While the subject matter is very interesting I don't think it was told well or in an exciting way.

I loved it! But why only 6 weeks? Please, make it at least 10! Dr. Silverman's lectures and book are great! I knew nothing about ancient Egypt when I started the class. Now I know the history, the symbols, their gods, the significance of mummification, the christian motifs that were "borrowed" from the egyptians and so much more. I am really thankful to Penn because two of three classes I have taken -Ancient Egypt and Roman and Greek Mythology- are from this institution. I love Penn and Coursera. Thank you.

This is indeed a great course. It is very simply put and very easy to follow up.

Do join without any hesitancy if you have a genuine interest in learning about the history of ancient Egypt!

Excellent course! This gave me more confidence in teaching middle school students about Ancient Egypt! Very well done and very informative. I really enjoyed this course!

Thank you very much for this introduction! I really needed to have a starting point. It was very clear and interesting. I'll continue searching and studying, of course!

A good course, marred only by occasional poor quiz questions. Problem questions were either ambiguous or, more often than not, referred to material from previous weeks or not in the course at all. Independent research was then necessary to be confident of a correct answer at first attempt. Most problems seem likely due to course editing and subsequent loss of internal referential integrity.

This is a wonderful way to familiarize yourself with Ancient Egypt. It covers the basics on the Pre- Dynastic Period, the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, and the Late Period. Professor Silverman is clearly someone who truly enjoys teaching others about this subject, and his lectures are very interesting. The Forums are really useful, too, as they provide a wealth of extra information which can be learned from discussions with other students. If you have any interest in archeology, Ancient Egypt, or the birth of civilization, you should definitely take this course, and I sincerely hope Professor Silverman come out with more courses to expand on this fascinating subject! The only thing that could make this better would be some peer-reviewed assignments, as I find that assigned essays, etc., help me assimilate the information more fully, and having them reviewed by others ensures that I have understood what I learned correctly.

It would have been better if the quizzes were more adapted to the content of the text. However, it is quite informative and spectacular course with many pictures of the different Egyptian items, pyramids, pharaohs, etc. And what is the most important to me, after finalizing the course, a desire appeared in my mind to watch some fiction films about ancient Egypt. I advise you, guys to watch the following fiction films after the course end: 1) The Mummy (1999); 2) The Mummy Returns (2001); and 3) The Scorpion King (2002). There you will find out and discover many things, items and bulletins, that are mentioned in the given course. They are partly horror genre, but it is worth to watch.

I hope to pursue religious studies. I had some idea that I would have to review Egyptian religions to see how later antiquity developed, such as Hellenistic and Islamic cosmologies. But I had no idea how highly evolved the Egyptians were so early on. Their architecture is technologically mind boggling and hard to explain in detail. But their cosmologies are highly understandable from later cosmologies such as found in Mahabharata and Ramayana of India. This series of lectures did do justice to spiritual concepts. It would take a PhD level of effort to develop some of these themes. No words to thank Professor Silverman and U Penn. I wish I was a graduate student there.

Very interesting. I have been to the Cairo Museum and have seen the mummies and the King Tutankhamun exhibit. Unfortunately the photos do not give the items justice. The mummies are in a separate area and require a separate fee, so make sure you really want to look at them.

The Tut exhibit in Cairo has many items but does not have the mummy. The mask is here and jewelry, beds, chairs, and chariot among other things. It is amazing. Again there are no truly accurate words to describe them; they are a must see thing to understand about no words to explain them.

This course has taught me a lot of things and is worth taking at any cost.

I think its the best online course I have taken anywhere about history of ancient Egypt. I was also inspired by the way Dr David P. Silverman narrated the story of ancient Egypt. The course was also well designed to give a brief intro to everyone about various important aspects of ancient Egyptian life. The lessons mentioned in the "further reading" section of every week were carefully picked so as to give the reader a whole recap as well as further insight to what was learned during that week.

I will surely take any other course on Egyptology if offered/ organized by Dr Silverman on this subject.

Informative and thought provoking. I will be traveling to Egypt next year and I wanted to understand more about Egyptian history so that I would get more out of the trip. This course did that for me. The instructor was clear and concise. Though the transcript is a bit spotty in places I found the instructors book very helpful. I really liked that the videos were broken up into manageable chunks. It is made it easily to follow and also break into different study sessions. I plan on taking the book and my notes from this course with me on my trip. Thank you for a great class.

