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Post by bob12 on Feb 24, 2010 14:51:28 GMT 10
Akhenaten decided that the worship of the Aten required a location uncontaminated by the cults of traditional gods and to this end chose a site in Middle Egypt for a new capital city which he called Akhetaten, 'Horizon of the Aten'.Akhetaten, 'Horizon of the Aten', is a desert site surrounded on three sides by cliffs and to the west by the Nile and is known today as el-Amarna. In the cliffs around the boundaries of the city the king left a series of monumental inscriptions in which he outlined his reasons for the move and his architectural intentions for the city in the form of lists of buildings.www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/akhenaten_01.shtmlAkhetaten, 'Horizon of the Aten', is known today as el-AmarnaAkhenaten decided that the worship of the Aten required a location uncontaminated by the cults of traditional gods and to this end chose a site in Middle Egypt for a new capital city which he called Akhetaten, 'Horizon of the Aten'. It is a desert site surrounded on three sides by cliffs and to the west by the Nile and is known today as el-Amarna. In the cliffs around the boundaries of the city the king left a series of monumental inscriptions in which he outlined his reasons for the move and his architectural intentions for the city in the form of lists of buildings. To the east of the city is a valley leading into the desert in which the king began excavating tombs for the royal family. On the plain near the river massive temples to the Aten were constructed: these were open to the sky and the rays of the sun and were probably influenced by the design of much earlier solar temples dedicated to the cult of Re. Other sites of religious importance are located on the edges of the desert plain. There were also at least four palaces in the city which vary considerably in form, plus all the administrative facilities, storage and workshops necessary to support the royal family, court and the temple cults. Akhetaten is sometimes described as if it were some sort of broad Utopian project. However, while temple and palace areas of the city are clearly planned, there is actually no evidence that Akhenaten showed any interest in the living arrangements of his people and residential areas suggest organic urban development. The wealthy seem to have enclosed an area of land with a high wall and built their spacious houses and ancillary structures within, while the houses and shacks of those that followed the court are crammed in between these luxurious walled estates. The city was probably less dense than other urban centres of the day but this was only because it was inhabited for such a short time and processes of infilling were in their infancy. Amarna is one of the few sites where we have a significant amount of archaeological information about how people actually lived in ancient Egypt.
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Post by bob12 on Feb 25, 2010 14:50:01 GMT 10
Politically, part of Akhenaten’s thinking in moving the capital to Amarna was that it would put distance between his administration and the prevailing domestic order of the time – the Amun priests and their temple estates.
Studies carried out on bones of poor workers found since 2005 by archaeologists – after they were washed to the surface by floods – suggest many had died with or from ailments such as warped spines, snapped limbs and cratered skulls. The temples and palaces they helped to build needed thousands of large stone blocks. Working in temperatures that in summer could peak as high as 40C (104F), they would have had to carve them by hand from rock and then hulk them 1.5 miles (2.5 km) from the quarries to the city. It’s not hard to picture how they came to suffer such horrific injuries.
A survey of one grave of poor inhabitants by the Amarna Project suggests that the vast majority of people in the city died before they were 35. Some two-thirds failed to even reach 20. Crueler still, the grave sites where they finally laid to rest were located outside of Amarna’s boundaries – not even a burial within the city they had died building was deemed good enough for these unfortunate souls. heritage-key.com/egypt/daily-life-amarnaDaily Life in Amarna
Submitted by MalcolmJ on Wed, 05/06/2009 - 13:43
An Escape to Nature and Sunlight?Workers were made to cut massive stones from quarries and drag them up to 1.5 miles to build Amara's great temples. Image by Mónica Rodríguez Vázquez. At its peak, perhaps as many as 30,000 people or more resided in the short-lived capital of Akhenaten’s revolutionary reign. Yet, the ‘Heretic’ Pharaoh’s vision of an oasis of spiritual and societal purity – an escape to nature and sunlight – appears to have applied only to the upper caste. This was no popular utopia: life could be literally back-breaking for the destitute masses who slaved to build and maintain his city from scratch, while the king and the privileged few around him lived a pampered existence. Short, Nasty and BrutishGrave sites discovered in the desert around Amarna have revealed some greusome truths about life in the city. Image by Mónica Rodríguez Vázquez. Life in Amarna for many was short, nasty and brutish. The trek Akhenaten forced his people to make