The Amarna Period was an era of Egyptian history during the later half of the Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten (‘Horizon of the Aten’) in what is now Amarna. It was marked by the reign of Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten (1353–1336 BC) to reflect the dramatic change of Egypt’s polytheistic religion into one where the sun disc Aten was worshipped over all other gods. The Egyptian pantheon was restored under Akhenaten’s successor, Tutankhamun.
Religious developments during the Amarna Period
Akhenaten instigated the earliest verified expression of a form of monotheism, although the origins of pure monotheism are the subject of continuing debate within the academic community. Some state that Akhenaten restored monotheism, while others point out that he merely suppressed a dominant solar cult by asserting another while never wholly abandoning several other traditional deities. Scholars believe that Akhenaten’s devotion to his god, Aten, offended many in power below him, contributing to the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty; he later suffered damnatio memoriae. Although modern students of Egyptology consider the monotheism of Akhenaten the most critical event of this period, the later Egyptians believed the so-called Amarna period was an unfortunate aberration.
The period saw many innovations in the name and service of religion. Egyptians of the time viewed religion and science as the same. Previously, the presence of many gods explained the natural phenomena, but during the Amarna period, there was a rise in monotheism. With people beginning to think of the universe’s origins, Amun-Re was seen as the sole creator and Sun-god. The view of this god is seen through the poem entitled “Hymn to the Aten”:
When your movements disappear, and you go to rest in the Akhet, the land is in darkness, in the manner of death… darkness a blanket, the land in stillness, with the one who makes them at rest in his Akhet. The land grows bright once you appear in the Akhet, shining in the sun daily. The Two Lands are in a festival of light when you dispel darkness and give your rays.
The poem shows that the nature of the god’s daily activity revolves around recreating the earth daily. It also focuses on the present life rather than on eternity.
After the Amarna reign, these religious beliefs fell out of favour. It has been argued that this was partly because only the king and his family were allowed to worship Amun-Re directly, while others were permitted to honour the king and his family.
Royal Women of the Amarna Period
The royal women of Amarna have more surviving text about them than any other women from ancient Egypt. They played a significant role in royal and religious functions. These women were frequently portrayed as powerful in their own right.
Queen Nefertiti was said to be the force behind the new monotheist religion. Nefertiti, whose name means “the beautiful one is here,” bore six of Akhenaten’s daughters.
Many of Akhenaten‘s daughters were as influential as, or more so than, his wives. There is a debate about whether the relationship between Akhenaten and his daughters was sexual. Although there is much controversy over this topic, there is no evidence that any of them bore his children; Akhenaten did give many of his daughters titles of the queen.
Art during the Amarna Period
During Akhenaten’s reign, royal portraiture underwent a dramatic change. Sculptures of Akhenaten deviate from the conventional portrayal of royalty. Akhenaten is depicted in an androgynous and stylized manner, with large thighs, a slim torso, a drooping belly, full lips, and a long neck and nose. Some believe the break with convention was due to “the presence at Amarna of new people or groups of artists whose background and training differed from those of the Karnak sculptors.”
The events following Akhenaten’s death are unclear, and the identity and policies of his co-regent and immediate successor are a matter of ongoing scholarly debate.
Tutankhamun and the Amarna succession
Tutankhamun, among the last of his dynasty and the Amarna kings, died before he was twenty years old, and the dynasty’s final years were shaky. The royal line of the dynasty died out with Tutankhamun. Two babies buried in his tomb were his infant daughters, who would have continued the royal lineage.
An unidentified Egyptian queen, Dakhamunzu, the widow of “King Nibhururiya”, is known from Hittite annals. She is often identified as Ankhesenamun, the royal wife of Tutankhamun, although Nefertiti and Meritaten have also been suggested as possible candidates. This queen wrote to Suppiluliuma I, king of the Hittites, asking him to send one of his sons to become her husband and king of Egypt. In her letters, she expressed fear and a reluctance to take one of her servants as a husband. Suppiluliumas sent an ambassador to investigate and agreed to send one of his sons to Egypt after further negotiations. However, this prince, Zannanza, was murdered, probably en route to Egypt. Suppiluliumas reacted angrily at the news of his son’s death and accused the Egyptians. Then, he retaliated by going to war against Egypt’s vassal states in Syria and Northern Canaan and captured the city of Amki. Unfortunately, Egyptian prisoners of war from Amki carried a plague which eventually would ravage the Hittite Empire and kill both Suppiluliumas I and his direct successor.
The last two members of the eighteenth dynasty – Ay and Horemheb – became rulers from the ranks of officials in the royal court. However, Ay may have married the widow of Tutankhamun to obtain power, and she did not live long afterwards. Ay’s reign was short. His successor was Horemheb, a general in the Egyptian army, who had been a diplomat in the administration of Tutankhamun and may have been intended as his successor by Tutankhamun, who had no surviving children. Horemheb may have taken the throne away from Ay in a coup. He also died without surviving children and appointed his successor, Paramessu, who, under the name Ramesses I, ascended the throne in 1292 BC and was the first pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty.