The professor was very knowledgeable. The material was broken down into manageable chunks or lessons. It was very interesting to see examples or actual objects that illustrated the concept being taught. The materials in the Penn Museum were often referred to and shown. The lectures was fast paced and I appreciated the ability to go back and watch sections of the lectures over again to make sure that I understood the material being taught. Thank you for making a course like this available to me at no cost. I look forward to exploring other coursera classes.

I enjoyed this course. If only these types of Courses were offered here in Michigan I would have obtained a degree in Egyptology a long time ago. I do plan on taking the other set of courses related to this. The videos really helped and those places are beautiful. I really want to visit Egypt some day soon, before those pyramids are no longer there or I am too old to travel. Whichever comes first. Thanks Dr. Silverman. Your explanation on Egypt has brought me even closer to my love of their history and understanding.

Although a bit slow and scripted in the start, I've grown a sort of fondness to the professor. In the beginning the chronology seemed jumbled but slowly I got acquainted with the course and really started to enjoy it. Don't make any assumptions based on the first few videos. The course as a whole is very good and informative. I went from knowing next to nothing about Egypt, to being able to at least debate with seasoned professionals and hold my ground on the subject.

This course has been a really good experience. I learnt a lot and I enjoyed each of the videos and content since it provided me a new perspective about the studies that researchers have in different parts of the world. Although this is not my main field of study, I have always been interested in this amazing culture. I hope one day I have the opportunity to visit the museum in Philadelphia and of course, go the Egypt soon. Best wishes, thanks a lot!

I've always been interested in ancient Egypt and enjoy reading about and testing my knowledge of it when I can. It's interesting to hear from archeologists on what new finds or facts are discovered. I was very happy to be able to visit Egypt and see first hand many of the temples and tombs there and, when it's a bit safer, would love to go back!

Thank you so much for and interesting and informative class. I enjoyed it very much!

I'm not a historian, but always found ancient history to be a fascinating topic to read and study. I think the egyptians were a people whose culture evoke some sort of magic and mystic, but that we didn't studied as much as I liked in school. I think this course helped me learn more about them, but also preserved this magic. The visualization of the art in the Museum was a great way to illustrate many points.

The course is quite unique and mishmashes all the required detail within a short period of six weeks. The course provides a detailed introduction and history of Egypt from all corners, everything from the pharaoh's names to the rise and fall of the empire and even mummification. loved the course and all the knowledge from it. don't know if there is any other way to obtain all such information together at once.

This was a very insightful course and I thoroughly enjoyed learning from it. As it's just an introduction, it has definitely sparked me to research further into some of information included as well as explore some of Dr. Silverman's other courses here on Coursera. I've also added a future visit to the Penn Museum to my list. A huge thanks to Dr. Silverman and all involved in the production of this course!

Personal research is needed in order to complete the quizzes and participate in the forum debate. Other than that ( which is not bad at all) the course is excellent and explanations and videos are clear and helpful. It is my first contact with ancient Egypt and won't be the last. I'm enrolling in the next one. I also liked there's a great amount of photographs many of them from the Penn Museum collection.

As a student of history I can say that this course is fantastic. It is well collated and presented in an attractive way, and there are adequate free online study material provided with each module to supplement the videos. The most exciting part of the course is the sneak peak that you get in the Penn Museum collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts and also the various other photographs in each video.

Of the courses I've taken through Coursera, Introduction to Ancient Egypt and Its Civilization is, by far, my favorite. My interest in Ancient Egyptian civilization began in early childhood and has stuck with me ever since (I'm in my forties now). Dr. Silverman's lectures are very engaging and highly informative, always leaving you feeling excited for the next lecture. He really knows this subject!

The course was a very comprehensive Introduction into Ancient Egyptian history. I would highly recommend this course to anyone interested in this great civilisation. The lectures were well thought out, engaging and relevant to meeting the course assessment criteria.

I sincerely thank the team at Coursera, the Penn Museum and David Silverman for their efforts in putting together such a great course!

I really enjoyed this course and have now begun the second course offered on Ancient Egypt that delves into the art and hieroglyphs. Dr. Silverman is a very informative teacher and provided a good foundation in the course. I did not find it intermediate level as I found the quizzes easy, but perhaps that just means I am on that level lol. I learned some new things that I enjoyed.