#amarna

King Akhenaten wearing the Double Crown (Pschent) and holding the Heka (crook) and Nekhaka (flail/wast) scepters.

Head of an Amarna Princess

An Egyptian Nummulitic Limestone Figure of an Amarna Princess,

New Kingdom, 18TH Dynasty, Reign of Akhenaten, Circa 1347-1345 B.C.

13 ½ in. (34.3 cm.) high.

By Einsamer Schütze - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7338587

Amarna, known as Akhetaten when it was founded by Pharaoh Akhenaten in 1346 BCE, represents an anomaly in the long history of ancient Egypt. It is about 312 km south of Cairo and 402 km north of Luxor, known as Thebes at the time, on the east side of the Nile. It was built at a site where nothing known had been built before and was built in 5 years, from the 5th year of Akhenaten's reign to the 9th year, with much of it being completed in mudbrick and whitewashed and the most important buildings faced in local stone. Because it was abandoned after Akhenaten's death, with Tutankhamun's court moving back to Thebes, it is relatively well preserved despite the poor building materials.

By Anonymous (Egypt) - Walters Art Museum: Home page  Info about artwork, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18826721

Along with moving the capital farther south, which added to the ill feelings of Upper Egypt against Lower Egypt as well as between the pharaoh and the priests made worse by Akhenaten's unprecedented turn to monotheism, insisting that Aten was the only the only god to be worshiped. Before this, no other religion documents a single god and prohibit the worship of other gods as Akhenaten did. This was also a break with a tradition going back nearly 2000 years and the priests of the various gods held nearly as much power as the pharaoh, especially the High Priest of Amun.

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=629827

Based on correspondences from the area, known as the Amarna Letters, Akhenaten inherited an Egypt that was 100 years past the high it had reached under Thutmose III and 200 years past the expulsion of the Hyksos from Lower Egypt at the end of the Second Intermediate Period, the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Egypt's power in the Eastern Mediterranean was waning with Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III, using marriage alliances to 'maintain the balance of power' in the region instead of military confrontation. When Akhenaten took the throne, he was concerned about the Hittite Empire expanding, which would have upset the 'entire international balance of power in the Ancient Middle East' and would have caused the vassal states under Egypt to switch their allegiance to the Hittites. There were also difficulties along the northern frontier, the border along Canaan, requiring troops to be dispatched, though he also refused to help his vassal in Byblos in modern day Lebanon. While the late 19th-20th century theory was that Akhenaten was a pacifist, focusing on internal reforms, more recent evidence shows that Akhenaten and his father sent Egyptian and Nubian troops when requested, as well as instructions to vassals and received confirmation that those instructions were followed. There's also some evidence that there was a war in Syria or the Levant, possibly against the Hittites around the city of Gezer or Kadesh, that was unsuccessful. Overall, there's evidence of only one vassal state, Amurru in modern day Syria, defected to the Hittites.

By Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55031009

Prior to 2012, the last date that is recorded in Akhenaten's reign is during his twelfth year, a point considered the 'zenith of Akhenaten's reign' and was marked with a royal reception, where the 'royal family received tributes and offerings from allied countries and Vassal states at Akhentaten'. Based on the inscription in the tomb of a courtier, it's known that Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti, and their six daughters were in attendance. It's thought that the event was the marriage of Ay, the future pharaoh who reigned after Tutankhamun, to Tey, Nefertiti's wet nurse.

After the twelfth year of Akhenaten's reign, there seems to have been a plague that ravaged the area, possibly brought into Egypt by the reception, or that it began in Egypt and was spread via Egyptian prisoners of war throughout the Middle East. Regardless, three of Akhenaten's daughters most likely died of it during Akhenaten's final five years on the throne. In 2012, an inscription was found dating to the final year of Akhenaten's reign, establishing that a new building project had been started in Amarna and that 'Akhenaten and Nefertiti were still a royal couple'.

By ArchaiOptix - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86507695

Another major change Akhenaten made was to how art was made, a style known as Amarna art, was quite a departure from traditional, idealized form, where the ruling class, especially, were shown in 'stereotypically "beautiful" fashion' with athletic and youthful bodies, but Akhenaten's depictions were 'unflattering'. He was depicted with 'a sagging stomach; broad hips; thin legs; thick thighs; large, "almost feminine breasts"; a thin, "exaggeratedly long face"; and thick lips'. Nefertiti was also depicted in situations that were normally reserved for the pharaoh, such as 'smiting the enemy', with '[e]arly artistic representations of her tend to be indistinguishable from her husband's except by her regalia', though after the move to Amarna, she began 'to be depicted with features specific to her. Questions remain whether the beauty of Nefertiti is portraiture or idealism'. Scenes are also naturalistic than the traditional static representations, including the portrayals of affection between the royal family and playing with the daughters.

By Antonio Beato - Archivio fotografico Museo Egizio, Turin - online catalogue, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=156884912