Bachelor 2025/2026

Law and Justice in Ancient Egypt

Type: Compulsory course (Egyptology)

Area of studies: Asian and African Studies

Delivered by: Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies

Where: Faculty of Humanities

When: 4 year, 3, 4 module

Mode of studies: offline

Online hours: 20

Open to: students of all HSE University campuses

Instructors: Alexandre Loktionov

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course "Law and Legal Procedure in Ancient Egypt" is taught in the fourth year. By this time, students will have studied a number of historical and cultural disciplines, including "Introduction to Egyptology", "History of Ancient Egypt", "Religion of Ancient Egypt", "Literature of Ancient Egypt" and "Material Culture, Architecture and Art of Ancient Egypt". They will also be at an advanced stage of learning the ancient Egyptian language. This knowledge of culture and language will enable students to approach issues of Egyptian justice with a deep understanding of the context. The course introduces students to the main features of ancient Egyptian law and its sources (wills, descriptions of trials and interrogations, prosopographical data, legal instructions in the "Vizier's Manual"). The main focus will be on the New Kingdom period, which is particularly rich in documents of this kind, but the main features of the law of other periods will also be considered. Along with texts, some aspects of this course use archaeological