Who Is Akhenaten ?
Who Is Akhenaten ?
Who Is Akhenaten ?
The re construction of the splendid capital created in 1376 BC, by
Akhenaton and which disappeared when its creator died, is the
result of continual studies carried out since the beginning of the
20th century on the few ruins left at Tell al-Amarnah, an area
about 20 km, from Hermopolis "Ashmunein", 280 km south of
Cairo and 350 km in a long band along the eastern bank of the
Nile.
An extensive necropolis was gradually created in the rocky
mountains behind the city "to the east and not the west as in the
other large cities" in between the two was the village for the
workers building the city of the living and the city of the dead .
The main axis of the city was lower, nearer to the Nile and
consisted of a large boulevard, 100 meters wide, known as the
road of the Sultan, which joined the Greek North Gate with the
South Gate.
The of the high priest lay almost parallel about 800 meters
away while approximately 400 meters further on was the Road
of Artisans. Effectively, the road of the high priest divided the
city into two broad strips, one towards the Nile, access to which
was from the road of the Sultan, destined for the residences of
the King, the officials, the port and Government services, and
one towards the interior, on the east, reached from the road of
the Artisans, where the other citizens lived.
All around at the foot of the rocky chain which stretches out
behind Akhetaten like a great plateau, numerous boundary
stelae still exist.
A monumental House of the king is located in Tell al-Amarnah.
Like all the structures of this city, the house had neither the
colossal size nor the massive structures capable of defying time
and the elements.Its scale is human and is in harmony with the
environment, as it was conceived for the temporal and spiritual
life of the man and his family.The dwelling stands on a rise
above the "Road of the Sultan", with three tiers of hanging
gardens around it and a carriageway with a pedestrian stairway
joining it to the road. Most of the area is occupied by a small
park, 3500 meters square, filled with plants and flowers.
Husband and wife have separate quarters, composed of a
room with an alcove, a bathroom and a wardrobe. The king
also had a painters studio where brushes of palm fiber and
fishbone "pencils" have been found.
The daughters have six rooms around a court of their own. All
the walls, the ceiling and even the paving are decorated and
painted with scenes of outdoor life, with flowers, plants,
domestic animals and birds.
Akhenaton and the letters of Tell al-Amarnah
In 1887 an elderly peasant
was walking through fields
near the ruins of the village
of Amarnah looking for
"sebakh" (a natural nitrous
manure that is used in
making mud bricks), when
he came across hundreds
of clay tablets with unusual
engraved writing.
They were taken to Luxor
and sold for barely ten
piaster. Subsequent,
examination by the English
archaeologist
A.Sayce proved them to be genuine and the tablets were
recognized as the originals and the copies of diplomatic
correspondence between the Egyptian court, and the
governments of neighboring Babylonia, Assyria, Anatolia, etc.
The passer-by had unwittingly discovered all that remained of
what we could well call the State Archive of Akhenaton. The
tablets are engraved with cuneiform characters in the Akkadian
language, a mixture of the languages of Assyria and Babylonia,
used in diplomatic affairs. About 350 still remain in existence.