to the inhospitable site of the new city by the banks of the Nile in the modern day province of el-Minia (roughly midway between modern Cairo and Luxor) was a punishing 200 miles from the erstwhile capital Thebes. The royals and dignitaries inhabited an enclosed area of land with a high wall, spacious houses and ancillary structures. The houses and shacks of those that followed the court seemed to have crammed in between these luxurious walled estates. Studies carried out on bones of poor workers found since 2005 by archaeologists – after they were washed to the surface by floods – suggest many had died with or from ailments such as warped spines, snapped limbs and cratered skulls. The temples and palaces they helped to build needed thousands of large stone blocks. Working in temperatures that in summer could peak as high as 40C (104F), they would have had to carve them by hand from rock and then hulk them 1.5 miles (2.5 km) from the quarries to the city. It’s not hard to picture how they came to suffer such horrific injuries. DietMurals found on the walls of tombs of high officials in Amarna show tables piled high with food – fish, bread, meat and fruit. The discovery of more than 1,800 offering tables and quantities of animal remains in Amarna’s main temple further suggests that the people in charge in Amarna weren’t going hungry. Contrastingly, the bones of normal workers reveal a picture of widespread malnourishment. They were so hungry that their growth seems to have been stunted: their average height is recorded as being shorter than any other population yet studied in Egypt’s past. High instances of anemia – particularly in the bones of children – is yet further evidence of chronic diets. A survey of one grave of poor inhabitants by the Amarna Project suggests that the vast majority of people in the city died before they were 35. Some two-thirds failed to even reach 20. Crueler still, the grave sites where they finally laid to rest were located outside of Amarna’s boundaries – not even a burial within the city they had died building was deemed good enough for these unfortunate souls. Politics and Beliefs The sun god Aten – the universal giver of life – was all powerful and all important in the reign of Akhenaten. But it seems unlikely that the people of Amarna indulged his decree en masse. There even seems to have been some evidence of popular uprising towards the end of his reign. Politically, part of Akhenaten’s thinking in moving the capital to Amarna was that it would put distance between his administration and the prevailing domestic order of the time – the Amun priests and their temple estates. Amarna enjoyed substantial autonomy, yet after the Pharaoh’s death, the city began to suffer a swift demise as his son Tutankhamun returned the capital to Thebes and Amarna fell out of favour. This spelled disaster for the people of the city, who began to exit in droves and make the long, harsh journey back towards Memphis or Thebes. Amarna was all but abandoned by the final decade of the 14th century BC, and crumbled back into the desert – a bitter irony considering the high price its people had paid to build it.
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Post by bob12 on Feb 25, 2010 21:53:15 GMT 10
heritage-key.com/egypt/fall-amarnaThe Fall of Amarna
Submitted by MalcolmJ on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 09:58 Akhenaten's great capital city of Amarna fell into ruin after only around 20 years of occupation. Image of city ruins by Chanel Wheeler.An All-Star Cast Deriving its name from the ancient city of Amarna – the fatefully short-lived capital of the 18th dynasty – the Amarna period was a star-studded phase in ancient Egyptian history, marked by the reigns of the powerful ‘Heretic Pharaoh’ Akhenaten, his wife of legendary beauty Nefertiti and the boy king Tutankhamun. It lasted for approximately a 30 year period from the succession of Akhenaten (first known as Amenhotep IV) around 1353 BC, to the relatively brief reign of Ay, from 1323 to 1319 BC or 1327 to 1323 BC. Akhenaten inherited from his father Amenhotep III an Egypt at the very apex of its powers – steeped in riches beyond any previous Pharaoh’s wildest dreams; stable and secure at home and commanding of immense respect abroad. Yet, three decades on – after the death of Tutankhamen – the dynasty was in severe decline, wracked by internal strife, conflicts on its borders and a messy, murky succession quarrel. Succeeding dynasties would attempt to erase the Amarna period from history altogether. What caused this breakdown and its consequences? Critical to the fate of the Amarna era and the late 18th dynasty as a whole was Akhenaten’s bold and foolhardy effort to use the immense power and wealth at his disposal to break from a tradition two thousand years in the making and fundamentally alter the role of king. Akhenaten was a religious reformer. In place of ages-old Egyptian practice of worshipping many gods, he sought to compel his people to worship one solitary deity – the sun god Aten, the universal creator of life – via heavy handed laws. Some academics site Akhenaten’s dictate as the first expression of monotheism in history, although this supposition is hotly disputed. A Nation Under One God It is doubtful how successful Akhenaten was in