Emotions and the Manifestation of Ancient Egyptian Royal Power: A Consideration of the Twin Stelae at Abu Simbel

Drawing on methods and theories from the history of emotions, this paper examines the Twin Stelae that flank the entrance into Ramses II’s Great Temple at Abu Simbel in order to investigate the feelings associated with ancient Egyptian kingship from an ideological perspective. As the ruler, what was the king himself supposed to feel, and what feelings was he meant to elicit in his subjects? How did the feelings of the king differ from those of his subjects, and how did all these feelings reinforce and reify the institution of kingship and royal power? In order to propose some answers to these complex questions, I offer a close reading of key words and passages on the Stelae, considering the choice of hieroglyphic signs that the artists used to write them, the ways in which the artists depicted these signs, and the context of the words and passages within the inscriptions. I then use the Stelae’s text to consider how ancient viewers were meant to see and experience the monumental façade of the Great Temple.