Al-Amārna,
also known as Tell al-Amarna, Till el-Amarna or simply Amarna, is the
place where Pharaoh Akhenaten built his new capital in the sixth year of
his reign, when he chose the worship of a the only god, the sun-god
Aten or Aton.The remains of the city lie about halfway between the
two great capitals of ancient Egypt: Memphis and Thebes.
The city built by Akhenaten was called Akhetaton (Horizon of Athens) and had a palace to the north, and the necropolis to the northeast; in the center the Per Ankh (House of Life), which was the central area of the city; to the south was a suburb and another necropolis; and in a south-easterly direction was the royal tomb. Its foundation is explained in the inscriptions of the stelae of the limits of Akhenaten. Pharaoh considered it a gift to the one God Aten or Aton. After his death, the city ceased to be the capital with his son and successor Tutankhamun and the city's monuments were dismantled in the following centuries. Ramses II had Akhenaten's name erased to exclude him from eternity as punishment for the exclusion of the other gods.
History
It was the city ordered to be built by Pharaoh Akhenaten towards the fifth year of his reign and occupied towards the ninth, although it became the new capital of Egypt two years before; it gave a new place to the hegemonic cult of Aton, represented iconographically by a solar disk whose rays end up in the hands holding the key to life. Akhetaton, "The Horizon of Aton," was located halfway between Thebes and Memphis, the two most influential cities in ancient Egypt.
Construction
Statues on the remains of one of the stelae that marked the city limits
The capital was designed with an orthogonal (hypodamic) layout, and 14 large stelae were carved to mark its boundaries. Inside, Akhenaten ordered the construction of majestic buildings, such as:
The large temple in Aton, characterized by its outdoor construction (without a roof) to allow sunlight to enter. This consisted of two important sections: "The Jubilee House," with a pylon and hypostyle hall of 16 columns, and "The Discovery of Aton," with six consecutive courtyards in which were placed 365 tables of offerings. The temple was built in an elongated proportion with small stone blocks and the best materials.
The royal palaces, which were built for Akhenaten, Queen Nefertiti and the royal princesses. One of these had the window of the apparitions, from which the royal family was shown to the subjects and was of great symbolic importance. One could also find the northern palace, built for the queen as a miniature world made up of gardens and ponds where there were several animals.
The city built by Akhenaten was called Akhetaton (Horizon of Athens) and had a palace to the north, and the necropolis to the northeast; in the center the Per Ankh (House of Life), which was the central area of the city; to the south was a suburb and another necropolis; and in a south-easterly direction was the royal tomb. Its foundation is explained in the inscriptions of the stelae of the limits of Akhenaten. Pharaoh considered it a gift to the one God Aten or Aton. After his death, the city ceased to be the capital with his son and successor Tutankhamun and the city's monuments were dismantled in the following centuries. Ramses II had Akhenaten's name erased to exclude him from eternity as punishment for the exclusion of the other gods.
History
It was the city ordered to be built by Pharaoh Akhenaten towards the fifth year of his reign and occupied towards the ninth, although it became the new capital of Egypt two years before; it gave a new place to the hegemonic cult of Aton, represented iconographically by a solar disk whose rays end up in the hands holding the key to life. Akhetaton, "The Horizon of Aton," was located halfway between Thebes and Memphis, the two most influential cities in ancient Egypt.
Construction
Statues on the remains of one of the stelae that marked the city limits
The capital was designed with an orthogonal (hypodamic) layout, and 14 large stelae were carved to mark its boundaries. Inside, Akhenaten ordered the construction of majestic buildings, such as:
The large temple in Aton, characterized by its outdoor construction (without a roof) to allow sunlight to enter. This consisted of two important sections: "The Jubilee House," with a pylon and hypostyle hall of 16 columns, and "The Discovery of Aton," with six consecutive courtyards in which were placed 365 tables of offerings. The temple was built in an elongated proportion with small stone blocks and the best materials.
The royal palaces, which were built for Akhenaten, Queen Nefertiti and the royal princesses. One of these had the window of the apparitions, from which the royal family was shown to the subjects and was of great symbolic importance. One could also find the northern palace, built for the queen as a miniature world made up of gardens and ponds where there were several animals.
Administrative buildings, such as the archive building containing the "Tablets of Al-Amarna" or "Letters of Amarna" (royal diplomatic correspondence).
The houses of the nobles, of rectangular plant, that were scattered by the city.
The hypogeums (tombs excavated in the rock), located to the north and south of the city. In these, one could see scenes from the daily life of the ancient city, such as the public appearances of the royal couple.
A city for the workers of the necropolis.
The city was thus built to stage the cult changes that will now focus on Aton. Now Akhenaten will be the intermediary between the supreme god and humanity. There was then a tense relationship between Akhenaten's detractors (among them the priests of Amon) and his followers. After Akhenaten's death, his name and that of the god Aten were pursued, and they were erased from tombs, temples, and sculptures, as the ancient Pharaoh did with Amon in his later years. Horemheb, commander-in-chief, was named Pharaoh (after some brief pharaohs). The systematic destruction of the city followed, taking advantage of its ruins (among them, the so-called talatat) to build other buildings. The city had been abandoned 15 years after its founding, around the third year of Tutankhaton's reign, later called Tutankhamun.
There are also many important monuments in Al Amarna Such as:
The Royal Tomb of Akhenaten
is the burial place of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, in the Royal Wadi in Amarna.
A flight of twenty steps, with a central inclined plane leads to the
door and a long straight descending corridor. Halfway down this corridor
a suite of unfinished rooms (perhaps intended for Nefertiti). The main corridor continues to descend, and to the right again a second suite of rooms branches off.
The corridor then descends via steps into an ante-room, and then to the pillared burial chamber where his granite sarcophagus
sat in a slight dip in the floor. It was decorated by carvings of
Nefertiti acting as a protective goddess, and by the ever-present
sun-disks of the Aten.
His body was probably removed after the court returned to Thebes, and reburied somewhere in the Valley of the Kings, possibly in KV55. His sarcophagus was destroyed, but has since been reconstructed — and now sits in the garden of the Egyptian Museum.
The tomb was excavated by Alessandro Barsanti, in 1893/1894.
The Small Aten Temple
The Small Aten Temple is located in the old city of Akhtaten. It is one of the main temples in the city, and the other is the Great Temple of Immigration. It is located next to King's House and near the Royal Palace, in the central part of the city. Originally known as Hwt-Jtn or Aten Palace, it may have been created before the Great Big Temple.
(or House of Aten1), located in the city of
Amarna, Egypt, is the main temple of worship of the god Aten during the
reign of Akhenaten (1353-1336 BCE2,3) .
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