8/13/2019 The Amarna Story

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The Amarna period was named after the site of a new capital built in Egypt halfway along the Nile,

between the Mediterranean Sea and what is now the Aswan Dam. This time in early-fourteenth century

BC was considered by far the most obscure era of Egyptian history. Later, pharaohs considered this time

as a dark age of heresy and destroyed nearly all official records of the period.

“Amarna” the place, was ringed by a natural amphitheatre of cliffs on both sides of the Nile. There were a

series of fourteen immovable tablets, ranging from two to eight metres in height, this delineated the

city’s sacred perimeters. The legend goes that Ali Baba’s secret treasure-cave was in the area.

The Amarna relics showed the pharaoh of the time (Akhenaten) to be a caring and loving human being, a

family man with his children on his knee, caressing them or dangling trinkets for them to snatch. He iseven seen kissing his wife, Nefertiti. No other Pharaoh has ever been revealed in such a familiar fashion.

History shows prior to the Amarna period the general populace played no part in temple activities. They

were not able to worship or pray in a temple and if they attempted to enter a temple would have been

executed for sacrilege. The Amarna period changed this. For the first time in history a pharaoh made

state religion accessible to the masses. At face value Akhenaten would seem to have been a religious

visionary, years ahead of his time. He also rated honesty as virtue, which appears in his royal motto

“living in truth”. 

Nefertiti was the chief queen for Akhenaten and from her depictions, it is quite apparent that Nefertiti

enjoyed far more influence than did almost any other Egyptian Queen. Often she would have pharaonic

authority equal to her husband’s, and in some cases it appeared to exceed him.  

Nefertiti is said to have behaved like a Minoan princess, from a culture where women played a far more

important role than men. Whatever Nefertiti’s nationality, she had enormous influence at Amarna which

impacted on future Queens.

The Amarna Queens had significant influence over this era of great change, the Amarna Period.

Amarna Pty Ltd is the brainchild of four Queensland women who have an impressive resume of expertise

and experience work in the private and public sectors of the sport and recreation industry.

When forming the company, a name had to be chosen. At that particular time, one of the directors was

reading “Act of God” by Graham Phillips, a book about a 3,000-year-old mystery where the story of

Amarna was told.

The Amarna period demonstrated a time of courage in making great changes and daring to be different.

The period was particularly strong for women influencing a dominant male society.

The Directors of Amarna Pty Ltd drew strength from the story which matched their values of: living in

truth, change for the masses, being different and having the courage to enter a male dominated field

such as sport and recreation consultancy. Therefore the name was chosen with pride.