el-amarna

el-amarna (akhetaten)
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The site of Amarna (commonly known as el-Amarna) is located on the east bank of the Nile River in the modern Egyptian province of al-Minya, some 58 km (38 miles) south of the city of al-Minya, 312 km (194 miles) south of the Egyptian capital Cairo and 402 km (250 miles) north of Luxor. The site of Amarna includes several modern villages, chief of which are el-Till in the north and el-Hagg Qandil in the south. The area contains an extensive Egyptian archaeological site that represents the remains of the capital city newly–established and built by Akhenaten. The name for the city employed by the ancient Egyptians is written as Akhetaten which translates literally as "the Horizon of the Aten".
Akhetaten was abruptly abandoned following Akhenaten's death after an occupation of only 25-30 years, and it is for this reason that the ruins of el-Amarna are probably the best preserved example of an Egyptian settlement during the New Kingdom. The city included temples, palaces, and large areas of mud-brick housing, and archaeologists have been able to study these ruins and ground plans to see how an ancient city developed. The plundered and vandalised remains of the royal tombs of Akhenaten and his family were discovered several kilometers outside the city in the late 1880's.

Amarna has been examined by a succession of excavators, including Flinders Petrie, Howard Carter and Leonard Woolley (Royal city of Ur). Current investigations have been in annual operation since the late 1970s, directed by Dr Barry Kemp from the university of Cambridge, under the auspices of the Egypt Exploration Society (EES).

The Amarna Letters

Important cache of documents from el-Amarna, discovered in 1887 by a village woman digging for sebakh (decomposted organic material) for use as a fertiliser. There are 382 known clay cuneiform tablets, most of which derive from "the place of letters of Pharaoh", a building identified as the official "records office" and record selections of diplomatic correspondence from the Pharaoh. The exact chronology of these tablets is still debated, but they span a 15-30 year period beginning around the year of Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC) and continuing through to no later than the first year of Tutankhamun's reign (1336-1327 BC), with the majority dating to the time of Akhenaten.

These tablets shed light on Egyptian relations with Babylonia, Assyria, the Mitanni, the Hittites, Syria, Palestine and Cyprus. They are important for establishing both the history and chronology of the period. Letters from the Babylonian king Kadashman-Enlil I anchor Akhenaten's reign to the mid-14th century BC. Also within the tablet was the first mention of a Near Eastern group known as the Habiru, whose possible connection with the later Hebrews remains debated. Other rulers include Tushratta of the Mittani, one Lib'ayu whom David Rohl has argued should be identified with the Biblical king Saul, and the extensive correspondence of the querulous king Rib-Hadda of Byblos, who constantly pleads for Egyptian military help.

Most of these tablets are written in a dialect of the Akkadian language, (the popular language of the time) although the languages of the Assyrians, Hittites and the Hurrians are also represented.

Amarna Art

A sculptor's study showing Akhenaten and possibly Smenkhare. Cairo Museum	A study piece of a princess eating roast duck. Cairo Museum

Styles of art that flourished during this short period are markedly different from other Egyptian art, bearing a variety of affectations, from elongated heads to protruding stomachs, exaggerated ugliness and the beauty of Nefertiti. Significantly, and for the only time in the history of Egyptian royal art, Akhenaten's family was depicted in a decidedly naturalistic manner, and they are clearly shown displaying affection for each other.

Artistic representations of Akhenaten usually give him a strikingly feminine appearance, with slender limbs, a protruding belly and wide hips. Other leading figures of the Amarna period, both royal and otherwise, are also shown with some of these features, suggesting a possible religious connotation, especially as some sources suggest that private representations of Akhenaten, as opposed to official art, show him as quite normal.

The result is a realism that breaks away from the rigid formality and stylisation of earlier official depictions. It is characterised by a sense of movement and activity in images, with figures having raised heads, many figures overlapping and many scenes are crowded and very busy. Individuals such as the young princesses are shown as almost "alien like" with characteristic elongated skulls and protruding stomachs. The illustration of hands and feet were obviously thought to be important, shown with long and slender fingers, and great pains were gone to be show fingers and finger nails. Flesh was shown as being dark brown, for both males and females (contrasted with the more normal dark brown for males and light brown for females) - this could merely be convention, or depict the ‘life’ blood. As is normal in Egyptian art, commoners are shown with 2 left feet (or 2 right feet). There is a delicacy to it that at times can border on the grotesque.

Detail from a stele showing Akhenaten holding and kissing his baby daughter	Fragmentary statue of Akhenaten	Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their daughter shown adoring the Aten sun disc

Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their daughters were consistently shown making offerings to Aten, whose rays stretched down into hands, often offering the ankh symbol of life to the royal family (see above). The depiction of the Royal Family is often seen as being informal, intimate and with a family closeness, but this hides the conventions of the style. Central to most scenes is the disc of the Aten, shining down on the Royal Family and literally giving life and prosperity to Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Royalty are shown with left and right feet, each with a big toe.

Detail from a wall painting from a private house at Amarna, showing two of Akhenaten and Nefertiti''s daughters.

The discovery of the workshop of the king's sculptor Thutmose in 1912 uncovered one of the most important collection of works encountered anywhere in Egypt. A total of more than 20 prototype plaster casts taken at various stages of production, from clay masters, together with a whole range of incomplete and finished sculptures carved in a variety of hard and soft stones. Most principal members of the court can be recognised, including Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Kiya (another of Akhenaten's queens) and several of the royal princesses. The quality of all of these works is superb, but the unrivalled centrepiece of the collection is one of ancient Egypt's most famous icons: the unfinished limestone painted bust of Nefertiti wearing her characteristic flat-topped crown.

The famous bust of Nefertiti also depicts her with an elongated neck, although she is not subjected to quite the same extremes as others in Amarna art. An unusually prominent figure in official art, she dominates scenes carved on the blocks of the temple to the Aten at Karnak. One such block shows her in the warlike posture of pharaoh grasping captives by the hair and smiting them with a mace. Not what one would usually expect of a "peaceful" queen and mother of six daughters! Nefertiti obviously played a far more prominent role in her husband's rule than was perhaps considered the norm.

Limestone column fragment showing Nefertiti making offerings to Aten. Ashmoleon Museum, Oxford.	Unfinished limestone painted bust of Nefertiti by the sculptor Thutmose. Ägyptisches Museum Berlin.	Relief of Nefertiti in the Cairo Museum, discovered during excavations in the great temple of Aten at Amarna.