New Kingdom Egypt is widely known for its great rulers and even greater archaeological history. Pharaohs like Ramesses II, and buildings like Abu Simbel, are generally considered the standard of greatness that is iconic of the period. The most notorious pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, Amenhotep IV, more commonly known as Akhenaten, etched his name in history through his radical reforms and irrational decisions. One of the key features of his reign was his construction of the new city of Tell El-Amarna or ‘Akhetaten’ during his reign.
The city of Akhetaten was wondrous; covering thirteen kilometres along the east bank of the Nile. The city was built within four years, a marvel only possible due to the use of white-washed mud-brick, rather than the luxurious sandstone that was typically used in pharaoh’s building programs. To isolate his marvels from the old ways of Egypt, Akhenaten built his city four-hundred and two kilometres north of Thebes, the capital, in the fourteenth nome of Upper Egypt.
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Following his father’s footsteps, Akhenaten shunned the Amun worship and Egyptian pantheon in favour of a singular god to worship through the pharaoh. The most significant and valued gods in Egypt were Ra, the sun god, and Amun, the hidden one. Often, the two gods would be combined into one, Amun-Ra, king of gods and god of kings. Hence, Akhenaten chose to worship Aten, an aspect of the sun god Ra, visualised as ‘the sun-disk’, and ostracise Amun and his