Amarna (commonly known as el-Amarna) is the name given to an extensive archaeological site that represents the remains of the capital city built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten of the late Eighteenth Dynasty (c. 1353 BC). The name for the city used by the ancient Egyptians was Akhetaten (or Akhetaton - transliterations vary), meaning "the Horizon of the Aten". Importance and applicability Most of human history is not described by any written records. ... This article refers to the historical Pharaoh. ... Bust of Pharaoh Akhenaten. ... The Eighteenth Dynasty is perhaps the most famous of all the dynasties of Ancient Egypt. ... (Redirected from 1353 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1400s BC 1390s BC 1380s BC 1370s BC 1360s BC - 1350s BC - 1340s BC 1330s BC 1320s BC 1310s BC 1300s BC Events and Trends Significant People 1350 BC - Pharaoh Amenhotep IV Akhenaton rises to... Map of Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was the civilization of the Nile Valley between about 3000 BC and the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. As a civilization based on irrigation, it is the quintessential example of a hydraulic empire. ... Aten is a sun god in ancient Egyptian mythology, and represented by the suns disk. ...

The site was discovered in 1887 when a local woman digging for sebakh uncovered a cache of 300 tablets (now known as the Amarna letters). These tablets were diplomatic correspondence of the Pharaoh and were written in Akkadian, the language commonly used during the Late Bronze Age of the Ancient Near East for such communication. 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar). ... Sebakh (Arabic, pronounced (IPA) sεbɔk, and less commonly transliterated as sebbakh) is the Arabic term given to decomposed organic material that can be employed as an agricultural fertilizer. ... The Amarna letters is the name popularly given to a cache of correspondence, mostly diplomatic, found at Amarna, the modern name for the capital of the Egyptian New Kingdom primarily from the reign of pharaoh Amenhotep IV, better known as Akhenaten (1369 - 1353 BCE). ... Akkadian was a language of the Semitic family spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... Overview map of the Ancient Near East The term Ancient Near East or Ancient Orient encompasses the early civilizations predating Classical Antiquity in the region roughly corresponding to that described by the modern term Egypt, the Fertile Crescent, Anatolia), during the time roughly spanning the Bronze Age from the rise...

The frequent designation "Tell el-Amarna" for the city is inaccurate: nowhere do the ancient remains constitute a mound of eroded architecture that would warrant the description of a "tell" (Arabic: "city mound"), so common elsewhere in the region. Cyril Aldred notes that the name "Tell el-Amarna" is a misunderstanding of the name for one of the modern villages near the ruins, Et Til el Amarna. The name "Amarna" itself comes from the name of a tribe of nomads, the Beni Amran, who left the Eastern Desert in the 18th century to settle on the banks of the Nile along this stretch. See also Tell (poker). ... The Nile in Egypt Length 6 695 km Elevation of the source 1 134 m Average discharge 2 830 m³/s Area watershed 3 400 000 km² Origin Africa Mouth the Mediterranean Basin countries Uganda - Sudan - Egypt The Nile (Arabic: النيل an-nīl), in Africa, is one of the two...

Excavation at Amarna has been conducted by a number of British and German excavation teams. One of the best-known 19th century archeologists who worked in this area was Karl Richard Lepsius, who copied wall illustrations and inscriptions, and took paper squeezes of reliefs. The 19th century records made by these teams are of immense importance since many of these remains were later vandalized by the locals in anger against the Egyptian Antiquities Service. Carl Richard Lepsius (December 23, 1810 - July 10, 1884) was a German professor of Egyptology and linguist. ...

The current investigations have been in annual operation since the late 1970s, directed by Dr Barry Kemp (Reader in Egyptology, University of Cambridge, England) under the auspices of the Egypt Exploration Society (EES). The Egypt Exploration Society (abbreviated EES) is the foremost learned society in the United Kingdom promoting the field of Egyptology. ...

The city of Akhenaten

The city was built as the new capital of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, dedicated to his new religion of worship to the Aten. Construction started in year 4 of his reign (1364 BC or 1346 BC) and was probably completed by year 9 (1359 BC or 1341 BC), although it became the capital city two years earlier. (Redirected from 1364 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1410s BC 1400s BC 1390s BC 1380s BC 1370s BC - 1360s BC - 1350s BC 1340s BC 1330s BC 1320s BC 1310s BC Events and Trends Significant People 1368 BC - Death of Erichthonius, mythical King of... -1... (Redirected from 1359 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1400s BC 1390s BC 1380s BC 1370s BC 1360s BC - 1350s BC - 1340s BC 1330s BC 1320s BC 1310s BC 1300s BC Events and Trends Significant People 1350 BC - Pharaoh Amenhotep IV Akhenaton rises to... -1...

It is the only ancient Egyptian city for which we have great details of its internal plan, in large part because the city was abandoned shortly after the death of Akhenaten, and remained uninhabited thereafter. However, due to the unique circumstances of its creation and abandonment, it is questionable how representative of ancient Egyptian cities it actually is. A city is an urban area, differentiated from a town, village, or hamlet by size, population density, importance, or legal status. ...

