Visit Guide for Primary Teachers

Visit guide for primary teachers

Defining beauty, the body in ancient Greek art1

Planning your visit

We recommend the following planning guidelines:

Provide a focus for students to keep in mind as they explore the exhibition and which you can follow up afterwards
Do some preparatory work in school to develop the focus of the visit and familiarise students with the content of the exhibition
Allow students some scope to explore and find objects that interest them

Curriculum Links

The exhibition offers opportunities in the following curriculum areas and for cross-curricular work:

Religious Studies: Belief, monotheism, scared writing, practice, faith and creative expression

Citizenship: Self-identity, multipleidentities, living in a multicultural society, the state and the individual, taking direct action

Art and Design:Human representation, pattern, techniques and media, ancient art as inspiration

Glass pendant with a menorah

Egypt

4th century AD

British Museum

Using this resource

This resource is designed to support your visit to the Egypt: faith after the pharaohsexhibition.

It aims to be cross-curricular and offer opportunities to work the exhibition into learningacross the curriculum. To accompany this resource there is a downloadable image bank and a set of worksheets that can be adapted to suit your needs.

Introduction to the exhibition

The exhibition traces Egypt’s journey from the ancient Roman period to the medieval world of the Fatimid dynasty, and its transition from a place largely worshipping many gods to a society devoted to the one God of Jews, Christians and Muslims. The remarkable objects on display provide unparalleled access to the lives of individuals and communities, and tells the rich and complex story of influences, intermittent tension and violence, and long periods of peaceful coexistence.

Using the exhibition

In advance

Decide on a focus for the visit and a follow-up activity. Go through this with the students.

Use the image bank to familiarise students with some of the exhibition content.Exhibition activity sheets are available to download and can be adapted to meet the needs of your students. Go through any exhibition activities with the students and accompanying adults beforehand.

On the day

Encourage adults to allow students to linger at objects which interest them and to discuss what they see and share ideas as they go round. Remind students to behave calmly and politely. Photography is not allowed in the exhibition, but students may take photographs of relevant objects in the Museum’s permanent galleries.

Afterwards

Use what the students have gathered in the exhibition/Museum galleries for follow-up activities back at school.

The ‘Big’ questions

It is a good idea to have a big question for students to keep inmind during their visit to the exhibition. Here are some possible examples:

Which did I think, and why, was the most interesting object in the exhibition?
What did I learn aboutEgypt or the Abrahamic faiths that I did not know before?
What sources of evidence does the exhibition include and how useful did I find these for learning about the religious lives of people in Egypt’spast?
How can the exhibition help me to understand the relationships between different faiths today?

Exhibition themes

The exhibition is divided into five sections.

IntroductionAcross Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, the first millennium AD witnessed the radical transformation of a world from devotion to many gods to the one god of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Egypt’s unique history and archaeology give particular insight into the development and emergence of these faiths. Egypt: faith after the pharaohsfocuses on the 1200 years from 30 BC, when Egypt became part of the Roman empire, to the end of the Fatimid period in AD 1171.

Roman Egypt: religion and empireIn 31 BC Cleopatra VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt was defeated. The following year her rival, Augustus, entered Egypt’s capital Alexandria, and Egypt soon afterwards became a province of the Roman empire. For 300 years Alexandria had been a cultural hub as well as a centre of trade, a place where Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and others mingled and where religious beliefs and practices were combined in new ways. Sailing in the harbour, visitors saw the magnificent Caesareum, a temple founded by Cleopatra VII. It was completed by Augustus and dedicated to the worship of the emperor and his deified predecessors, Julius Caesar and his son Caesarion.

Ivory box showing Daniel

Egypt or Syria

5th or early 6th century AD

British Museum

Egypt in a Christian EmpireIn AD 330,with Christianity by then the privileged religion of the imperial household, the Roman emperor Constantine established a new capital at Byzantium named Constantinople. The grain and resources of Egypt flowed to the new capital, and its public spaces were decorated with ancient Egyptian monuments.Alexandria continued to be a great hub of learning for both Christians and non-Christians, sometimes studying under the same teachers. The city also continued to be famous for the violence between and within its communities. This was often stirred up by the city’s archbishops, supported by monks, and targeted the followers of the old gods, philosophers and Jews. In the sixth and seventh century, the heart of the city was still occupied by lecture halls where philosophers, now Christian, taught. Its temple complexes were now occupied by churches.

