Description
Book SynopsisThis informed and richly illustrated guidebook brings the ancient city of Akhetaten alive with a keen archaeological 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 140 illustrations, maps, and plans, Amarna is both an ideal introduction for visitors to Amarna and a window onto the extraordinary reign of Akhenaten. 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.
Trade Review"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
"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
Table of ContentsCONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Who Was Who?
Akhenaten’s Predecessors
Akhenaten and His Family
Secondary Royal Figures
Coregents and Successors
CHRONOLOGY
SETTING THE SCENE
Amenhotep III and Akhenaten’s Early Years
Rise of the Solar Cult
Akhenaten as King: Change on the Horizon
Denouncing the Gods
Amarna: Building a Vision
A City of People
Akhetaten
What Kind of City?
The Aten Cult
Supplying the City
Securing Akhetaten
An Emerging City
Akhenaten’s Amarna Years
A Collapsing Dynasty
A City Abandoned
Rediscovering Amarna
Discovering City Life
How Can We Recover the Past?
Viewing Akhetaten from Afar
VISITING AMARNA
Getting There and Around
Accommodation
Ticket Office and Opening Hours
Amarna Visitor Centre
Food, Drinks, Toilets, and Shopping
Accessibility
Tips for Visiting
NORTH CITY AND PALACES
Abandoned Dig House
North Riverside Palace
North Palace
EASTERN CLIFFS AND DESERT
Desert Altars
The North Tombs
Boundary Stela U
Royal Wadi and Tombs
The Royal Tomb
North Suburb
CENTRAL CITY
Great Aten Temple
Royal Road
Bridge to the King’s House
Great Palace and Smenkhkare Hall
Small Aten Temple
Administrative Quarters
SOUTHERN CITY AND TEMPLES
An Ancient Villa
Main City
South Tombs
Kom al-Nana
FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTRIBUTORS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
