The History of Egypt

Amarna (Part 5): Great Temples. When he established his new residence-city, Akhenaten made special provision for his god’s house. Two great temples, dedicated to the solar disc, rose on the east bank of the Nile River. Searching the archaeological remains, and scouring the artistic record of these temples, we can get a sense of how Akhenaten worshipped his god; and some of the symbols and meanings he used to express it... Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.net. Select Bibliography: Aidan Dodson, Amarna Sunrise, 2012. Barry Kemp, City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and Its People, 2012. J.D.S. Pendlebury, The City of Akhenaten, Part III, Vol II, 1951. Donald B. Redford, Akhenaten: The Heretic King, 1984. Eric Uphill, “The Per Aten at Amarna,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1970. Norman de Garis Davies, The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, Vol. I: The Tomb of Meryre, 1903. Archive.org. Norman de Garis Davies, The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, Vol. II: The Tombs of Panehsy and Meryre II, 1905. Archive.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1983, Philip Glass debuted his opera Akhnaten, a bold musical exploration of the pharaoh, his reign and his legacy. Now, Akhnaten returns in a new run. Akhnaten by The Metropolitan Opera, in New York, is running from November 8th to December 7th, 2019 and will be broadcast worldwide in cinemas; find tickets here Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Precursors to Atenism.The god Aten has a long history; and in the 18th Dynasty, many Egyptians were praising the sun god in a variety of forms (Ra, Atum, Horakhty, Aten, Khepri etc). Akhenaten's reforms were radical, but they have some obvious roots. Looking at several religious texts, side by side, we can see how the sun god became a major, universal deity at this time... Date = 1400-1360 BCE King = Akhenaten Queen = Nefertiti Location = Thebes and Amarna Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.com Sistrum by Hathor Systrum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7pYdPOS4yw.  Select Bibliography: Jan Assmann, Egyptian Solar Religion in the New Kingdom, 1995. Norman de Garis Davies, The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, Vol. IV: The Tombs of Penthu, Mahu and Others, 1906. Online edition at Archive.org. Norman de Garis Davies, The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, Vol. VI: The Tombs of Parennefer, Tutu, and Aye, 1908. Online edition at Archive.org. Aidan Dodson, Amarna Sunrise, 2014. Jean Saint Fare Garnot, “Notes on the Inscriptions of Suty and Ḥor (British Museum Stela No. 826),” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 35 (1949): 63-68. James K. Hoffmeier, Akhenaten & The Origins of Monotheism, 2015. Erik Hornung, Akhenaten and the Religion of Light, 1999. Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 2, 1976. William J. Murnane, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt, 1995. OIP, The Tomb of Kheruef, 1980. Online edition at University of Chicago. Donald B. Redford, Akhenaten the Heretic King, 1987. Online edition at Archive.org. H.M. Stewart, “A Possibly Contemporary Parallel to the Inscription of Suty and Hor,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 43 (1957): 3-5. Stephen Quirke, The Cult of Ra: Sun-Worship in Ancient Egypt, 2001. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Akhenaten (Part 7): The Great Hymn to Aten.In 1356 BCE, Egypt sweltered under the heat of Aten's rays; the god's servant, King Akhenaten, glorified the deity above all. We see this in some remarkable prayers and hymns which survive in the hidden tombs of Akhenaten's city. In these sepulchres, we find glimpses of the King's beliefs and how he expressed them... Date = c.1356 BCE King = Akhenaten Queen = Nefertiti Location = Akhet-Aten / Amarna Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.com. Select Bibliography: Aten Hymn Translation: UCL Website Cyril Aldred, Akhenaten King of Egypt, 1988. Jan Assmann, Egyptian Solar Religion in the New Kingdom, 1995. Norman de Garis Davies, The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, Vol. VI: The Tombs of Parennefer, Tutu, and Aye, 1908. Aidan Dodson, Amarna Sunrise, 2014. James K. Hoffmeier, Akhenaten & The Origins of Monotheism, 2015. Erik Hornung, Akhenaten and the Religion of Light, 1999. Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 2, 1976. William J. Murnane, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt, 1995. William J. Murnane and Charles van Siclen III, The Boundary Stelae of Akhenaten, 1993. Donald B. Redford, Akhenaten the Heretic King, 1987 Stephen Quirke, The Cult of Ra: Sun-Worship in Ancient Egypt, 2001. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amarna Tales (Part 1). East of Akhet-Aten (Amarna), a walled-village hides among the hills. This "East Village" is a well-ordered, secluded community. It seems to be the new home of pharaoh's tomb builders. Originally, they lived at Deir el-Medina in west Luxor. But when Akhenaten founded his new royal city, the tomb-builders left their homes and came here. Today, archaeologists have uncovered a vast amount of material. Homes, animal pens, chapels, and countless artefacts shed light on daily life and family organisation in ancient Egypt. From homes to chapels, guard-houses to water depots, the East Village offers fantastic insights. It even includes traces of Tutankhamun, before he abandoned Amarna...Episode details: Date: c.1355 - 1340 BCE. Location: Akhet-Aten (el-Amarna). Kings: Akhenaten, Neferneferuaten, Tutankhaten/Tutankhamun. Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Logo image: A battle standard or soldier's emblem, with a sigil of Wepwawet (Kemp 2012). Music by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.net. Music by Bettina Joy de Guzman www.bettinajoydeguzman.com. Music interludes by Luke Chaos https://twitter.com/Luke_Chaos. Select Bibliography: Read reports on the East Village and other aspects of Amarna's archaeology free, at The Amarna Project. M. Bierbrier, The Tomb-Builders of the Pharaohs (1982). A. H. Bomann, The Private Chapel in Ancient Egypt: A Study of the Chapels in the Workmen’s Village at El Amarna with Special Reference to Deir el Medina and Other Sites (1991). B. G. Davies, Life Within the Five Walls: A Handbook to Deir el-Medina (2018). B. Kemp, The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and Its People (2012). B. J. Kemp, Amarna Reports I (1984). Free at The Amarna Project. B. J. Kemp, ‘The Amarna Workmen’s Village in Retrospect’, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 73 (1987), 21–50. T. E. Peet and C. L. Woolley, The City of Akhenaten, Volume I (1923). Available free at Archive.org. A. Stevens, Private Religion at Amarna. The Material Evidence (2006). A. Stevens, ‘Private Religion in the Amarna Suburbs’, in F. Kampp-Seyfried (ed.), In the Light of Amarna: 100 Years of the Nefertiti Discovery (2012), 95—97. A. Stevens, ‘Visibility, Private Religion and the Urban Landscape of Amarna’, in M. Dalton et al. (eds.), Seen & Unseen Spaces (2015), 77—84. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Story So Far... We've covered a lot since Amunhotep IV / Akhenaten appeared on the throne of Egypt. Today, we take a breather to sort it all out and summarise what we've seen so far. This will put us on a good footing for even more drama in the years to come... Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.net. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amarna (Part 4): Raising a City in Haste.When Akhenaten demanded a new royal residence (Akhet-Aten), it fell to countless labourers, overseers and donkeys to gather the material needed for the city. Archaeologists scouring the landscape of Akhet-Aten and its neighbourhood have found a great deal of evidence for stone quarrying, ancient road networks, and even the rudimentary concrete used to strengthen buildings... Date. c.1357 BCE King: Akhenaten (Nefer-kheperu-Re Wa-en-Re) Queen: Nefertiti (Nefer-neferu-Aten) Location: Amarna (Akhet-Aten) Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.com. Select Bibliography: Barry Kemp, The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and Its People, 2012. W.M. Flinders Petrie, Tell el Amarna, 1894. James A. Harrell, “Amarna gypsite: A new source of gypsum for ancient Egypt,” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2016). