Tell El-Amarna, also known as Akhetaten, is an extensive ancient Egyptian archaeological site. It contains the ruins of Akhetaten, the capital city during the late Eighteenth Dynasty. The city is located on the eastern bank of the Nile River, in the Minya Governorate of Egypt.
It is situated about 58 km (36 mi) south of the city of al-Minya, 312 km (194 mi) south of Cairo, and 402 km (250 mi) north of Luxor, the site of the previous capital, Thebes.
The name Amarna comes from the Beni Amran tribe that lived in the region and founded a few settlements. The city was built as the new capital of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, dedicated to his new religion of worship to the Aten.
Construction started 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.
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 Tutankhamun quit the city in favor of Thebes (modern Luxor).
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The city seems to have remained active for a decade or so after his death, and a shrine to Horemheb indicates that it was at least partially occupied at the beginning of his reign, if only as a source for building material elsewhere.
Once it was abandoned, it remained uninhabited until Roman settlement 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.
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. It preserves an account of Akhenaten's foundation of this city.
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.
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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. The North City was an administrative area.
Most of the important ceremonial and administrative buildings were located in the central city. 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).
Away from the city Akhenaten's Royal necropolis was started in a narrow valley to the east of the city, hidden in the cliffs. 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.
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.
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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.
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Discovery of the Amarna Letters
In 1887, a local woman digging for sebakh uncovered a cache of over 300 cuneiform tablets (now commonly known as the Amarna Letters). These tablets recorded select diplomatic correspondence of the Pharaoh and were predominantly written in Akkadian, the lingua franca commonly used during the Late Bronze Age of the Ancient Near East for such communication.
The Amarna Letters are an incredible collection of correspondence from the 14th century BC between rulers from ancient Egypt and the Near East which was the oldest vision of international diplomacy. All the letters were focused on a number of topics, which included friendship declarations, diplomatic marriages, and material exchanges.
The Amarna Letters are regarded as the first known international diplomatic system, which contained many conventions and rules for seeking negotiation and lines of communication. The letters mentioned the names of many of the rulers of the 18th dynasty who predate the Amarna period by a century, including Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, and possibly Smenkhkare or Tutankhamun.
The letters show the Egyptians expanded their empire into new territories like Amurru, Damascus, Byblos, and Qadesh vassals of Egypt that displayed the Pharaoh's authority and loyalty. The letters were able to shed light on how ancient Egyptian civilization developed over time, plus improving our knowledge of the distant past and the concept of Isolation during ancient times.
The Letters were able to offer insights into the linguistic capabilities of that time period. The letters show in great detail the exchange between great powers and independent kingdoms like Babylon, Mitanni, Hatti, and Assyria who as documented, maintained equal relationships and incredible communication patterns.
Here's a summary of the key correspondents and their relationships:
| Correspondent | Relationship to Egypt | Content of Correspondence |
|---|---|---|
| Kings of Babylon, Mitanni, Hatti, Assyria | Independent powers | Messages of friendship, diplomatic marriages, material exchanges |
| Egyptian vassals in Syria and Palestine | Subject to Egyptian rule | Protests of loyalty, accusations against other vassals, requests for aid |
Example of Amarna Letters
Art in Tell El-Amarna
The Amarna art-style broke with long-established Egyptian conventions. Unlike the strict idealistic formalism of previous Egyptian 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 of Tell El-Amarna is the most incredible aspect of the area which came to be around the reign of Akhenaten (1351-1334 BC) in the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom. The art was incredibly marked by a total shift in its depictions and subject matter, as it became center-focused on Akhenaten's religious reforms and the monotheistic worship of the sun disc Aton.
The remnants of Amarna art are still found in the same area after Akhenaten's death. The art featured incredible figures with raised heads, overlapping figures, and crowded scenes.
The body held a number of marvelous characteristics, which included swaying and slender postures, exaggerated extremities, and distinctive visions for Pharaoh Akhenaten, including feminine qualities like great hips and breasts. Feet, Hands, and facial structures are depicted with detail and elongation.
The sculptures and statues had a unique artistic shape, which included an untraditional skull shape plus elongated heads, necks, limbs, plus large ears and lips which are seen across the statue of Akhenaten himself.
Amarna’s art had a central core known as the Sun god Aton which is symbolized by the key of life "The Ankh". One of the biggest lasting artistic innovations is the sunk relief carving, which was used extensively at the time.
Alabaster sunken relief depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and daughter Meritaten.
Excavations and Discoveries
The excavations of Tell el Amarna took place around the 18th and 19th centuries when many explorers and scholars searched and documented the area. The first excavation in the city took place in 1714 AD and then continued during Napoleon's expedition in Egypt between 1798 and 1799.
The city was mapped by an English group of archaeologists around 1824, and then the southern tombs were uncovered in the area around 1833. Around 1887, over 300 cuneiform tablets known as the Amarna Letters were discovered by local women which can shed light on the incredible diplomatic correspondence of the Pharaoh in Akkadian. This discovery shed light on the significance of the ancient city of Amarna.
In the late 19th century and the 20th century, great independent excavations were done which led to the discovery of cuneiform tablets and artifacts. A number of boundary stelae and private tombs from the great city of Amarna were discovered.
The excavations continued after the end of World War I. The Egyptian Exploration community returned to excavate from 1921 to 1936 which was incredibly focused on royal and religious structures.
The excavations continued around the 1960s by the Egyptian Antiquities Organization and all across the 21st century, a cemetery near the tombs of the nobles was discovered later in the 80s. The reliefs from the royal tomb were copied with a number of other objects.
After this European exploration continued in 1824 when Sir John Gardiner Wilkinson explored and mapped the city remains. The copyist Robert 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 Prussian expedition led by Richard 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.
Between 1891 and 1892 Alessandro Barsanti and Urbain Bouriant partly cleared the robbed out king's tomb. In 1891 and 1892 Sir Flinders Petrie worked for one season at Amarna, working independently of the Egypt Exploration Fund. He excavated primarily in the Central City, investigating the Great Temple of the Aten, the Great Official Palace, the King's House, the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh, and several private houses.
From 1907 until 1914 the Deutsche Orientgesellschaft expedition, led by Ludwig Borchardt, worked extensively throughout the North and South suburbs of the city. The famous bust of Nefertiti, now in Berlin's Ägyptisches Museum, was discovered amongst other sculptural artefacts in the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose.
In two seasons between 1923 and 1925 an Egypt Exploration Society expedition returned to excavation at Amarna under the direction of T.E. Peet, Sir Leonard Woolley, Henri Frankfort, Stephen Glanville, and John Pendlebury. The renewed investigations were focused on religious and royal structures.
Excavation resumed in the 1977 under with the Amarna Survey directed by Barry J. Kemp with the University of Cambridge and Amarna Expedition under Salvatore Garfi under the auspices of the Egypt Exploration Society and continued until 1982.
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