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An illustrated cultural guide to the archaeological site of Amarna, the best-preserved pharaonic city in Egypt
Around three thousand years ago, the pharaoh Akhenaten turned his back on Amun, and most of the great gods of Egypt. Abandoning Thebes, he quickly built a grand new city in Middle Egypt, Akhetaten—Horizon of the Aten—devoted exclusively to the sun god Aten.
Huge open-air temples served the cult of Aten, while palaces were decorated with painted pavements and inlaid wall reliefs. Akhenaten created a new royal burial ground deep in a desert valley, and his officials built elaborate tombs decorated with scenes of the king and his city. As thousands of people moved to Akhetaten, it became the most important city in Egypt. But it was not to last. Akhenaten’s death brought the abandonment of his city and an end to one of the most startling episodes in Egyptian history.
Today, Akhetaten is known as Amarna, a sprawling archaeological site in the province of Minya, halfway between Cairo and Luxor. With its beautifully decorated tombs and vast mud-brick ruins, it is the best-preserved pharaonic city in Egypt.
This informed and richly illustrated guidebook brings the ancient city of Akhetaten alive with a keen insider’s eye, drawing on ongoing archaeological research and the knowledge and insight of Amarna’s modern-day communities and caretakers to explain key monuments and events, while offering invaluable practical advice for visiting the site. With over 150 illustrations, maps, and plans, Amarna is both an ideal introduction for visitors to Amarna and a window onto the extraordinary reign of Akhenaten.
"Providing a handy reference guide to the chronology, geography and main players in the story, this book will allow visitors to bring with them the definitive guide to the site. At once scholarly and also entirely accessible, it will instantly become indispensable for enthusiasts, students and scholars of the period and the place. I look forward to my copy becoming increasingly dog-eared with each visit I make to the site in future."—Chris Naunton, author of Egyptologists' Notebooks
"I found the information and plans of the individual tombs (described in easy-to-read detail) vital to my understanding and enjoyment of the site."—Karl Harris, Ancient Egypt
"Part academic-reference, part field-guide, this book presents a dramatic and exciting story. . . Armana provides tremendous insight for Egyptologists and scholars into daily life in Egypt 3,000 years ago."—AramcoWorld
INTRODUCTION 1
- Who Was Who? 1
Akhenaten’s Predecessors 2
Akhenaten and His Family 2
Secondary Royal Figures 3
Coregents and Successors 4
SETTING THE SCENE 9
- Amenhotep III and Akhenaten’s Early Years 9
Rise of the Solar Cult 10
Akhenaten as King: Change on the Horizon 11
Denouncing the Gods 13
Amarna: Building a Vision 20
A City of People 22
Akhetaten 24
What Kind of City? 27
The Aten Cult 29
Supplying the City 31
Securing Akhetaten 32
An Emerging City 35
Akhenaten’s Amarna Years 45
A Collapsing Dynasty 46
A City Abandoned 48
Rediscovering Amarna 54
Discovering City Life 56
How Can We Recover the Past? 62
Viewing Akhetaten from Afar 66
- Getting There and Around 69
Accommodation 70
Ticket Office and Opening Hours 70
Amarna Visitor Centre 70
Food, Drinks, Toilets, and Shopping 70
Accessibility 71
Tips for Visiting 71
- Abandoned Dig House 75
North Riverside Palace 77
North Palace 80
- Desert Altars 85
The North Tombs 87
Boundary Stela U 109
Royal Wadi and Tombs 112
The Royal Tomb 114
North Suburb 117
- Great Aten Temple 121
Royal Road 127
Bridge to the King’s House 129
Great Palace and Smenkhkare Hall 131
Small Aten Temple 131
Administrative Quarters 134
- An Ancient Villa 139
Main City 140
South Tombs 150
Kom al-Nana 168
CONTRIBUTORS 183
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 185