Event banner with text on green background; combined image of Egyptian sarcophagus and dissected human figure

Left: Woodcut from Andreas Vesalius' "De humani corporis fabrica"; Metropolitan Museum of Art 53.682; Right: Coffin and Mummy of Pa-ankh-en-Amun; Art Institute of Chicago 1910.238

Expanding the Ancient World Workshop

Greece, Egypt, and the Body: Dissection and Mummification in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Organized by the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World

This workshop will take place online; a Zoom link will be provided via email to registered participants.

Registration is required at THIS LINK.

Expanding the Ancient World is a series of professional development workshops and online resources for teachers. Keyed to the NYC Department of Education Social Studies Scope and Sequence, this program is designed to offer K-12 educators opportunities to develop their knowledge of the ancient world and to provide classroom-ready strategies for teaching the past with reliable sources. Featuring inquiry-based workshops, flexible lesson plans, and up-to-date research, Expanding the Ancient World aims to equip teachers with information and skills that they can share with their students. CTLE credits will be offered to New York State teachers.

The Ancient Greeks and the Ancient Egyptians held different beliefs about the workings of the body and about the handling of corpses. In the Ptolemaic period, when Egypt fell under Greek rule, Greek doctors working in Egyptian Alexandria took a remarkable leap forward in the study of anatomy via dissection by dissecting human bodies, but there remains scholarly debate on the degree to which the Egyptian milieu impacted these developments. This workshop will introduce the evidence we have for both Greek dissection and Egyptian embalming in this period, and will offer suggestions for how to use this attention-grabbing topic to facilitate discussions of intercultural exchange, cultural biases (both ancient and modern), and the history of science.

Workshop led by Claire Bubb and Amber Jacob (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World)

Participants will receive 1.5 CTLE hours.

Expanding the Ancient World is made possible by generous support from ISAW and an NYU Teaching Advancement Grant.

If you have any questions regarding the Expanding the Ancient World program please email ETAW@nyu.edu.

Please check isaw.nyu.edu for event updates.

ISAW is committed to providing a positive and educational experience for all guests and participants who attend our public programming. We ask that all attendees follow the guidelines listed in our community standards policy.