Northern Cal. Egyptology Lecture March 15: Joy and Fulfillment in Late New Kingdom Royal Art

[Glenn Meyer]

Please note that the venue for this lecture has changed from the room and building previously posted.

The American Research Center in Egypt, Northern California chapter, and the UC Berkeley Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures invite you to attend a lecture by Dr. Tara Prakash, College of Charleston: Happy as a Pharaoh: Joy and Fulfillment in Late New Kingdom Royal Art Sunday, March 15, 2026, 3 PM PST Room 223 Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley This is an in-person lecture, not virtual. The lecture will not be recorded. King Seti I presenting cloth to the god Amun-Re, from the temple of Seti I at Abydos, Dynasty 19, New Kingdom (Photograph: Tara Prakash) About the Lecture: According to the ancient Egyptian belief system, the pharaoh was the most powerful human in the cosmos. He was at the intersection of the divine and mortal realms, understood to be part of both at once. Emotions played an important role in his power, and certain emotional qualities were closely tied to kingship. In this talk, I will focus on one of these: happiness. The inscriptions carved on late New Kingdom (c. 1292–1077 B.C.E.) temples and royal monuments articulate the various types of happy feelings that the king and those around him, both human and divine, were supposed to feel. Such feelings were also portrayed in the accompanying imagery. While ancient Egyptian art may look restrained and emotionless to modern viewers, who are accustomed to looking for facial expressions to recognize emotions, this talk will argue that Egyptian art is filled with emotions, including happiness. About the Speaker: Dr. Tara Prakash is an associate professor at the College of Charleston. She received her PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University with a specialty in the art and archaeology of ancient Egypt. Dr. Prakash has held postdoctoral fellowships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Johns Hopkins University, and she previously was the W. Benson Harer Egyptology Scholar in Residence at California State University, San Bernardino. She is the author of numerous articles on different aspects of Egyptian material and visual culture, and her book, Ancient Egyptian Prisoner Statues: Fragments of the Late Old Kingdom (Lockwood Press, 2022), is the first comprehensive study on the prisoner statues, a unique series of Egyptian statues that depict kneeling bound foreigners. Her current book project uses late New Kingdom royal monumental inscriptions and imagery to investigate the emotions and feelings associated with ancient Egyptian kingship. --------------------- Parking is available in UC lots all day on weekends, for a fee. Ticket dispensing machines accept debit or credit cards. Parking is available in the Lower Sproul garage near Dwinelle Hall, and in other nearby lots. A parking map of the campus is available at https://pt.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/campus_parking_map_august_2025.pdf. To find out how to get to room 223 in Dwinelle Hall, go to this website: https://dkess.me/dwinelle/. Not all entrances to the building will be unlocked, so it's best to start from the main entrance. About Northern California ARCE: For more information, please visit https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://www.facebook.com/NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://arce-nc.org, https://bsky.app/profile/khentiamentiu.bsky.social, and https://khentiamentiu.org. To join the chapter or renew your membership, please go to https://arce.org/membership/ and select "Berkeley, CA" as your chapter when you sign up.