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TELL EL AMARNA

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 576 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TELL EL AMARNA , the name now given to a collection of ruins and See also:

rock tombs in Upper See also:Egypt near the See also:east See also:bank of the See also:Nile, 58 m. by See also:river below See also:Assiut and 190 M. above See also:Cairo. The ruins are those of Ekhaton (Akhet-Aton), a See also:city built c. 136o B.C. by Akhenaton (Amenophis IV.) as the new See also:capital of his See also:empire (in See also:place of See also:Thebes) when he abandoned the See also:worship of See also:Ammon and devoted himself to that of Aton, i.e. the See also:sun (see EGYPT: See also:History, § See also:Ancient). Shortly after the See also:death of Akhenaton the See also:court returned to Thebes, and the city, after an existence of perhaps only twenty years—of fifty years at the utmost—was abandoned. Not having been inhabited since, the lines of the streets and the ground-plans of many buildings can still be traced. The See also:chief ruins are those of the royal See also:palace and of the See also:House of the Rolls; there are scanty remains of the See also:great See also:temple. In the palace are four pavements of painted See also:stucco See also:work in See also:fair preservation. They were discovered in 1891–92 by Prof. See also:Flinders See also:Petrie (see his Tell el Amarna, 1894). In the Rolls House were discovered in 1887 by the fellahin some 300 See also:clay tablets inscribed with See also:cuneiform characters. They are letters and See also:state documents addressed to Amenophis IV. and his See also:father, from the See also:kings of See also:Babylon, See also:Assyria, &c., and from the See also:Egyptian See also:governors in See also:Syria and neighbouring districts: The greater See also:part of them were See also:purchased for the See also:Berlin Museum, but a large number were secured for the See also:British Museum. Their contents proved invaluable for the reconstruction of the history, social and See also:political, of Egypt and Western See also:Asia during that See also:period.

Hewn out of the sides of the hills which See also:

close in on the east the See also:plain on which Ekhaton stood are two See also:groups of tombs; one See also:group lies 12 m. N.E., and the other 3 M. S. of the city. The tombs, all of which belong to the See also:time of Akhenaton, are full of interesting scenes in the See also:peculiar See also:style of the period, accompanied by See also:hymns to the sun See also:god. The most important See also:tomb is, perhaps, that of Meri-Ra, high See also:priest of the sun, which has a See also:facade nearly too ft. See also:long and two large See also:chambers. On one of the walls of the See also:main chamber is depicted the See also:scene, now well known, in which a See also:blind See also:choir of harpists and singers celebrate the arrival of the court at the temple. In the See also:early centuries of Moslem See also:rule in Egypt the See also:northern tombs were inhabited by See also:Copts, one tomb, that of Pa-Nehesi, being turned into a See also:church. In a See also:ravine opening into the plain between the See also:north and See also:south tombs, and some seven See also:miles from the city, is a tomb supposed to be that of Akhenaton. The tombs and the great stelae sculptured on the cliffs which See also:mark the See also:bounds of the city of Akhet-Aton have been the See also:object of See also:special study by N. de G. See also:Davies on behalf of the Archaeological Survey of Egypt. The results, with numerous plates and plans, are embodied in a See also:series of See also:memoirs, Rock Tombs of El Amarna (six parts, 1903–8). For the tablets see Tell el Amarna Tablets in the British Museum (1892); C.

Bezold, See also:

Oriental See also:Diplomacy; the transliterated See also:text of the Cuneiform Despatches discovered at Tell el Amarna (1893) ; The Tel el Amarna Letters (See also:English See also:translation by M. Winckler, Berlin, 1896) ; J. A. Knudtzon, See also:Die El-Amarna Tafeln (See also:Leipzig, 1907-9) ; W. M. F. Petrie, Syria and Egypt from the Tell el Amarna Letters (1898).

End of Article: TELL EL AMARNA

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