In this short course, participants will learn about one of the world’s most ancient and enduring civilizations, Ancient Egypt. This course will be hosted at Liverpool’s World Museum, which houses some of the UK’s best Ancient Egyptian collections. The course includes talks, gallery tours, behind-the-scenes sessions, real object handling, and discussions with Egyptology specialists. It's suitable for beginners and those with an intermediate understanding of Egyptology. This includes six led sessions at World Museum Liverpool and the optional visit to the museum’s closed-off antiquities stores. The course will run across six Saturday from 17 August till 21 September at 1 - 3.30pm. The optional visit to the stores will be on the afternoon of Friday 27 September. What you'll learn each week: Week One: The Geography of Ancient Egypt - We will study the natural landscape in which the Egyptians built their civilisation, as well as their relationships with neighbouring regions. Week Two: Overview of the Dynastic Period (part one) - We will cover the first 1500 years of Egyptian history, highlighting the key changes and personalities between the unification of the country about 3100 BC until the end of the Middle Kingdom. We’ll meet the builders of Egypt’s greatest pyramids, like Imhotep, Djoser, and Khufu, and Egypt’s expansionist warrior kings like Senwosret III. Week Three: The Dynastic Period (part two) - We'll discuss the development of Egypt’s New Kingdom, focusing on personalities like Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and Ramesses II. We will also cover the collapse of the empire and the end of pharaonic civilisation. Week Four: Ancient Egyptian Religion - We'll cover the complex subject of Egyptian religion and how beliefs changed over time. Discover the Egyptians' beliefs about the creation and maintenance of the world, and the attributes of Egypt’s most enduring deities. Week Five: Ancient Egyptian Funerary Practice - The Ancient Egyptians are probably best known today because of their funerary customs, leading many people to assume they were ‘obsessed by death’. This week we’ll challenge some of these notions and give an overview of the changing mortuary practices throughout Pharaonic history. We’ll discuss Egyptians' ideas of the soul, the practice of mummification, and the importance of creating a tomb for eternity. Week Six: Legacies of Ancient Egypt - In our final session, we'll explore the rediscovery of Ancient Egypt through centuries of exploration and archaeology. We'll discuss major discoveries like Tutankhamun’s tomb and consider the future of Egyptology. Participants will also get a special chance to visit the museum’s closed-off antiquities stores and interact with real objects and the curatorial team. We aim to make our courses as accessible as possible and if there is anything we can put into place to help you attend please get in contact with the course facilitator, Matt Exley, at [email protected].

Work with our expert natural history team who will share their knowledge and access to World Museum's extraordinary collections as you hone your skills in sketching, observation and communicating texture in your art. These regular still-life drawing sessions will each feature a small display of items from our natural history handling collections for you to explore as you develop your skills. All sessions will be held at the World Museum and will have very limited places to maintain a relaxed and intimate atmosphere. These sessions are self-directed and so are suitable for absolute beginners as well as more experienced artists. Basic art materials will be provided but if you would like to bring your own you are welcome to. Please note that there are limited facilities for washing brushes or palettes.

Ever wanted to know what it takes to look after all the amazing animals in our aquarium? Wonder no more! Why not book onto this 20 minute guided tour with one of our knowledgeable aquarium team members. You'll be taken into our back of house facilities to see how we look after the animals in our care. Please be aware this event is for adults and children ages 6+. Due to the nature of the behind the scenes environment this is to ensure the safety of our visitors. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

Learn the dramatic story of the Minoan and Mycenaean Ages, Europe’s first complex civilisations. Uncover the truth behind the story of Leonidas and the 300 Spartan warriors who held back the might of Persia and discover more about the golden age of Classical Greece as theatre, philosophy, and democracy developed in the bustling metropolis of Athens. Finally we'll look at how Greek culture spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean and beyond as vast empires were won and fought over. This short course will take you on a journey of over 3000 years and introduce you to some of the most important characters from Ancient Greece, some mythological, some real, all legendary! WEEK ONE – THE EARLY AEGEAN In this session we will explore Europe’s oldest cultures, the Minoans, the Cycladic Culture, and the Mycenaeans. We will learn how the fundamentals of Greek Culture were laid in smoky palaces and how the memory of this ancient time would inspire mythological heroes like Agamemnon and the epic Trojan War. WEEK TWO – THE ROAD TO THEMOPYLAE This week we will find out more about the development of a more recognisable ‘Ancient Greece’ and how Greek states developed and functioned in the wake of increasing Persian domination of the Aegean World. WEEK THREE – CLASSICAL GREECE Here we pick up with the legendary battle of Thermopylae and the inspiring tale of the 300 Spartan warriors who stood against unimaginable odds as the might of Persia sought to consume all of Greece. We will look at the rise of Athens and explore how the Greek World descended into chaos as Athens and Sparta vied for ultimate control. WEEK FOUR – THE HELLENISTIC WORLD We finish our time together exploring the extra-ordinary short life of Alexander the Great who forged an empire that stretched from the Balkans to the Indus. We’ll see how his generals tore this empire apart within hours of his death, founding rival dynasties that gave us characters like Cleopatra and spread Greek influence as far afield as India and beyond.

In this behind the scenes, immersive experience you will get the chance to feed our animals and learn how the team look after the equipment and water chemistry in our aquarium. Our aquarium keepers look after a huge range of animals from clown fish, to terrapins and axolotl to crabs. Discover just what it takes to care for our animals and how exactly you clean a tank full of creatures! (Please note the animals you see and feed on the day will vary and we cannot specify this in advance.) This event is not suitable for children under 8.

In this short course participants will get a thorough introduction to reading Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and learn how to begin to read real Egyptian inscriptions. Hieroglyphs were used for well over 3000 years to write the Egyptian language in monumental settings and was the script some of the most important texts were written in. In this course we will look at the basics of how to read real hieroglyph inscriptions, using real texts from monumental settings in Egypt as well as texts from the collections at World Museum Liverpool. No prior knowledge of hieroglyphs is needed and although no knowledge of Ancient Egypt is required, a basic understanding of the culture and history will be beneficial to participants. We aim to make our courses as accessible as possible and if there is anything we can put into place to help you attend please get in contact.

Ever wanted to know what it takes to look after all the amazing animals in our aquarium? Wonder no more! Why not book onto this 20 minute guided tour with one of our knowledgeable aquarium team members. You'll be taken into our back of house facilities to see how we look after the animals in our care. Each tour will have a maximum of 10 visitors and is for ages 6+. We also ask for a minimum ratio of 3 children to 1 adult.

Scandal! Treachery! Fortunes! Foul Play! Dinosaurs! During this study day we will not only look at what makes a fossil a dinosaur and how to recognise them but also the lives and shenanigans of Professors Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope as they dig, publish and decry each other over several decades in what became known as the Bone Wars! There have been many scientists that have brought the dinosaurs to life within those two centuries but two rise above the rest from the beginning during the gilded age of science: both desperate to outdo each other to gain the prize of becoming Americas leading academic in the new subject of Vertebrate Palaeontology. What started out as friendship then turned to rivalry before an all-consuming personal war of dirty tricks and scandalous newspaper headlines that damaged the reputations not only of the scientists involved but the entire scientific community of the young United States. Itinerary: 11am-12pm What makes a dinosaur a dinosaur? (Short slide show & object handling) 12pm-1pm Bone Wars lecture 1-2pm Break for lunch 2pm-3pm Meet on Gallery for a short tour and any questions.