Foreign relations
The Amarna Letters feature correspondence among the rulers of several empires, dubbed by modern historians The Club of Great Powers: Babylon, Assyria, Mitanni and Hatti, viz. the significant powers in Mesopotamia, the Levant and Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age.
The Great Powers
Babylon EA 1–11
The Babylonians were conquered by an outside group of people and were referred to in the letters as Karaduniyas. Babylon was ruled by the Kassite dynasty, which would, later on, assimilate into the Babylonian culture. The letters of correspondence between the two deal with various trivial things, but they also contain one of the few messages from Egypt to another power. It was the pharaoh responding to the demands of King Kasashman-Enlil, who initially inquired about the whereabouts of his sister, who was sent for a diplomatic marriage. The king was hesitant to send his daughter for another diplomatic wedding until he knew the status of his sister. The pharaoh responds politely, telling the king to send someone who would recognize his sister. Later correspondence dealt with the importance of exchanging gifts, namely the gold used to construct a Babylonia temple. There was also a correspondence where the Babylonian king was offended by not having a proper escort for a princess. He wrote that he was distraught by how few chariots were to transport her and that the responses of the great kings of the region would shame him.
Assyria EA 15–16
By the time of the Amarna letters, the Assyrians, initially a vassal state, had become an independent power. The two letters were from King Assur-uballit I. The first dealt with him introducing himself and sending a messenger to investigate Egypt: “He should see what you are like and what your country is like, and then leave for here.” (EA 15) The second letter dealt with him inquiring as to why Egypt was not sending enough gold to him and arguing about profit for the king: “Then let him (a messenger) stay out and let him die right there in the sun, but for (but) for the king himself there must be a profit.”
Mittani EA 17–30
Once enemies, Mitanni had become an ally of Egypt by the time of the Amarna letters. These letters were written by King Tuiseratta and dealt with various topics, such as preserving and renewing marriage alliances and sending in multiple gifts. For example, EA 22 and EA 25 in the Amarna letters are an inventory of the gifts from the Mittani king Tusratta to the pharaoh. Other notes corresponded with a gold statue addressed in EA 26 and EA 27. Akhenaten married a Mittani princess to create stronger ties between the two nations.
Hatti EA 41–44
Hatti was a kingdom in Eastern Anatolia that would later make Mitanni their vassal state. The correspondence from the Hatti comes from a king called Suppiluliumas. The subjects of the letters varied, from discussing past alliances to gift-giving and dealing with honour. In EA 42, the tablet stated how the Hittite king was offended by the pharaoh’s name written over his name. Although the text’s ending was fragmented, it was discerned as saying that he would blot out the pharaoh’s name.
Amarna Letters
The opening statement
Say to Nibmuareya, the king of Egypt, my brother: Thus Tuiseratta, the King of Mittani, your brother. For me, all is going well. For you, may all go well. For Kelu-Heba, may all go well. For your household, for your wives, for your sons, for your magnates, for your warriors, for your horses, for your chariots, and in your country, may all go very well.
William Moran discussed how the first line in these documents followed a consistent formula of “Say to PN. Thus PN.” This has variations, but it was found to be shared among all the tablets. The other is a salutation, a report of the monarch’s well-being, and the second is a series of good wishes toward the monarch. Indeed, this seems to be part of the Akkadian style of writing, which helped facilitate foreign correspondence for the long term. As scholars argued, this aided in filtering out the chauvinistic domestic ideology at home to the other monarch. This allowed diplomacy to flourish, helping the time’s relative peace.
Brotherhood
Despite the great distances between the rulers, the concept of a global village reigned.
From the time the messenger of my brother arrived here, I have not been well, and so on no occasion has his messenger eaten food and drunk spirits in my company. If you ask… your messenger, he will tell you that I have not been well and that, as far as my recovery is concerned, I am still by no means restored to health… I, for my part, became angry with my brother, saying, has my brother not heard that I am ill? Why has he shown me no concern? Why has he sent no messenger here and visited me?
As is seen in EA 7
The importance of this in EA 7 is that it demonstrates the rulers’ mindset in the Near East world at the time. The “enlarged village”, which scholars like to term, permeated their thoughts where they took the idea of brotherhood. They were related through political marriages, but the idea of a village of clans gives reason to the good wishes and updates on the monarchs’ health. The monarchs seem to have a minimal concept of the time of travel between each other and most likely saw that the village worldview they lived in applied to the long-distance correspondence of the Amarna letters. Indeed, there is a constant demonstration of love, as seen in these letters. Scholars pointed out that demonstrating good friendship had to be on the practical level of the continuous stream of gift-giving. This gift request is consistent with the various correspondence with the Great Kings.
