Continue to read Coptic!
About this Event

Tuesdays, April 1-May 20 (8 weeks), live on Zoom and recorded

Cost: Non-members ($392), Members ($314), Docents/Volunteers/ISAC Travellers ($157), UChicago Lab Students, Faculty, and Staff ($98). Not yet a member? Become a member today and save! https://isac.uchicago.edu/Join%20and%20Give/friends-isac

Instructor: Foy Scalf, PhD, Head of the ISAC Research Archives and Research Associate

Let “the secret sayings” of Coptic reveal themselves to you! Part two of the Introduction to Coptic sequence builds on all the skills and knowledge developed in part one. With appropriate study, students will develop a vocabulary of over 500 Coptic words and an understanding of all the fundamental elements of the Coptic grammatical system. By the end of the second course in this sequence, students will be able to work independently through Coptic biblical and literary texts written in the Sahidic dialect with the help of a dictionary and will be ready to branch out to other genres and dialects such as Bohairic. Students will also develop basic skills in Coptic paleography and text format, giving them the ability to identify genres and book hands of Coptic manuscripts based on actual examples from the ISAC collection.

Textbook: Thomas O. Lambdin. Introduction to Sahidic Coptic. Macon: Mercer University Press, 1983.

Instructor: Foy Scalf is Research Associate and Head of the Research Archives at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures. He received his Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago. In his published work, he has made contributions to the study of ancient Egyptian religion and sacred scripture, language and linguistics, and the cultural contexts for textual transmission. He is dedicated to bringing the ancient world to the public through continuing education, outreach, and public scholarship.