在世界古代文明中，埃及与两河流域的文明起源早、延续时间长且社会构成高度复杂，这与中国早期文明具有很大的相似性与可比性。不同的是，两个地区的文明具有中国早期文明中非常缺乏的图像材料和文字记录，欧美学界对埃及和美索不达米亚文明的研究伴随着整个现代考古学的历程，也积累了非常丰富的研究成果。这些对我们了解世界文明，深入剖析中国早期文明具有重要的学术意义。
“早期埃及考古与艺术系列讲座”特邀牛津大学著名埃及学者John Robert Baines教授对早期埃及遗存及相关重要问题进行解读，以期促进世界早期文明的比较研究。讲座共分五讲，涉及早期埃及的国家形成、体系、艺术和宗教，以及早期埃及古王国时期的政治体系及其对外影响。
该系列讲座得到北京大学高级人文学者访问计划的支持，每场讲座由北京大学考古文博学院老师担任现场翻译，讲座时间将由10月9日持续至11月5日。

John Robert Baines教授简介：
John Baines was Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford until 2013. He has held visiting appointments in countries of Africa, Europe, and North America. Among other works, he is author, with Jaromir Malek, of Cultural atlas of ancient Egypt (2nd ed., 2000), and of Visual and written culture in ancient Egypt (2007) and High culture and experience in ancient Egypt (2013). He has published articles and chapters in academic journals and in a number of interdisciplinary collections focusing on the comparison of early civilizations, including a study of early Egypt contrasted with the Erligang period in China (2014). His main research interests are in ancient Egyptian art, religion, literature, and social issues. In recent years his focus has been mainly on the earlier periods of ancient Egypt. He is currently working on Egyptian biographies, using archaeological, art-historical, and text based- approaches.
More details:http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/staff/eanes/jbaines.html

About the lectures
The five lectures give a survey of early Egypt in relation to important questions of interpretation. They are intended to highlight characterics of Egypt that can contribute to comparative discussions of early civilizations. The focus is on major sources. Overlaps in the material discussed illutrate the variety of questions posed by the evidence.
The first two lectures treat late prehistory and the following Early Dynastic period (late fourth and early third millennium). Lecture 1 studies state formation and how it can be tracked in the material record (ca. 3300–2900 bce). Lecture 2 begins with the initial development of a complex society and studies artistic developments, particularly in pictorial representation, and including significant changes in genres as well as evidence for lost media (ca. 3750–2700).The third and fourth lectures move progressively to the mid third millennium, the Old Kingdom period of the great pyramids. Lecture 3 treats the organization of the state and the monuments it created. Lecture 4 looks at political structures both within and beyond the state of Egypt, including relations with Nubia to the south and Western Asia. Lecture 5 surveys religion for the entire period covered, as a central institution of the whole society, for which evidence nonetheless focuses on elites.