The topic

Of all the men who ruled the great sweep of Egypt and Nubia during the 25^th dynasty, we have more information about Taharqa (690-664 BCE) than for any other. He built or augmented more temples, created more colossal statuary, and left behind more inscribed material than any ruler since Ramesses the Great.

His written records in Egypt and Nubia are augmented by accounts in the Assyrian Annals and the Bible. And the Greek geographer Strabo, who lived some 700 years after Taharqa, listed him as one of the great conquerors of the ancient world.

Despite this, his name and exploits are little known by today’s public.

Taharqa wants us to believe he was a precocious and charismatic youth, a pious and caring man, a brilliant military strategist, and clever in the use of politics and marketing as a means to empower his vast and diverse empire. Even in death, he singles himself out.

This lecture is an attempt to tell the story of the life of King Taharqa and, in doing so, tease out his humanity and creativity.

Email us at arce.dc.news at gmail dot com for a link to register for

this event. Registration will close an hour before the start.

The lecture and a short Q&A will last about one hour.

The speaker

Dr. Rita Freed is the Michael Cohen Fellow in Art History at the Hutchins Center, Harvard University, where she is pursuing research in Nubian art, and developing methods to make it more widely available. She also teaches Egyptian and Nubian Art at Wellesley College.

Dr. Freed received her B.A. from Wellesley College and her M. A. and Ph. D. in Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She was Associate Professor of Art at the University of Memphis and founding Director of the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology before going to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to head the Department of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art, a position she now holds as Emerita.

Dr. Freed has excavated in Egypt at numerous sites from the delta to Karnak as well as in Israel and Cyprus. Exhibitions she has curated and co-curated include Egypt’s Golden Age, A Divine Tour of Ancient Egypt, Ramesses the Great, Pharaohs of the Sun, The Secrets of Tomb 10A, and Ancient Nubia Now.