An advanced language seminar that introduces the student to the grammar and writing system of Egyptian texts from the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Periods (c. 2400–2100 BCE). Texts studied are from funerary, legal, administrative, and cultic contexts, with a focus on autobiographical texts and their development over time. All texts will be read in the original, and students will learn to analyze them in terms of both language/grammar and content. The historical and social, as well as the archaeological, context of the texts will be given due weight.