Amarna
العمارنة | |
Alternative name | El-Amarna, Tell el-Amarna |
---|---|
Location | Minya Governorate, Egypt |
Region | Upper Egypt |
Coordinates | 27°38′43″N 30°53′47″E / 27.64528°N 30.89639°E |
Type | Settlement |
History | |
Builder | Akhenaten |
Founded | Approximately 1346 BC |
Periods | Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, New Kingdom |
Amarna (
The site is on the east bank of the
Activity in the region flourished from the
Name
The name Amarna comes from the Beni Amran tribe that lived in the region[when?] and founded a few settlements. The ancient Egyptian name was Akhetaten.
(This site should be distinguished from
)English Egyptologist Sir John Gardner Wilkinson visited Amarna twice in the 1820s and identified it as Alabastron,[6] following the sometimes contradictory descriptions of Roman-era authors Pliny (On Stones) and Ptolemy (Geography),[7][8] although he was not sure about the identification and suggested Kom el-Ahmar as an alternative location.[9]
City of Akhetaten
The area of the city was effectively a virgin site, and it was this city that Akhetaten described as the Aten's "seat of the First Occasion, which he had made for himself that he might rest in it".
It may be that the
The city was built as the new capital of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, dedicated to his new religion of worship to the Aten. Construction started in or around Year 5 of his reign (1346 BC) and was probably completed by Year 9 (1341 BC), although it became the capital city two years earlier. To speed up construction of the city most of the buildings were constructed out of mudbrick, and white washed. The most important buildings were faced with local stone.[10]
It is the only ancient Egyptian city which preserves great details of its internal plan in large part because it was abandoned almost completely shortly after the royal government of
The earliest dated stele from Akhenaten's new city is known to be Boundary stele K which is dated to Year 5, IV Peret (or month 8), day 13 of Akhenaten's reign.[12] (Most of the original 14 boundary stelae have been badly eroded.) It preserves an account of Akhenaten's foundation of this city. The document records the pharaoh's wish to have several temples of the Aten to be erected here, for several royal tombs to be created in the eastern hills of Amarna for himself, his chief wife Nefertiti, and his eldest daughter Meritaten as well as his explicit command that when he was dead, he would be brought back to Amarna for burial.[13] Boundary stela K introduces a description of the events that were being celebrated at Amarna:
His Majesty mounted a great chariot of electrum, like the Aten when He rises on the horizon and fills the land with His love, and took a goodly road to Akhetaten, the place of origin, which [the Aten] had created for Himself that he might be happy therein. It was His son Wa'enrē [i.e. Akhenaten] who founded it for Him as His monument when His Father commanded him to make it. Heaven was joyful, the earth was glad every heart was filled with delight when they beheld him.[14]
This text then goes on to state that Akhenaten made a great oblation to the god Aten "and this is the theme [of the occasion] which is illustrated in the lunettes of the stelae where he stands with his queen and eldest daughter before an altar heaped with offerings under the Aten, while it shines upon him rejuvenating his body with its rays."[14]
Site and plan
Located on the east bank of the Nile, the ruins of the city are laid out roughly north to south along a "Royal Road", now referred to as "Sikhet es-Sultan".[15][16] The Royal residences are generally to the north, in what is known as the North City, with a central administration and religious area and the south of the city is made up of residential suburbs.
North City
If one approached the city of Amarna from the north by river the first buildings past the northern boundary stele would be the North Riverside Palace. This building ran all the way up to the waterfront and was likely the main residence of the royal family.[17] Located within the North City area is the Northern Palace, the main residence of the royal family.[18] Between this and the central city, the Northern Suburb was initially a prosperous area with large houses, but the house size decreased and became poorer the further from the road they were.[16]
Central City
Most of the important ceremonial and administrative buildings were located in the central city. Here the
This area was probably the first area to be completed, and had at least two phases of construction.[15]
Southern suburbs
To the south of the city was the area now referred to as the Southern Suburbs. It contained the estates of many of the city's powerful nobles, including Nakhtpaaten (Chief Minister), Ranefer, Panehesy (High Priest of the Aten), and Ramose (Master of Horses). This area also held the studio of the sculptor Thutmose, where the famous bust of Nefertiti was found in 1912.[21]
Further to the south of the city was Kom el-Nana, an enclosure, usually referred to as a sun-shade, and was probably built as a sun-temple.,[22] and then the Maru-Aten, which was a palace or sun-temple originally thought to have been constructed for Akhenaten's queen Kiya, but on her death her name and images were altered to those of Meritaten, his daughter.[23]
City outskirts
Surrounding the city and marking its extent, the Boundary Stelae (each a rectangle of carved rock on the cliffs on both sides of the Nile) describing the founding of the city are a primary source of information about it.[24]
Away from the city Akhenaten's
In the cliffs to the north and south of the Royal Wadi, the nobles of the city constructed their Tombs.
