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The Amarna Age

HIST 213 Spring 2012

The Amarna Age (1350-1334 BCE)

Phase of the late 18th Dynasty where changes in the social, political and religious modes of Egyptian government were carried out

• change in governmental location

• change in artistic convention

• change in theological outlook

• change in aggressive foreign policy

The Amarna Kings 18th Dynasty (1550-1295 BCE)

Amenhotp IV/Akhenaton 1352-1336 BCE • 6th year of reign changed name to reflect new belief

• built new capital in desert

Neferneferaten 1338-1336 BCE • began “reconciliation” of the Theban faith

Tutakhenaton/Tutankhamun 1336-1327 BCE • continued “reconciliation” • moved capital back to Memphis changed name

Ay 1327-1323 BCE • continued “reconciliation”; died of old age

Horemheb 1323-1295 BCE • general not of the royal line • marries Ay’s daughter • reforms centralization • builds law courts

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The City of Akhetaten

Akhenaton began a massive building project

• new city Akhetaten

• “the place where the sundisk becomes effective”

• half-way between Memphis and Thebes

modern city of el-Amarna

Akhetaten

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The Amarna Tablets Correspondence from • the preceding reign of Amenhotep

III • three hundred diplomatic letters • a miscellany of literary or

educational materials. Tablets shed much light on Egyptian relations with

– Hittites – Mitanni – Assyria – Syria – Canaan – Babylonia – Alashiya (Cyprus)

They are important for establishing both the history and chronology of the period. rulers include: • Tushratta of Mittani • Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem • king Rib-Hadda of Byblos who

pleads for Egyptian military help in 58 letters

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Letters of cuneiform tablets • mostly written in Akkadian

• the regional language of diplomacy

• first discovered in around 1887

Amarna Religious Belief

• Some form of Monotheism

– may have influenced Moses’ teachings

• No judgment before Osiris

– death and darkness is considered “asleep”

• Making to the afterlife depended on following Akhenaten’s teachings.

• Amarna replaces Karnak as a religious center

– The deceased are not shown in mummy forms, they are dressed and wear wigs.

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Amarna Art Characterized by a sense of movement and activity in images • figures having raised heads • many figures overlapping • many scenes busy and crowded The human body is portrayed differently in Amarna style artwork than Egyptian art on the whole • Akhenaten's body give him distinctly feminine qualities:

– large hips – prominent breasts – larger stomach and thighs.

• In a relief of Akhenaten, he is portrayed with his wife and children in an intimate setting. His children appear to be fully grown, only shrunken to appear smaller than their parents. They also have elongated neck and bodies.

The Body of Amarna Art

• brachiocephalic heads

• elongated facial features

• elongated arms/limbs

• elliptical eyes

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Bust of Nephretiti

• literally “the beautiful one has come”

– crafted in 1345 BC by the sculptor Thutmose.

– identified as Nefertiti as it wears characteristic crown

• found “on the workbench”

• currently in Berlin

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Tutankhaton becomes Tutankhamen

Tutankhamon came to throne as a child. (10 r. years)

• At the very beginning of his reign he abandoned Amarna, and moved the government back to Memphis. – He changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankamon.

• Horemheb, a senior military official with no royal blood-link becomes regent.

• Major religious restoration by the assistance of Maya, the treasurer. The role of Ay.

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Why the Shift to the Amarna Period?

Possible Causes for Amarna Shift

• Attempt to “break” powerful hold of the Theban priestly class

• True Conversion to a unique form of Monotheism

• madness or megalomania

Then his majesty made plans for this land and the daily needs. Then his majesty thought in his heart and searched for something magnificent useful for his father Amun. He created his holy statue from genuine electrum. He gave him more than had been done since the beginning.”

Restoration Stela

Restoration Stela

“His majesty made monuments for the gods by making their holy statues of genuine electrum of the best of the foreign lands. He recreated their sanctuaries as monuments until the limits of eternity, exquisitely equipped with offerings for all eternity, by endowing them with divine offerings as regular daily sacrifices and endowing them with provisions on earth.”

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Burial of Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun died unexpectedly – tomb was incomplete.

• vizier Ay offered his smaller tomb so that a burial site could be quickly prepared to receive the mummy of Tutankhamun and its rich burial furnishings. – burial chamber was painted with few funerary and

religious texts and scenes.

• four huge wooden shrines, or rooms, were made. The shrines were placed one inside the other

Discovery of King Tut

• Howard Carter and his sponsor, Lord Carnarvon, spent a number of years and a lot of money searching for a tomb they weren't sure existed

• November 1922, they found it.

• Carter had discovered not just an unknown ancient Egyptian tomb, but one that had lain nearly undisturbed for over 3,000 years. What lay within astounded the world.

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Ankhesenamun

When Tut-ankh-amun died:

She made an unsuccessful attempt to secure a husband from the Hittites.

• may have been instigated by Ay – tried to prevent Horemheb to become king.

• sent a letter to Suppilulimas, the Hittite king, to furnish a husband for her among the Hittite princes.

• The prince was murdered en route to Egypt – possibly by Horemheb

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Horemheb

Last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty

• Managed to pull Egypt together again.

• Coronation Text. Skirmishes and Egyptian defeat by the Hittites who conquered the kingdom of Mitanni.

• Demolition of Amarna. Building of the Great Hypostyle Hall in Karnak begins.

• Horemheb died in his 25th regnal year, the power shifted to his military commander and vizier, Paramessu, the future Rameses I – beginning of the Ramessid Period and the 19th Dynasty

although some consider Horemheb as the founder of this dynasty.