Delivery

AHPG898 will be delivered both face-to-face and online to distance students. For current updates, lecture times and classrooms please consult the MQ Timetables website: http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au.

Submission and extensions

Assessment tasks are compulsory and must be submitted on time. As a general rule, extensions will not be granted without a valid and documented reason (e.g. medical certificate), presented to the convener prior to the submission deadline. Late submissions will be penalised by 2% for each day (including weekends) the assignment task is late. No assignments will be accepted after assignments have been corrected and feedback has been provided.

Required and recommended resources

The unit materials consist of four parts:

·       Coursenotes

·       Audio Recordings

·       Website

·       E-reserve

• Coursenotes

There is no English language textbook available to introduce students to Coptic dialectology. Students with a reasonable command of German are encouraged to look at: Walter C. Till, Koptische Dialektgrammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterbuch, 2^nd ed. Munich 1961. For a comprehensive bibliography see below.

However, knowledge of a foreign language other than Sahidic Coptic is not indispensable to follow the course (although some juggling with dictionaries will be required). The unit website (see below) will make written coursenotes and articles on the individual dialects available. For a review of Sahidic Coptic see the textbook for Coptic I and II: Thomas O. Lambdin, Introduction to Sahidic Coptic, Macon 1983, 2^nd edition 1992.

A very good investment for AHPG898 (Coptic Dialects) and AHPG899 (Advanced Coptic) is a Coptic dictionary. There is a reprint of Walter E. Crum, Coptic Dictionary, Oxford 1939 available (see http://www.wipfandstock.com). If you want to have a preview of the dictionary, I have seen a digitised version of the paper Crum at http://www.metalog.org/files/crum.html; there is another version online at http://www.tabs-online.com/TABS/Crum/. An electronic version on CD is advertised at http://bible.zoxt.net/catalog.htm for 10 USD and another is foreshadowed at http://www.logos.com/products/prepub/details/2529. The prices (at around 100 USD) for the reprint and the Logos CD are similar. Crum only contains words of Egyptian origin. It needs to be supplemented by a Greek lexicon for the words of Greek origin. The most comprehensive is H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon. New (Ninth) Edition Completed 1940, with a Supplement 1968, Oxford, Oxford Univer­sity Press 1976 (available online at the Perseus Project http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057).

• Audio Recording/iLecture

There will also be audio recordings available to both internal and distance students. The recordings will give you access to the full three hours of face-to-face teaching every week. The recordings will be available on the unit’s website (see the next section) both for listening directly on your computer and for download. The recordings will also be sent out to distance students by the Centre for Open Education as an Audio CD.

• Website

The website (see the next section) will be

·       A privileged means of communication both for the students and the lecturer and among the students themselves. This is especially important for distance students.

·       A way to provide information and materials, including the audio recordings, to students quickly and accessibly.

·       The tool for the submission and retrieval of assignments.

• E-reserve

The electronic materials for this unit placed on e-reserve (readings) can be accessed directly from the reserve page of Macquarie University Library at:

http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/reserve/

Just enter the unit code (AHPG898).

Unit webpage

·       Accessing the website

·       Contents of the website

·       Technical Help

o   Macquarie University Library

o   Centre for Open Education

• Accessing the website

The iLearn website can be accessed at:

https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/login/MQ

·       Login directly to the units accessible to you.

For an online guide to using the website, see: http://help.ilearn.mq.edu.au/

• Contents of the Website

Some of the tools provided on the website are:

·    A discussion tool ("Forums"), where all students enrolled in this unit can post questions to the group and participate in the compulsory online tutorial discussions. The convener will check the discussion tool at least twice a week to post new materials, follow the threads of the discussion etc. Please remember to post questions as soon as they occur to you – do not put them all off until the last week before the essay is due!

·    An e-mail tool ("Dialogues") which will be used for one-to-one communication between students and lecturers. Please e-mail your questions via this mail tool rather than sending it to my usual office e-mail. This will make it easier to keep track of the mail which belongs to this particular unit only.

·       The "Echo Recordings" tool from which you can listen to or download the audio recordings of the face-to-face teaching.

·       This study guide will also be provided on the website.

·       An assignments tool where you can submit your essay electronically.

• Technical help

Technical help is provided by the following institutions:

·       Macquarie University Library

·       IT HelpComputers

·       Centre for Open Education

Macquarie University Library

The website of the Macquarie University Library (http://www.mq.edu.au/on_campus/library/) offers a wealth of information for all students and not only on the holdings of the library. Under the section “On Campus” > “Research” you will find “LibGuides - help to research your subject”, under the sections “LibGuides - help to research your subject” and “Referencing” you will find suggestions how to go about researching, evaluating, and presenting the information for your assignment. These suggestions are tailored to the needs of the various fields, so choose “Ancient History” from the list of subject areas (http://libguides.mq.edu.au/home). Students also have access to a vast selection of electronic journals and databases which the university subscribes to. Please see below for instructions how to access these sources for your research.

