Egyptology and Assyriology

Brown University is unique in having a Department of Egyptology and Assyriology. Here, one can pursue undergraduate or graduate study of ancient Egypt and/or the ancient Near East.  This guide is an introduction to resources that the Library provides for the study Egyptology and Assyriology, with links to online reference sources for both, as well as resources that are only available in paper. The University Library also holds some primary materials in Special Collection (the John Hay Library), such as a collection of cuneiform objects, and some fragments of the Egyptian Book of the Dead on papyrus and on linen. Note that you can also find some relevant tools in some other guides, such as Archaeology, Religious Studies, the History of Art & Architecture, Classics, etc. 

This is by no means a comprehensive guide to all the resources available for the study of Egyptology and Assyriology. However, this guide does contain many carefully curated resources that can serve as entry points to these fields of study. The menu on the left hand side of this guide can be used to navigate the resources available here. All these resources are grouped by the following:

• Reference Sources: Background information generally comes from reference sources, which provide a scholarly discussion that summarizes and synthesizes secondary sources. These sources provide important background and contextual information on your subject. Reference sources include bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks. You can use this type of source to help narrow your research topic, find data to support your thesis, and identify keywords and main ideas to use as search terms.
• Secondary sources - A secondary source is a scholarly discussion based on primary sources. Typically, a secondary source contains original research. Secondary sources include articles, blogs, books, lectures, podcasts, and scientific reports. Secondary sources are useful for in-depth analysis of your topic and for learning about scholarly perspectives on your topic.
• Primary sources - A primary source is a document, image, artifact, or dataset that provides first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning the object of research. Primary sources may include, but are not limited to, artwork, correspondence, diaries, interviews, literary texts, material artifacts, newspapers, speeches, statistics, and videos. Primary sources are useful for providing evidence on your topic.
• Language resources - Here you will find grammars and dictionaries relevant to the study of Egyptology and Assyriology.