Gold coin (obverse and reverse)

Egypt, probably Cairo

409 AH/AD 1018

British Museum

Egypt and the Islamic EmpireIn AD 639 Muslim armies, under the command of ‘Amribn al-‘As, enteredEgypt. The Byzantine empire at the time was weak and vulnerable – by AD 641 Alexandria had fallen and Egypt soon came under Muslim rule. At first ‘Amr wanted to keep Alexandria as the capital, but it was open to attack from the Byzantine navy. Instead he chose a site atthe tip of theNile Delta, east of the Roman fortress of Babylon, where he had pitched his tent during its siege. The new capital al-Fustat became a bustling city and the commercial centre of Egypt. Some 300 years later al-Fustat was absorbed into the nearby capital of a new dynasty of Muslim rulers, the Fatimids. Their city was named al-Qahira, known in English as Cairo.‘Amr and the Muslim state after him recognised Christians and Jews as Peoples of the Book and did not interfere with their religious practices. They did however pay a special poll tax in exchange for their protected status.

Egypt Mirror of the WorldThe majority of Egypt’spopulation first adopted Christianity by the fifth century. By the end of the Fatimid period, Islam was established as the majority faith in Egypt.The shift from polytheism to monotheism mirrors what took place across much of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. It reflects the transformation of the ancient to medieval world, a transition that shaped the world we live in today.

Curricular opportunities

Religious Studies

By the mid-first millennium AD, most people in Egypt abandoned the gods and goddesses of their ancestors and adopted Christianity, a monotheistic faith. Later, by the end of the millennium, most people were Muslim, but with significant populations of Christians and Jews. In time, Jews, Christians and Muslims lived side-by-side in many parts of Egypt.

Use the exhibition to investigate the Abrahamic faiths through beliefs, sacred writings, sacred places and religious practice. Follow a single faith or multiple faiths, examining the evidence we have that reflects distinctive experiences and developments, approaches and common practice.

Spotlight objects:

See pages3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 in the powerpoint that accompanies this resource.

Follow up activities:

Create a large grid to record evidence of key aspects of religious practice for one or more Abrahamic faith. Discuss and assess objects relating to belief, place of worship, pilgrimage and add the strongest examples to the chart.

Consider how artefacts reflect religious beliefs. Work in groups to annotate object images, highlighting features that link to Jewish, Christian or Muslim belief.

Look at the similarities between the Abrahamic faiths. Investigate three key themes like representation, symbols and sacred script for each faith, then compare and debate.

Create a blog post to describe the experience of living as a Jew, Christian or Muslim in Egypt during this period. Draw on exhibition evidence when describing aspects of religious practice.

Citizenship

This was a period of immense religious change for Egypt’s population: the worship of many gods to one god, state repression and tolerance, and the establishment and dominance of new faiths.

Use the exhibition to explore issues of identity in society like being in a minority and sitting outside the norms of the state. Investigate the experiences of faith groups in a changing society and how practice and expression defined them. Identify challenges for these communities and the actions they took to respond. Draw parallels to understand society in Britain today.

Spotlight objects:

See pages3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13in the powerpoint that accompanies this resource.

Follow up activities:

Identify the symbols and creative expressions of identity seen in the exhibition. Discuss what symbols define people in British society. Try to select a modern symbol or object that best defines or represents an inclusive society.

Discuss what shapes identity in Britain today and the consequences of identifying people purely on the basis of religion.

Compare recent examples from Egypt and Britain of direct actiontaken to change society. Debate what should be acceptable in a modern state. Choose a relevant cause to support and plan a communication strategyto campaign.

Art and Design

Over this time, artists in Egypt produced a range of creative responses to faith and society.

Use the exhibition to investigate therepresentation of deities, humans and religious identity. Consider the use of specialist skills, media and materials.

Spotlight objects:

See pages2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11 in the powerpoint that accompanies this resource.

Follow up activities:

Discuss the creative representation of faith in the exhibition.Highlight key features and effective techniques. Draw on this to create an artwork that reflects individual or collective identity.

Think about the use of patterns in Egypt.Look at examples using colours, shapes, words, symbols and natural forms.Design an appropriaterepeating pattern for a special book, box or piece of clothing,