IT HelpComputers

·       IT Help provides information technology support and information and helps, among others, with general computer issues, access to unit pages and online material, and remote access to Library databases.

Contact:

IT Help Desk Level 1, University Library

Phone:                         +61 2 9850 HELP (4357)

Freecall:          1800 063 191 (within Australia)

Internet Chat:   ICQ#: 32801246

Face to Face: IT Help Desk

E-mail:Just Ask form http://www.libanswers.mq.edu.au/  

24x7 Follow the Sun Helpdesk email: ithelp@mq.edu.au

Remote Access to Databases and Journals

·       To access databases and e-resources directly from an off-campus location, please go to the university library homepage (http://www.mq.edu.au/on_campus/library/).

Distance education students may find help also through:

Library Distance Education Service

·       Macquarie University Library provides numerous services for distance students, including online access to the Library’s Web catalogue and databases, reference assistance, IT help, online IT training, reciprocal borrowing and letters of introduction to other libraries.

Contact:

Library Distance Education Service

http://www.mq.edu.au/on_campus/library/borrowing/distance_education_students/

Macquarie University Library

NSW 2109

Australia

E-mail:             lib.libed@mq.edu.au

Phone:             +61 2 9850 7558

Fax:     +61 2 9850 7504

Free Phone (within Australia): 1 800 632 743

The Library also provides Delivery Services to Distance Education students living outside the Sydney metropolitan area (this includes Macquarie University students residing overseas.) Please note that books and some other media will not be posted to addresses outside Australia.

Centre for Open Education

http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/centre_for_open_education/

Macquarie University

NSW 2109

Australia

E-mail:             coe@mq.edu.au

Phone:             +61 2 9850 7470

Fax:     +61 2 9850 7480

The Centre for Open Education is the primary point of contact between distance students and the University. It organizes and distributes the various forms of teaching materials, the electronic registration of the receipt and return of distance education assignments. Guidance for students is provided through the Distance Education Student Handbook distributed to all students enrolled in distance education.

External students enrolled in this unit will receive this study guide and the audio registrations on CD through the COE (in addition to having the possibility to listen to the registrations on the web and download them). However, you will be submitting your assignments directly to your lecturers using the assignments tool on the unit website.

Week 1 (Aug 1)

Topics

Introduction to Coptic dialectology

• Historical grammar of the Egyptian language
• Are there dialects in Coptic?
• Introduction to the use of Coptic dictionaries

Reading

C. Peust, Egyptian Phonology, Göttingen 1999, pp. 33-39 and 65-67.

Week 2 (Aug 8) and Week 3 (Aug 15)

Topic

Week 2: Overview of Sahidic grammar, discussion of special problems and reading from the Gospel of John ch. 11

Week 3: Sahidic reading from the Martyrdom of St Isidorus

Texts from the readings in Walter Till, Achmimisch-Koptische Grammatik, Leipzig 1928 (Gospel of John) and Henri Munier, “Les actes du martyre de Saint Isidore”, BIFAO 14 (1918) 97-190 will be provided.

The Martyrdom of St Isidorus of Antioch, whose relics are preserved on the Greek island of Chios, is one of the martyrdoms which, although concerning a non-Egyptian saint, seem to have been written in Egypt. The entire text is preserved in a manuscript from the year 893 originally from the monastery of the archangel Michael in Hamuli, Fayum (today in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York). The Coptic martyrdom, which shows similarites to the martyrdom of St George, has little relation to a Greek martyrdom of the same saint. The plot is determined by the initial vision, in which the archangel Michael prophesies a fivefold death and resurrection to the saint.

See the assignments tool on the unit website.

Week 4 (Aug 22) and Week 5 (Aug 29)

Topic

Bohairic

Week 4: Introduction to Bohairic and reading from the Panegyric of St John the Baptist

Week 5: Reading from the Martyrdom of Lakaron

Texts from the readings in H. de Vis, Homélies coptes de la Vaticane, vol. I, Cahiers de la Bibliothèque copte 5, Leuven-Paris, 1990, 12-17 and from I. Balestri and H. Hyvernat, Acta Martyrum vol. I, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium Scriptores Coptici I, Leipzig 1907, 1-23 (Martyrdom of Lacaron) will be provided.

