Today's Amarna (known in pharaonic times as Akhet-Aten, "The Horizon of the Aten") is located about 300km south of Cairo on the eastern bank of the Nile. The city was founded around 1350 BC (18th Dynasty) by Pharaoh Akhenaten, and Amarna became the new administrative and cultural center of Egypt. Massive palaces, temples and administrative districts as well as workshops and dwellings for probably more than 40000 people were built within a very short time.
Akhenaten, together with Queen Nefertiti, revolutionized the old beliefs of the Egyptians by placing the sun god Aten at the head of the diverse pantheon of gods and limiting all cult acts to the worship of the sun. This aroused the displeasure of the numerous Amun priests, who had become superfluous. So it is not surprising that the life expectancy of Amarna was linked to that of the city's founder: after the demise of the inconvenient king, time was turned back. Memphis once again became the administrative seat of Egypt, and Thebes regained its status as the center for cult activities, especially the cult of Amun.
Akhet-Aten was considered 'scorched earth'; the city was abandoned, and any memory of Akhenaten and Nefertiti erased from the historical record. Recent evidence suggests, however, that the city remained inhabited longer than previously thought, and that the cult for the sun god continued into the reign of Seti I.
Since French soldiers first discovered the remains of Amarna at the end of the 18th century, the city area has been systematically, if not entirely, excavated, surveyed, mapped and documented, and various art treasures, most notably the famous bust of Queen Nefertiti (left, Neues Museum Berlin), have been distributed around the world.
Although not much more is visible of the city itself today than the spoil mounds of past excavations and low mud-brick walls, the Rock Tombs for high officials continue to attract visitors to this remote part of Middle Egypt, surrounded by high cliffs. Some are richly decorated and tell of colourful life in Amarna under the protective rays of the omnipresent Aten. Images of debauched festivities and richly laid offering tables give the appearance of opulence. In addition, the detailed reliefs provide information about the appearance and location of important government buildings within the city, although one must always grant the ancient masters a certain degree of artistic freedom.
The royal family shows itself to be close to the people and affectionate in its dealings with each other (right, Akhenaten with his eldest daughter Meritaten; Neues Museum Berlin). The couple had a total of six daughters, the second eldest of whom, Meketaten, died early and was buried in the Royal Tomb in a wadi east of the city.
Whether the people here really led a fulfilled life in accordance with the new faith, and whether Akhenaten was indeed a 'king of the people', will probably never be known with certainty.
But every excavation campaign at Amarna brings new insights and information about this bygone era to the sun, and the Amarna Project and its team members are doing their best to shed light on this era of Egyptian history that has been erased from the annals.