Life in ancient Amarna/Akhetaten
Much of what is known about Amarna's founding is due to the preservation of a series of official boundary stelae (13 are known) ringing the perimeter of the city. These are cut into the cliffs on both sides of the Nile (10 on the east, 3 on the west) and record the events of Akhetaten (Amarna) from founding to just before its fall.[26]
To make the move from Thebes to Amarna, Akhenaten needed the support of the military. Ay, one of Akhenaten's principal advisors, exercised great influence in this area because his father Yuya had been an important military leader. Additionally, everyone in the military had grown up together, they had been a part of the richest and most successful period in Egypt's history under Akhenaten's father, so loyalty among the ranks was strong and unwavering. Perhaps most importantly, "it was a military whose massed ranks the king took every opportunity to celebrate in temple reliefs, first at Thebes and later at Amarna."[27]
Religious life
While the reforms of Akhenaten are generally believed to have been oriented towards a sort of
... at Akhetaten itself, recent excavation by Kemp (2008: 41–46) has shown the presence of objects that depict gods, goddesses and symbols that belong to the traditional field of personal belief. So many examples of Bes, the grotesque dwarf figure who warded off evil spirits, have been found, as well as of the goddess-monster, Taweret, part crocodile, part hippopotamus, who was associated with childbirth. Also in the royal workmen's village at Akhetaten, stelae dedicated to Isis and Shed have been discovered (Watterson 1984: 158 & 208).[28]
Amarna art-style
The Amarna art-style broke with long-established Egyptian conventions. Unlike the strict idealistic
While the worship of
Rediscovery and excavation
18th and 19th century excavations
The first western mention of the city was made in 1714 by
After this European exploration continued in 1824 when Sir
The
The Amarna letters
In 1887, a local woman digging for
Excavation of the king's tomb
Between 1891 and 1892
20th century excavations
The copyist and artist Norman de Garis Davies published drawn and photographic descriptions of private tombs and boundary stelae from Amarna from 1903 to 1908. These books were republished by the EES in 2006.
In the early years of the 20th century (1907 to 1914) the
From 1921 to 1936 an Egypt Exploration Society expedition returned to excavation at Amarna under the direction of T.E. Peet, Sir Leonard Woolley, Henri Frankfort, Stephen Glanville,[34] and John Pendlebury. Mary Chubb served as the digs administrator. The renewed investigations were focused on religious and royal structures.
During the 1960s the Egyptian Antiquities Organization (now the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities) undertook a number of excavations at Amarna.
21st century excavations
Exploration of the city continues to the present, currently under the direction of Barry Kemp (Emeritus Professor in Egyptology, University of Cambridge, England) (until 2006, under the auspices of the Egypt Exploration Society and now with the "Amarna Project".).[11][35] In 1980 a separate expedition led by Geoffrey Martin described and copied the reliefs from the Royal Tomb, later publishing its findings together with objects thought to have come from the tomb. This work was published in 2 volumes by the EES.
From 2005 to 2013, the Amarna Project excavated at a
In media
Fictional
This section is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. (July 2022) |
The Painted Queen[37] written by the famous Elizabeth Peters a.k.a Barbara Mertz is the most recent installment to the Amelia Peabody novels after the author's passing in 2013. Elizabeth Peters was a school trained archaeologist, but was persuaded by her male colleagues that a woman was not to be an archaeologist, so "she created characters based on those misogynistic Egyptologists..."[38] as stated by Sarah Parcak, a female archaeologist that specializes in remote sensing. The adventure stars a female archaeologist Amelia Peabody and the mystery of the missing Bust of Nefertiti. The Painted Queen takes place in the 1912, several years after the actual excavations at Amarna, when excavations in Egypt are solely European, local hires, or looters. Like all good mystery novels, there is humor, twists, and turns, and a predictable ending of a solved case.
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran[39] is a historical fiction work that guides the reader from the perspective of Queen Nefertiti and her younger sister Mutnodjmet. The story follows the timeline from her time in Thebes to Amarna and after Akhenaten's death. Nefertiti was the Chief wife in Akhenaten's court or haram. Though she is well known by name, as many historical female role models, her story is often overlooked for masculine rulers. Michelle Moran webs her story of the queen and her sister with political secrets, loss of innocence, and female strength in a patriarchal society.
Non-fictional
The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and its People by Barry Kemp,[17] discusses everything from the conception of Amarna to the abandonment of the city. Within the book are images that display art, architecture, and the city as it was (reconstructed) and now. It also has a short chapter written by Kemp in the book Cities That Shaped the Ancient World.[40]
Magazines
In the past years National Geographic and archaeological articles have published articles on Amarna, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, or Nefertiti. Most of the article can be found in both the paperback or on the National Geographic website[41] (currently the most recent article was published January 2021).
Opera
Akhnaten, act II, scene 3 ("The City") by Philip Glass describes the mandate from Akhenaten to build Akhetaten. In the English lines, it is consistently referred to as the "City of the Horizon".
Notes
- ^ "The Official Website of the Amarna Project". Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2008.
- ^ a b c David (1998), p. 125
- ^ "Google Maps Satellite image". Google Maps. Retrieved 1 October 2008.