The city as a whole is divided into a number of wide-flung components, which include:

• the Royal Wadi and Tomb
• the Northern Tombs of the Nobles
• the Southern Tombs of the Nobles
• the Workmen's Village
• the Boundary Stelae of Akhenaten

Amarna art is unique among the Egyptian world for its realistic depiction of its subjects, instead of the strict idealistic formalism universal in Egyptian art up until that point, as well as for depicting many informal scenes such as the royal family playing with their children. Although the worship of Aten (known as the Amarna heresy) was completely suppressed, the artistic legacy had a more lasting impact. Atenism (or the Amarna heresy) is the monotheistic religion associated above all with the eighteenth dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, better known under the name he later adopted, Akhenaten. ...

Famous landmarks at the site include:

• Great Temple of the Aten
• Great Royal Palace
• Tomb of Akhenaten

Chronology of investigation

1714 - Claude Sicard, a French Jesuit priest travelling through the Nile Valley, describes the first known boundary stela from Amarna. Events August 1 - George, elector of Hanover becomes King George I of Great Britain. ...

1798-1799 - Napoleon's corps de savants prepare the first map of Amarna, subsequently published in Description de l'Égypte between 1821 and 1830. 1798 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1799 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1821 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1830 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

1824 - Sir John Gardiner Wilkinson explores and maps the city remains. 1824 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... John Gardiner Wilkinson (October 5, 1797 - October 29, 1875) was a well-known English traveller, writer and pioneer Egyptologist of the 19th century. ...

1833 - The copyist Robert Hay and his surveyor G. Laver visit the locality and uncover several of the Southern Tombs from sand drifts, recording the reliefs. (The copies made by Hay and Laver languish largely unpublished in the British Library). 1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... British Library main building, London The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the worlds largest research libraries, holding over 150 million items and adding some 3 million every year. ...

1843 and 1845 - The Prussian expedition led by Richard Lepsius records the visible monuments and topography of Amarna in two separate visits over a total of twelve days, employing drawings and paper squeezes. The results are ultimately published in Denkmäler aus Ægypten und Æthiopien between 1849 to 1913. Despite being somewhat limited in accuracy, the engraved Denkmäler plates nonetheless form the basis for scholastic knowledge and interpretation of many of the scenes and inscriptions in the private tombs and some of the Boundary Stelae for the remainder of the 19th century. 1843 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1845 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

1887 - A cache of nearly 400 clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform are discovered by an Amarna woman, which are now known as the Amarna letters. 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar). ...

1891-1892 - Sir Flinders Petrie works for one season at Amarna, working independently of the Egypt Exploration Fund (EEF). Excavating primarily in the Central City, Petrie investigates the Great Temple of the Aten, the Great Official Palace, the King's House, the Records Office and several private houses. Although frequently amounting to little more than a sondage, Petrie's excavations reveal additional cuneiform tablets, the remains of glass factories, and a great quantity of discarded faience, glass and ceramic in sifting the palace rubbish heaps (including Mycenaean sherds). Publishing his results and reconstructions rapidly, Petrie is able to stimulate great interest in the site's potential. 1891 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1892 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Egyptologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (3 June 1853 - 28 July 1942) was a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology. ... Faience or faïence is the conventional name in English for fine tin-glazed earthenware on a delicate pale buff body. ...

1903-1908 - Norman de Garis Davies publishes drawn and photographic descriptions of private tombs and boundary stelae from Amarna. 1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasnt had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. ... 1908 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

1907-1914 - Led by Ludwig Borchardt, the Deutsche Orientgesellschaft excavates the North and South suburbs of the city. The famous bust of Nefertiti - now in Berlin's Ägyptisches Museum - is discovered amongst other sculptural arteftacts in the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose. The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 terminates the German excavations. 1907 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Nefertiti was the wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (later Akhenaten), and mother-in-law of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. ... Bust of Nefertiti, Ägyptisches Museum Berlins Ägyptisches Museum ( German: Egyptian Museum) is home to one of the worlds most important collections of Ancient Egyptian artefacts. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

1921-1936 - The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) returns to excavation at Amarna under the direction of T.E. Peet, Sir Leonard Woolley, Henri Frankfort and John Pendlebury. The renewed investigations focus on religious and royal structures. 1921 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Charles Leonard Woolley (17 April 1880–20 February 1960) was a British archaeologist, best known for his excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia. ...

1960s - The Egyptian Antiquities Organization (now the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities) undertakes a number of excavations at Amarna. Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... Part of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (commonly abbreviated SCA) is responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavations in the Arab Republic of Egypt. ...

1977 - present - The EES returns once more to excavation at Amarna, now under the direction of Barry Kemp. 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ...

1980 - A second, shorter expedition led by Geoffrey Martin describes and copies the reliefs from the Royal Tomb, later publishing its findings together with objects thought to have come from the tomb. 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

External links

• Amarna, Capital of Ancient Egypt (http://www.mcdonald.cam.ac.uk/Projects/Amarna/home.htm) - information page of the University of Cambridge excavations
• Model of the City (http://www.mcdonald.cam.ac.uk/Projects/Amarna/Model/Map.htm) - interactive map of Amarna.
• Amarna Art Gallery (http://katherinestange.com/egypt/gallery.htm) - shows just a few, but stunning, examples of the art of the Amarna period.
• Wallis Budge describes the discovery of the Amarna tablets (http://members.tripod.com/~ib205/budge.html)