The UNED in Torrevieja will be overflowing with people in November with the Spirit of the Nile

Applications have exceeded expectations: it's the most in-demand course among senior students at the National University of Distance Education (UNED) in our city. Even so, those interested are encouraged to inquire further, as it's an excellent and original course, free like all those offered by UNED Torrevieja to date, and we are confident we can dispel the fear of "no places available": ce torrevieja@elx.uned.es ; 603875563.

To develop the program, a specialist like Santiago Mallebrera has been invited. A veteran from Alicante, he is knowledgeable about the intricacies and curiosities of domestic life in Ancient Egypt. Mallebrera specialized in the hieroglyphic system of Classical Egyptian at the Valencian School for the Study of Biblical and Oriental Languages, part of the San Vicente Ferrer Faculty. His passion for research and intellectual pursuits led him to become director of the translation workshop of the Egyptology association ITERU. ITERU is one of the transliterations of the name Nile. An active member of the Valencian Egyptology Association, the speaker, whose knowledge and affability will be a delight, has made more than forty trips to Egypt as a tour guide.

This intensive course focuses less on the historical events and grand narratives of Ancient Egypt and more on the domestic and everyday lives of the ancient inhabitants of the Nile River region—the inner history of Ancient Egypt. We will delve into well-researched and clearly presented details about daily life, the role and importance of women, family ties, the care of the sick, and, in a unique way, the pets they kept, particularly the presence of cats as companion animals.

Mallebrera will also focus on deciphering hieroglyphic writing, based on the graphic findings of the Rosetta Stone: the stone that presents the same text—a decree published in Memphis around 196 BC, during the reign of Ptolemy V—in three different languages (Ancient Greek, Demotic Egyptian, and hieroglyphic). The Rosetta Stone, discovered by Napoleon's troops under Captain Bouchard in 1799, served as a study tool for the Egyptologist Jean-François Champollion, who deciphered it in 1822. His linguistic advances allowed for a deeper understanding of the culture of Ancient Egypt. Today, the original stone is on display at the British Museum. Later, the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by London archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922 became a landmark in the ongoing unveiling of such a dazzling and far-reaching way of life. Undoubtedly, the connection between the Nile and the Segura River will even be debated, however extravagant and outlandish it may seem at first glance.

Of the many films set in Ancient Egypt, some of whose most famous sequences we will be able to see in the UNED Torrevieja course, the splendid Hollywood productions stand out: The Egyptian (Michael Curiz, 1945, based on the novel by Mika Waltari), The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1956), the funny Spanish parody The National Mummy (José Ramón Larraz, 1981) and Agora (Alejandro Amenábar, 2009), about the brilliant figure of Hypatia during the 4th century BC.