Free UNED course explores daily life along the Nile in Ancient Egypt this November in Torrevieja.
The UNED Aula Torrevieja will be overflowing this November as it welcomes its second “Universidad Abierta” course for the 2025–2026 season:
“La vida a orillas del Nilo. Antiguo Egipto” (“Life on the Banks of the Nile. Ancient Egypt”).
The sessions will take place at UNED Torrevieja’s Auditorium Hall, Conservatorio Internacional (next to Hospital Quirón),
beginning on Tuesday, November 4, at 18:30, and continuing until Wednesday, November 26, covering a total of seven sessions.
The response has exceeded all expectations, making it the most in-demand course among Torrevieja’s senior learners.
Despite the high number of applications, organisers encourage those interested to reach out,
as this free and original course — like all of UNED Torrevieja’s offerings — continues to welcome new participants.
Inquiries can be made via torrevieja@elx.uned.es or by phone at
603 875 563.
The course will be presented by Santiago Mallebrera, a veteran researcher from Alicante
and a specialist in the Classical Egyptian Hieroglyphic System,
trained at the Valencian School for the Study of Biblical and Oriental Languages at the Faculty of San Vicente Ferrer.
A passionate investigator and traveller, Mallebrera directs the Translation Workshop of the Egyptology Association ITERU —
one of the transcriptions of “Nile” — and is an active member of the Valencian Egyptology Association.
Over the years, he has led more than forty guided study trips to Egypt.
The course focuses not on major historical milestones, but on everyday life along the Nile —
the domestic and social reality that defined ancient Egyptian civilisation.
Participants will discover fascinating, well-documented insights about food, family life, women’s roles, medicine,
and even pets — especially the cultural and religious significance of cats.
Mallebrera will also explore the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs through the discovery of the
Rosetta Stone, a decree issued in Memphis around 196 BC during the reign of Ptolemy V,
written in three languages — Greek, Demotic, and Hieroglyphic.
Unearthed by Napoleon’s troops in 1799, the stone was later studied by Jean-François Champollion,
whose work in 1822 laid the foundation for modern Egyptology.
The original piece remains housed at the British Museum in London.
The course will also touch on the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter in 1922,
an event that reshaped global fascination with Egypt.
Connections will even be drawn — perhaps humorously — between the Nile and the Segura River,
highlighting how natural waterways define human culture across time.
To make the experience even richer, selected clips from several iconic films will be screened, including
Sinuhé, el egipcio (1945, Michael Curtiz), The Ten Commandments (1956, Cecil B. DeMille