changing the religious practices of his people at large. But what is certain is that his reforming zeal shook old certainties to their core, and raised fundamental questions about whether a pharaoh was more powerful than the existing domestic order of the Amun priests and their numerous temple estates. Not a man to do things by half, Akhenaten’s strongest symbolic gesture was to move the Egyptian capital away from Thebes – particularly that city’s powerful temple – and establish it instead at Amarna in 1343 BC, a virgin-state of perhaps more than 30,000 people dedicated to the sole worship of Aten. Decline Akhenaten’s reforms offended many, and traditional religious practice was gradually restored after his death (in 1336 or 1334 BC), first during the ephemeral and historically shadowy rule of Smenkhkare, then the reign of the boy king Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun’s given name was actually Tutankhaten, meaning “Living Image of Aten”, but he changed it to mean “Living Image of Amun” as a reflection of this reversal of the will of Akhenaten, who was probably his father. He came to power aged 9, rolled back some of Akhenaten’s reforms and returned the capital to Thebes. Tut was most likely acting under the guidance of Akhenaten’s vizier Ay (his eventual successor) and perhaps also Akhenaten’s widow Nefertiti. Despite the boy kings efforts, the dynasty was already in decline by this stage (some blame Akhenaten for this process; others claim it had already begun before he came to power) possibly as a result of popular discontent. The dynasty died out altogether with the passing of Tutankhamun, aged 20, in 1324 BC (according to a 2008 investigation, two foetuses found buried in his tomb may have been his twin daughters, who would have continued the royal lineage). Matters weren’t helped by the fact that an outbreak of a pandemic – possibly the plague, or polio, or even world’s first recorded outbreak of influenza – was ravaging the populous. Or the fact that, during a messy succession dispute, war broke out with the Hittites, whose king Suppiluliuma I accused the Egyptians of murdering his son Zannanza while he was en route to Egypt to marry an unidentified Egyptian queen and thus revive the lineage. What came next? The 18th dynasty’s last two rulers came from the ranks of officials in the royal court. Ay was succeeded by Horemheb in 1319 BC, a former commander – of common (i.e. non-royal) stock – in the Egyptian army, who may have come to power by a coup. He began to institute official action against the preceding Amarnan rulers. His successor, Paramesse later became Ramesses I, the first king of the 19th dynasty. Egypt would soon return to the heights of imperial power under that dynasty’s rule. The Amarna period was considered as an aberration by succeeding rulers, and in the backlash all of its kings were excised from the official lists of Pharaohs, which reports that Amenhotep III was immediately succeeded by Horemheb. Akhenaten suffered what in Latin is known as Damnatio memoriae – basically “damnation of memory”. Much of the distinctive artwork of the period was destroyed, and his temples ransacked; he became known quite literally as “the enemy”. After its fall, many of the stones from Amarna's temples were taken away to build new structures in Thebes and beyond. Image of temple ruins by Joseph Hill As for his great city? It fell swiftly from favour and was abandoned, its buildings dismantled and their bricks used to construct new temples. Today, Amarna represents a treasure trove of archaeological discoveries, as the largest and most readily accessible living site from ancient Egypt – a fascinating window into one the most controversial and mysterious periods in ancient Egyptian history.
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Post by bob12 on Mar 1, 2010 2:24:28 GMT 10
EGYPT 'S LOST CITY (Akhetaten, 'Horizon of the Aten', known today as el-Amarna)A century ago, the remote desert wastelands of the Amarna plain began to yield tantalizing clues to an extraordinary and enigmatic chapter in Egyptian history. Temples destroyed. Priceless treasures defaced. A radical pharaoh and his dream city violently and deliberately forgotten. But why? Now, unlock the mystery behind this once-mighty vanished city and the revolutionary ruler, Akhenaten, and his legendary wife, Nefertiti, which ruled there. Examine the lavish palaces, spectacular temples and beautiful artwork that have been lost beneath the sands for thousands of years. And discover why Egyptian pharaohs, including Akhenaten's own son, the boy-king Tutankhamen, would go to such lengths to erase all evidence of this amazing desert experiment. Now, renowned experts and breakthrough techniques reveal history's most sought-after secrets...in the echo of ANCIENT VOICES. See lost worlds brought to life again through state-of-the-art virtual reality reconstructions, stunning location filming and evocative reenactments. And get closer than ever before to the extraordinary human minds behind the myths, mysteries and monuments. URL for Ancient Voices - Egypts Lost City Video - 49:13 video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8901483124747714969&ei=ypaKS5-iIoiQqQPdsfShBw&q=egypt%27s+lost+city&hl=en#
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