.

Some sources to look at:

* Votive stela of the mistress of the house of Bukanefptah, wife of the workman Kasa, (philology)
* Turin Erotic Papyrus, (philology)
* Scenes from tombs - especially things like Rekhmire, Anherkhau, Habekhnet, etc, (philology, art history)
* Ostracon of Mother and Child, (philology)
* the 'box-beds', (archaeology)
** Painting of a Birth Abor, (art history)
** A Census, (philology)
** Women Withdraw from Menstration, (philology)
** Women Help Each Other, (philology).

The double stars are the ones where I remember the texts, but not their location (ostracon, papyrus, etc), so best ask me for the whole sources.

Make sure you look at the issue of 'equality', things to consider:

* Could women write? If so, to what extent?
* Could women own property? ditto,
* how were they treated?
* What was their ideological 'place' in society? What were their roles?