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.12.031 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amarna (Part 3): House of a Master Builder.The Overseer of Works, Hatiay, was one of Akhenaten's most prominent and useful servants. He helped build pharaoh's new city, bringing the vision to life, by organising work teams and resources for the massive construction projects. Along the way, Hatiay received many perks, including one of the nicest houses discovered at the site... Date: c.1357 BCE (regnal year 6). Pharaoh: Akhenaten (Nefer-kheperu-Re Wa-en-Re). Queen: Nefertiti (Nefer-neferu-Aten). Locations: Akhet-Aten (Amarna). Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.com. Select Bibliography: Aidan Dodson, Amarna Sunrise, 2014. Henri Frankfort; H W Fairman; J D S Pendlebury, The City of Akhenaten II: The North Suburb and the Desert Altars, 1933. Barry Kemp, The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and Its People, 2012. Donald B. Redford, Akhenaten: The Heretic King, 1984. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amarna (Part 2): Akhenaten's Priorities and Mindset.A short side episode, concerning Akhenaten's mind-set around the time he moved to Amarna. Did the King always plan this city? Did he want to live here forever and never leave? And how did he think about the community he was developing? We explore these questions... Date: c.1357 BCE (Regnal Year 6). King: Akhenaten (Nefer-kheperu-Re Wa-en-Re). Queen: Nefertiti (Nefer-neferu-Aten Neferet-Iti). Locations: Thebes (Waset); Amarna (Akhet-Aten). Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.com.  Select Bibliography: Aidan Dodson, Amarna Sunrise, 2014. Marianne Eaton-Krauss, The Unknown Tutankhamun, 2016. Marc Gabolde, Akhenaten a Toutankhamoun, 1998. Barry Kemp, The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and Its People, 2012. Dimitri Laboury, Akhenaton les grand pharaons, 2010. Phillipe Martinez, “Un monument préamarnien ignoré: Le Ramesséum,” Memnonia 15 (2004): 123-150. Dominic Montserrat, Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt, 2005. William J. Murnane, The Boundary Stelae of Akhenaten, 1993. William J. Murnane, Texts From the Amarna Period in Egypt, 1995. Donald B. Redford, Akhenaten: The Heretic King, 1984. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In regnal year 5, Akhenaten decreed the foundations of his new city devoted to the sun god. One year later, the King returned to perform ceremonies and to review what had been completed... Date: c.1357 BCE (regnal year 6) King: Akhenaten (Nefer-kheperu-Re Wa-en-Re) Queen: Nefertiti (Nefer-neferu-Aten) Cities: Amarna (Akhet-Aten) Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music by Keith Zizza (www.keithzizza.com). Music by Michael Levy (www.ancientlyre.com). Select Bibliography: Betsy M. Bryan, “New Kingdom Sculpture,” in Allan B. Lloyd, A Companion to Ancient Egypt, 2 volumes, 2010. Aidan Dodson, Amarna Sunrise, 2014. Barry Kemp, The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and Its People, 2012. Dominic Montserrat, Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt, 2005. William J. Murnane, Texts From the Amarna Period in Egypt, 1995. T.E. Peet and C. Leonard Woolley, The City of Akhenaten Part I: Excavations of 1921 and 1922 at El-Amarneh, 1923. J.D.S Pendlebury, The City of Akhenaten Part III: The Central City and The Official Quarters, 2 volumes, 1951. Available at Archive.org: Volume I: Texts & Volume II: Plates Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie, Tell el Amarna, 1894. Available at Archive.org. Donald B. Redford, Akhenaten: The Heretic King, 1984. Donald B. Redford, “Akhenaten: New Theories, Old Facts,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 369 (2013): 9-34. Patrick C. Salland, Palatial Paintings and Programs: The Symbolic World of the Egyptian Palace in the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1069 BCE), Unpublished PhD Dissertation, 2015. Fran Weatherhead, Wall-Paintings from the King’s House at Amarna, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 81 (1995): 95-113. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices