العمارنة | |
 TheSmall Aten Temple at Akhetaten | |
  Amarna Shown within Egypt | |
| Alternative name | El-Amarna, Tell el-Amarna |
|---|---|
| Location | Minya Governorate,Egypt |
| Region | Upper Egypt |
| Coordinates | 27°38′43″N30°53′47″E / 27.64528°N 30.89639°E /27.64528; 30.89639 |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Builder | Akhenaten |
| Founded | Approximately 1346 BC |
| Periods | Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt,New Kingdom |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1891-1892, 1907-1914, 1923-1925, 1930-1932, 1977-1982, 1996-present |
| Archaeologists | Flinders Petrie, Alessandro Barsanti, Ludwig Borchardt, T.E. Peet, Leonard Woolley, Henri Frankfort, John Pendlebury, Barry J. Kemp |
Amarna (/əˈmɑːrnə/;Arabic:العمارنة,romanized: al-ʿAmārna) is an extensive ancientEgyptianarchaeological site containing the ruins ofAkhetaten, thecapital city during the lateEighteenth Dynasty. The city was established in 1346 BC, built at the direction of thePharaohAkhenaten, and abandoned shortly afterhis death in 1332 BC.[1]
The site is on the east bank of theNile River, in what today is the Egyptian province ofMinya. It is about 58 km (36 mi) south of the city ofal-Minya, 312 km (194 mi) south of the Egyptian capital,Cairo, and 402 km (250 mi) north ofLuxor (site of the previous capital,Thebes).[2] The city ofDeir Mawas lies directly to its west. On the east side of Amarna there are several modern villages, the chief of which are l-Till in the north and el-Hagg Qandil in the south.
Activity in the region flourished from theAmarna Period until the laterRoman era.[3]
The nameAmarna comes from the Beni Amran tribe that lived in the region[when?] and founded a few settlements. The ancient Egyptian name Akhetaten means "the horizon of theAten".[4]
English Egyptologist SirJohn Gardner Wilkinson visited Amarna twice in the 1820s and identified it asAlabastron,[5] following the sometimes contradictory descriptions of Roman-era authorsPliny (On Stones) andPtolemy (Geography),[6][7] although he was not sure about the identification and suggestedKom el-Ahmar as an alternative location.[8]
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 theRoyal Wadi's resemblance to thehieroglyph forhorizon showed that this was the place to found the city.
The city was built as the new capital of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, dedicated to hisnew religion of worship to theAten. 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 ofmudbrick, and white washed. The most important buildings were faced with local stone.[9]
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 ofTutankhamun quit the city in favor of Thebes (modernLuxor). The city seems to have remained active for a decade or so after his death, and a shrine toHoremheb indicates that it was at least partially occupied at the beginning of his reign,[10] if only as a source for building material elsewhere. Once it was abandoned, it remained uninhabited until Roman settlement[3] began along the edge of the Nile. However, due to the unique circumstances of its creation and abandonment, it is questionable how representative of ancient Egyptian cities it actually is. Amarna was hastily constructed and covered an area of approximately 8 miles (13 km) of territory on the east bank of the Nile River; on the west bank, land was set aside to provide crops for the city's population.[4] The entire city is encircled with a total of 14 boundarystelae (labeled A thru V with discontinuities left for those thought to be missing, Stele B was defaced by locals in 1885) detailing Akhenaten's conditions for the establishment of this new capital city of Egypt.[4]
The earliest dated stele from Akhenaten's new city is known to beBoundary stele K which is dated to Year 5, IV Peret (or month 8), day 13 of Akhenaten's reign.[11] (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 wifeNefertiti, and his eldest daughterMeritaten as well as his explicit command that when he was dead, he would be brought back to Amarna for burial.[12] Boundary stela K introduces a description of the events that were being celebrated at Amarna:
His Majesty mounted a great chariot ofelectrum, like theAten 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.[13]
This text then goes on to state that Akhenaten made a greatoblation to the god Aten "and this is the theme [of the occasion] which is illustrated in thelunettes 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."[13]
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".[14][15] The Royal residences are generally to the north, in what is known as theNorth City, with a central administration and religious area and the south of the city is made up of residential suburbs.
If one approached the city of Amarna from the north by river the first buildings past the northern boundary stele would be theNorth Riverside Palace. This building ran all the way up to the waterfront and was likely the main residence of the royal family.[16] Located within the North City area is theNorthern Palace, the main residence of the royal family.[17] 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.[15]
TheNorth City was an administrative area. It contains the ruins of royal palaces, especially theNorthern Palace and other administrative buildings and occupies an area between theriver and the cliffs that terminate the plains to the north of the city itself.[18]
Most of the important ceremonial and administrative buildings were located in the central city. Here theGreat Temple of the Aten and theSmall Aten Temple were used for religious functions and between these the Great Royal Palace and Royal Residence were the ceremonial residence of the king and royal family, and were linked by a bridge or ramp.[19] Located behind the Royal Residence was theBureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh, where theAmarna Letters were found.[20]
This area was probably the first area to be completed, and had at least two phases of construction.[14]
To the south of the city was the area now referred to as theSouthern Suburbs. It contained the estates of many of the city's powerful nobles, includingNakhtpaaten (Chief Minister), Ranefer,Panehesy (High Priest of the Aten), and Ramose (Master of Horses). This area also held the studio of the sculptorThutmose, where the famous bust of Nefertiti was found in 1912.[21]
Further to the south of the city wasKom el-Nana, an enclosure, usually referred to as asun-shade, and was probably built as a sun-temple.,[22] and then theMaru-Aten, which was a palace or sun-temple originally thought to have been constructed forAkhenaten's queenKiya, but on her death her name and images were altered to those ofMeritaten, his daughter.[23]
Surrounding the city and marking its extent, theBoundary 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'sRoyal necropolis was started in a narrow valley to the east of the city, hidden in the cliffs. Only one tomb was completed, and was used by an unnamed Royal Wife, and Akhenaten's tomb was hastily used to hold him and likelyMeketaten, his second daughter.[25]
In the cliffs to the north and south of the Royal Wadi, the nobles of the city constructed theirTombs.
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 fatherYuya 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 underAkhenaten'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]
While the reforms of Akhenaten are generally believed to have been oriented towards a sort ofmonotheism, or perhaps more accurately,monolatrism, archaeological evidence shows other deities were also revered, even at the centre of the Aten cult – if not officially, then at least by the people who lived and worked there.
... at Akhetaten itself, recent excavation byKemp (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 ofBes, 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 toIsis andShed have been discovered (Watterson 1984: 158 & 208).[28]
In 1887, a local woman digging forsebakh uncovered a cache of over 300cuneiform tablets (now commonly known as theAmarna Letters).[29] These tablets recorded selectdiplomatic correspondence of the Pharaoh and were predominantly written inAkkadian, thelingua franca commonly used during theLate Bronze Age of theAncient Near East for such communication. This discovery led to the recognition of the importance of the site, and led to a further increase in exploration.[30]
The Amarna art-style broke with long-established Egyptian conventions. Unlike the strict idealisticformalism of previousEgyptian art, it depicted its subjects more realistically. These included informal scenes, such as intimate portrayals of affection within the royal family or playing with their children, and no longer portrayed women as lighter coloured than men. The art also had a realism that sometimes borders on caricature.
While the worship ofAten was later referred to as theAmarna heresy and suppressed, this art had a more lasting legacy.
The first western mention of the city was made in 1714 byClaude Sicard, a FrenchJesuit priest who was travelling through the Nile Valley who described the site and made a crude sketchofStela A.[31][32] As with much of Egypt, it was visited byNapoleon'scorps de savants in 1798–1799, who prepared the first detailed map of Amarna, which was subsequently published inDescription de l'Égypte between 1821 and 1830.[33]
After this European exploration continued in 1824 when SirJohn Gardiner Wilkinson explored and mapped the city remains.[34][35] The copyistRobert Hay and his surveyor G. Laver visited the locality and uncovered several of the Southern Tombs from sand drifts, recording the reliefs in 1833. The copies made by Hay and Laver languish largely unpublished in theBritish Library, where an ongoing project to identify their locations is underway.[36]
ThePrussian expedition led byRichard Lepsius visited the site in 1843 and 1845, and recorded the visible monuments and topography of Amarna in two separate visits over a total of twelve days, using drawings and paper squeezes. The results included an improved map of the city.[37] Despite being somewhat limited in accuracy, the engravedDenkmäler plates formed the basis for scholastic knowledge and interpretation of many of the scenes and inscriptions in the private tombs and some of the Boundary Stelae for the rest of the century. The records made by these early explorers teams are of immense importance since many of these remains were later destroyed or otherwise lost.
