Middle Egypt: El-‘Amarna to Deir El-Bersha

El-‘Amarna

Plan of El-Amarna city

El-‘Amarna (also Tell el-‘Amarna), ancient Egyptian Akhetaten (“The Horizon of the sun Disk”), was the short-lived capital if Egypt, the royal residence during much of the new state religion introduced at that time. It is one been possible to excavate to any significant extent. Its layout and architecture are fairly well known because the site was abandoned some 15 years after it had been founded, and the town thus escaped the destruction which would have resulted from continuous habitation. King Akhenaten built it on virgin soil, not tarnished by an earlier presence of people and their gods, but the exact reasons for his choice of the large bay on the east bank of the Nile, north of the massif of Gebel Abu Feda, are not known. Recently it has been suggested that the appearance of the landscape, resembling a large “horizon” hieroglyph might have been one of them.

Blind singers, tomb of Meryre I

(no.4) at El-Aamarna,

south wall of the pillared hall

The boundaries of Akhetaten were marked by a chain of stelae surrounding the area on both banks of the river . On the west bank, the northernmost of these (Stela A) is at Tuna el-Gebel,  while on the east bank Akhetaten extended close to the tombs of el-Sheikh Sa’id (Stela X).

Although it has produced a number of famous works of art, for the visitor el-‘Amarna is disappointing because there are hardly any buildings standing. The spoliation started soon after the town was abandoned, with the removal of stone to building sites nearby, notably to el-Ashmunein.

 Except for the side facing the river , the plain of el-‘Amarna is entirely enclosed by rock cliffs, occasionally broken by wadis. The bay is some 10 km long and about 5 km deep, but the town itself occupies only the area closest to the river. Its most important central part contained the Per-Aten-em-Akhetaten (“The Temple of the Aten in Akhetaten”), knwn as “The Great Temple,” and the official state building, “The Great Palace. “The main features of the latter were (1) the “State Apartments,” formed by a series of courts and columned halls and built of stone, (2) the “Harim with adjacent servants’ quarters, and (3) the so-called “Coronation Hall.” Akhenaten’s private residence was across the road from “The Great Palace” and was connected with it by a bridge . Close to it was the “Record Office,” which in 1887 produced the cuneiform diplomatic correspondence (‘Amarna Letters) exchanged between Amenophis III, Akhenaten and Tut’ankhamun, and rulers and vassals of Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. This conglomeration of official buildings was surrounded by private houses, workshops, sculptors’ studios etc., on the north and south sides.

The names of the owners of many of the houses are known from inscribed architectural elements found during their excavation (the sculptor Thutmose, the vizier Nakht and others).

Neat the southern extremity of the ‘Amarna bay there was the Maru-Aten, a group of buildings which also included a lake, a kiosk on an island and flower beds, and was adorned with painted pavements. At the north end of the bay there stood the “North Palace” and perhaps yet another royal residence. However, the exact purpose of some of el-‘Amarna’s buildings is still a matter of conjecture.

Painting from the king’s private

residence showing two small

daughters of Akhenaton

Oxford Ashmolean museum

Amarna’s officials had their tombs cut in the cliffs encircling the plain. Thebes and Saqqara apart, el-‘Amarna is the only site which can be described as a New kingdom necropolis of importance. The tombs form two large groups, and their plan is similar to that of the Theban tombs of the 18th Dynasty : (1) an outer court, (2) and (3) a long ha;; and a broad hall, both sometimes with columns, (4) a statue niche.

The decoration was in sunk relied. The date is betrayed by the novel subject-matter and the unusual artistic conventions of ‘Amarna art. How many of these tombs were actually put to use is not clear ; some of their owners had other tombs made elsewhere, Tomb No. 25 of the south group was prepared for Aya, who later became the penultimate king of the 18th Dynasty and was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes (No.23). For his own family tomb Akhenaten chose a ravine about 6 km from the mouth of the large Wadi abu Hasah el-Bahri, which it joins .

El-Sheikh Sa’id

The tombs of the men governing the hare nome (15th Upper Egyptian nome) during the 6th Dynasty were cut in the steep cliffs named after a Muslim saint buried in the area. Their importance is greatly enhanced by the absence of contemporary evidence from el-Ashmunein, the capital of the nome .

Deir el-Bersha

Scene in the tomb of

 Djehutihotpe at Dier El-Bersha

Almost opposite the town of Mallawi, on the east bank of the Nile a valley called the wadi el-Nakhla breaks through the cliffs and runs in a southeasterly direction. Apart from limestone quarries of various periods it contains a number of rock-cut tombs.

Some of them belong to the nomarchs of the 15th Upper Egyptian nome and date to the 12th Dynasty, though several are probably a little earlier . The name Deir el-Barsha, by which the site is known, is from that of the village west of the wadi .

 The most spectacular of the tombs was made for the “Great Overlord of the hare nome” called Djehutihotpe, who lived during the reigns of Amenemhet II, Senwosret II and Senwosret III. The chapel consists of a deep portico of two columns with palm capitals, and the inner room with a niche at the back. The decoration is executed in very low relief, at places only in paint. The west wall of the inner room bears the famous scene of the transport of a colossal statue from the alabaster quarries at Hatnub.

The tombs were excavated by expeditions of the Egypt Exploration fund (P.  E.  Newberry and others) between 1891 and 1893, and the combined mission of the Harvard University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1915 (G.  A.  Reisner and others).
Source: Baines and Malek, Atlas of Ancient Egypt