- ^ a b "Middle Egypt Survey Project 2006". Amarna Project. 2006. Archived from the original on 22 June 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2007.
- ^ "Tell Amarna in the general framework of the Halaf period". academia.edu. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
- ^ "Digital Egypt for Universities: Amarna". University College London. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (1828). Materia hieroglyphica. Malta: privately printed. p. 22. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-486-40446-2. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ Modern Egypt and Thebes: being a description of Egypt; including the information required for travellers in that country. Vol. II. London: John Murray. 1843. pp. 43–44. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ Grundon (2007), p. 89
- ^ a b "Excavating Amarna". Archaeology.org. 27 September 2006. Archived from the original on 11 July 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2007.
- ^ Aldred (1988), p. 47
- ^ Aldred (1988), pp. 47–50
- ^ a b Aldred (1988), p. 48
- ^ a b Waterson (1999), p. 81
- ^ a b Grundon (2007), p. 92
- ^ a b Kemp, Barry, The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and its People, Thames and Hudson, 2012, pp. 151–153
- ISSN 1939-828X.
- ^ Waterson (1999), p. 82
- ^ Moran (1992), p. xiv
- ^ Waterson (1999), p. 138
- ^ "Kom El-Nana". Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
- ^ Eyma (2003), p. 53
- ^ "Boundary Stelae". Archived from the original on 29 May 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2007.
- ^ "Royal Tomb". Archived from the original on 27 September 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
- ^ Silverman, David P; Wegner, Josef W; Jennifer Houser (2006). Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, Revolution and Restoration. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. University of Pennsylvania.
- ^ Reeves, Nicholas (2001). Akhenaten, Egypt's False Prophet. London, UK: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
- ^ Turner, Philip (2012). Seth – a misrepresented god in the Ancient Egyptian pantheon? (PhD). Manchester, UK: University of Manchester.
- ^ a b "Mapping Amarna". Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2008.
- ^ "The Robert Hay Drawings in the British Library". Archived from the original on 2006-06-27. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
- ^ "Wallis Budge describes the discovery of the Amarna tablets". Retrieved 2008-10-01.
- ^ a b Grundon (2007), pp. 90–91
- ^ "Royal Tomb". The Amarna Project. Archived from the original on 27 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
- ^ Grundon(2007), p. 71
- ^ "Fieldwork – Tell El-Armana". Archived from the original on 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
- ^ John Hayes-Fisher (2008-01-25). "Grim secrets of Pharaoh's city". BBC Timewatch. news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
- ISBN 978-0062201362.
- ^ Parcak, Sarah (2019). Archaeology From Space: How The Future Shapes Our Past. Henry Holt. p. 188.
- ISBN 978-0307718709.
- ISBN 978-0500252048.
- ^ "Amarna - National Geographic Search". National Geographic. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
References
- Aldred, Cyril (1988). Akhenaten: King of Egypt. London: Thames and Hudson. OCLC 17997212.
- David, Rosalie (1998). Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt. Facts on File. ISBN 9780816033126.
- de Garis Davies, Norman (1903–1908). The Rock Tombs of El Amarna. Parts 1–6. London: EES.
- Eyma, Aayko, ed. (2003). A Delta-Man in Yebu. Universal-Publishers.
- Grundon, Imogen (2007). The Rash Adventurer, A Life of John Pendlebury. London: Libri.
- Hess, Richard S. (1996). Amarna Personal Names (Thesis). Winona Lake, IN: American Schools of Oriental Research. DASOR, 9.
- Kemp, Barry (2012). The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Amarna and its People. London, UK: Thames and Hudson.
- Martin, G.T. (1989) [1974]. The Royal Tomb at el-'Amarna. London, UK: EES. 2 vols.
- Moran, William L. (1992). The Amarna Letters. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4251-4.
- Redford, Donald (1984). Akhenaten: The Heretic King. Princeton, NJ.
- Waterson, Barbara (1999). Amarna: Ancient Egypt's Age of Revolution.
Further reading
- Freed, Rita A., Yvonne J. Markowitz, and Sue H. D'Auria, eds. 1999. Pharaohs of the Sun: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamun. London: Thames and Hudson.
- Giles, Frederick John. 2001. The Amarna Age: Egypt. Warminster, Wiltshire, England: Aris & Phillips.
- Kemp, Barry J. 2006. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization. 2d ed. London: Routledge.
- Kemp, Barry J. 2012. The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and Its People. London: Thames and Hudson.
- Murnane, William J. 1995. Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt. Atlanta: Scholars.
- Mynářová, Jana. 2007. Language of Amarna – Language of Diplomacy: Perspectives On the Amarna Letters. Prague: Czech Institute of Egyptology; Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague.
- Watterson, Barbara. 1999. Amarna: Ancient Egypt's Age of Revolution. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus.
External links
- "Amarna Project". The University of Cambridge.
- "Amarna Art Gallery". – Shows just a few, but stunning, examples of the art of the Amarna period.
- "M.A. Mansoor Amarna Collection".
- "The Amarna3D Project". – 3D visualisation of the city developed by Paul Docherty.