The Bohairic version of the Panegyric on St John the Baptist is preserved in the Cod. Vat. Copte 62. The text belongs to the category of homilies and contains a narrative of the martyrdom of St John the Baptist.

The Martyrdom of Apa Lakaron contains a very colourful collection of miracles which has caused a sceptical age to name it “one of the worst specimens of its kind”. It contains eight miraculous rescues partly modelled on the martyrdom of St George.

Homework

Learn Bohairic vocabulary (part 1)

A list of frequent Bohairic words will be provided for learning.

See the assignments tool on the unit website.

Week 6 (Sep 5) and Week 7 (Sep 12)

Topic

Fayumic

Week 6: Introduction to Fayumic and reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Week 7: Reading from the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles

Texts from the readings contained in Walter Till, Koptische Chrestomathie für den fayumischen Dialekt, mit grammatischer Skizze und Anmerkungen, Vienna 1930 will be provided.

The apocryphal Acts of Philipp and Peter and Andrew and Matthew (in the city of the cannibals) respectively do not belong to an early set of five apocryphal acts, among which those of Paul and Thecla (see below week 10), but to a later stage (4^th/5^th cent.) which sees a multiplication of acts to give each member of the collegium of the apostles their own hagiographical dossier. Characteristic for these later acts is the local colour of the legends.

Learn Bohairic vocabulary (part 2)

A list of frequent Bohairic words will be provided for learning.

See the assignments tool on the unit website.

Week 8 (Oct 3) and Week 9 (Oct 10)

Topic

Akhmimic

Week 8: Introduction to Akhmimic and reading from Exodus

Week 9: Reading from the Apocalypse of Elijah

Texts from the readings provided in Walter Till, Achmimisch-Koptische Grammatik, Leipzig 1928 (Exodus) and from Georg Steindorff, Die Apokalypse des Elias, eine unbekannte Apokalypse und Bruchstücke der Sophonias-Apokalypse. Texte und Untersuchungen 17, Leipzig 1899 (Apocalypse of Elijah) will be provided. For the Apocalypse of Elijah see also David Frankfurter, Elijah in Upper Egypt: The Apocalypse of Elijah and Early Egyptian Christianity. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress 1993.

The Apocalypse of Elijah is a text preserved in various manuscripts, among which a complete Akhmimic version. It has been described as a 3^rd century Christian reworking of a text created in Jewish milieus of the 1^st/2^nd centuries, incorporating ancient Egyptian apocalyptic material. It describes a situation of war and lawlessness in Egypt, and the appearance of the Antichrist. In a final battle, in which the Antichrist is opposed only by Elijah and a few others among the just, he is slain, and Christ comes to create a new heaven and a new earth over which to reign together with the just.

Homework

Learn Fayumic and Akhmimic vocabular

A list of frequent words will be provided for learning.

See the assignments tool on the unit website.

Week 10 (Oct 17) and Week 11 (Oct 24)

Topic

Lycopolitan

Week 10: Introduction to Lycopolitan and reading from the Gospel of Truth

Week 11: Reading from the Kephalaia of the Teacher, ch. VII

Texts from the readings in Walter Till, Achmimisch-Koptische Grammatik, Leipzig 1928 (Acts of Paul) and from Hans Jakob Polotsky and Alexander Böhlig, Manichäische Handschriften der Staatlichen Museen Berlin: Kephalaia, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1940, 1966 (Kephalaia of the Teacher) will be provided.

The Lycopolitan version of the Gospel of Truth is preserved in the Nag Hammadi codex I. Fragments of a Sahidic version of the same text are included among the texts of NHC XII. The writing provides a good introduction to Valentinian Gnosticism.

The Kephalaia are a collection of lectures on doctrinal problems attributed to Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, but most probably dating to the first generation of disciples after Mani’s death in 276.

See the assignments tool on the unit website.

Homework

Learn Lycopolitan vocabulary

A list of frequent words will be provided for learning.

Week 12 (Oct 31) and 13 (Nov 7)

Topic

Mesokemic

Week 12: Introduction to Mesokemic and reading from the Gospel of Matthew

Week 13: Readings from various dialects, conclusion and general discussion

The Mesokemic text of the Gospel of Matthew ch. 5 from Hans-Martin Schenke, Das Matthäus-Evangelium im mittelägyptischen Dialekt des Koptischen (Codex Scheide). Texte und Untersuchungen 127, Berlin 1981, will be provided.

See the assignments tool on the unit website. (This is a shorter assignment than the previous ones which accounts for the shorter time allowed for its completion).