Lecture: New Media, Old Tropes? The Rebirth of Ancient Egypt in Video Games

Lecture: New Media, Old Tropes? The Rebirth of Ancient Egypt in Video Games with Kate Minniti, PhD ( Pratt Institute, Visiting Assistant Professor, History of Art and Design Department).

“About the Speaker: Kate Minniti holds a PhD in Classical Archaeology from the University of British Columbia, BC, and degrees in Egyptian Archaeology from UCL and History of Art and Archaeology from NYU. She has been working as a field archaeologist around the Mediterranean for more than a decade, and she is a senior member of the NYU-UniMi archaeological expedition in Selinunte, Italy. Her main research interests are Archaic-Period connectivity and local responses to globalization in the Mediterranean. She is also interested in reception studies, and since 2013 has been exploring and publishing on the representation of Ancient Egypt in video games.”

Presented in conjunction with Hieroglyphs to Hype: The Modern Afterlife of Ancient Egypt (September 18-December 12, 2026) Bellarmine Hall Galleries, Bellarmine Hall.

Part of the Edwin L. Weisl, Jr. Lectureships in Art History, funded by the Robert Lehman Foundation

Hieroglyphs to Hype: The Modern Afterlife of Ancient Egypt will explore the enduring fascination with ancient Egyptian art and culture (dubbed “Egyptomania” by 19th-century Europeans) through a selection of paintings, prints, photographs, and decorative art ranging from the early 19th century through the present day. These objects, from the humble to the refined, from the shamelessly commercial to the Afrofuturist, represent the range of artistic responses to – and misconceptions about – ancient Egyptian visual culture.

Paradoxically, this enthusiasm for Egyptian symbols and motifs contributed to the erasure of the ancient Egyptian people themselves, as their beliefs and customs became exoticized in popular memory. The exhibition will examine how these objects reflect the phenomenon of “Egyptomania” over the last two centuries and will position their oversimplified or stereotypical narratives in conversation with current archaeological understandings of ancient Egyptian culture.

The exhibition is curated by Megan Paqua (adjunct instructor of ancient Egyptian archaeology and art history and Fairfield University Art Museum Registrar).

Sponsored by Michael T. Vigario, ‘08 and Wealthspire.