Akhenaton’s lost city of Amarna brought back to life

Posted On: May 6th, 2016 at 23:58

Egypt
Pharaoh Akhenaton (14th Century BC; 18th Dynasty) was the first human being in history to preach the idea of monotheism, and once his kingdom was destroyed and his name erased from history it would be more than a thousand years before the idea of a single god would become prevalent.
Akhenaton was married to one of the most beautiful women in history – Queen Nefertiti – and together they moved the capital of Egypt to Amarna and built there an entire city.
Only a chance discovery in 1887 brought the story to light – in the dusty environment a local woman found 300 clay tablets, now known as the Amarna Letters, and despite the city being known about since the 18th Century its importance was suddenly realised by scholars. What happened from then and continues to this day are excavations to uncover the entire city.
The story of Akhenaton is fascinating and I have always had an interest due to the nature of the changes he brought about, but his attempts to create a shift in religious thinking may have been his downfall. The powerful priesthood of Egypt was practically dismantled and, like Julius Caesar, the changes may have been a little too much for the priests. Akhenaton is the father of Tutankhamen but Nefertiti is not the mother since Nefertiti gave birth to six daughters. Tutankhamen was probably the offspring of a lesser wife. Huge debate still surrounds what happened to the family. Some believe they were all murdered by the priesthood and others believe they lived their lives and died naturally but after their deaths attempts were made to erase all traces of them. The problem with the idea of assassination is the relatively lavish tomb of Tutankhamen, arguably the greatest archaeological find in history. Amarna itself, however, was abandoned and the capital returned to Thebes, and this is where Tutankhamen continued his reign. It is unlikely that Tutankhamen’s decision to return the capital to Thebes was his own – it was most likely that of the priesthood. Perhaps, even though he himself died very young, his life was spared for that reason.
Akhenaton’s body has been confirmed as found in tomb KV55, but the body of Nefertiti is still missing. I do believe, however, that Dr. Joanne Fletcher may have already found her, despite opposition from the Egyptian authorities…
It’s another subject I could write all day about! This article brings the city of Amarna back to life…