Between 1891 and 1892Alessandro Barsanti and Urbain Bouriant partly cleared the robbed out king's tomb.[38] In 1891 and 1892 SirFlinders Petrie worked for one season at Amarna, working independently of theEgypt Exploration Fund. He excavated primarily in the Central City, investigating theGreat Temple of the Aten, the Great Official Palace, the King's House, theBureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh, and several private houses. Although frequently amounting to little more than asondage, Petrie's excavations revealed additionalcuneiform tablets, the remains of several glass factories, and a great quantity of discardedfaience, glass, and ceramic in sifting the palace rubbish heaps (including Mycenaean sherds).[30] By publishing his results and reconstructions rapidly, Petrie was able to stimulate further interest in the site's potential.[39]
The copyist and artistNorman de Garis Davies published drawn and photographic descriptions of private tombs and boundary stelae from Amarna from 1903 to 1908.[40][41][42][43][44][45]
From 1907 until 1914 theDeutsche Orientgesellschaft expedition, led byLudwig Borchardt, worked extensively throughout the North and South suburbs of the city. The first several years were spent doingsurvey work with excavation beginning in 1911.[46][47][48] The famous bust ofNefertiti, now in Berlin'sÄgyptisches Museum, was discovered amongst other sculptural artefacts in the workshop of the sculptorThutmose. The outbreak of theFirst World War in August 1914 terminated the German excavations.[49]
In two seasons between 1923 and 1925 anEgypt Exploration Society expedition returned to excavation at Amarna under the direction ofT.E. Peet, Sir Leonard Woolley,Henri Frankfort,Stephen Glanville, andJohn Pendlebury.Mary Chubb served as the digs administrator.[50][51][52][53] The renewed investigations were focused on religious and royal structures. Their work resumed intwo seasons between 1930 and 1932.[54][55][56][57]
Excavation resumed in the 1977 under with the Amarna Survey directed by Barry J. Kemp with theUniversity of Cambridge and Amarna Expedition under Salvatore Garfi under the auspices of theEgypt Exploration Society and continued until 1982.[58][59][60][61][62] Work was curtailed at that point due to regional conditions but resumed in 1996 under the Amarna Project and still under the direction of Barry J. Kemp.[63][64][65] In the 2000 season work also included the nearby arcaheologiclsite ofKom el-Nana and the start of a GPS survey of the region around Amarna.[66][67][68][69] Much of the work during this period was at the house of the king's chief charioteer, Ranefer which had been partially excavated in 1921.[70][71] A separate expedition led byGeoffrey Martin described and copied the reliefs from the Royal Tomb, later publishing its findings together with objects thought to have come from the tomb.[38][72]
Excavation at Amarna, under Amarna Project, continues to the present.[73][74][75][76] Work includes excavation at acemetery, close to the southern tombs of the Nobles and at several other cemeteries of private individuals.[77][78]
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The Painted Queen[79] written by the famous Elizabeth Peters a.k.a.Barbara Mertz is the most recent installment to theAmelia 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..."[80] as stated bySarah Parcak, a female archaeologist that specializes inremote 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 byMichelle Moran[81] is a historical fiction work that guides the reader from the perspective of Queen Nefertiti and her younger sisterMutnodjmet. 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.
The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and its People byBarry Kemp,[16] 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 bookCities That Shaped the Ancient World.[82]
In the past yearsNational Geographic and archaeological articles have published articles on Amarna,Akhenaten,Tutankhamun, orNefertiti. Most of the article can be found in both the paperback or on the National Geographic website[83] (currently the most recent article was published January 2021).
Akhnaten, act II, scene 3 ("The City") byPhilip Glass describes the mandate fromAkhenaten to build Akhetaten. In the English lines, it is consistently referred to as the "City of the Horizon".
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