Amarna

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".

Related Topics:
Archaeological - Pharaoh - Akhenaten - Eighteenth Dynasty - 1353 BC - Ancient Egypt - Aten

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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.

Related Topics:
1887 - Sebakh - Amarna letters - Akkadian - Late Bronze Age - Ancient Near East

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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.

Related Topics:
Tell - Cyril Aldred - Nile

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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.

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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).

Related Topics:
Barry Kemp - Egypt Exploration Society

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