✦ The Ancient Atlas

Amarna (Akhetaten)

City / RuinsEgypt

Capital city built and inhabited under the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV, c. 1346 BCE) on the east bank of the Nile in Middle Egypt, between Cairo and Luxor. Akhenaten moved the entire Egyptian court here from Thebes when he introduced the monotheistic worship of the Aten (sun disk) and abandoned the traditional pantheon. The city was built from scratch in a previously empty desert plain and completely abandoned within 25 years of its founding, after Akhenaten's death; subsequent pharaohs dismantled the structures and erased the site from the king lists. The plan of the city, its boundary stelae, the Great Aten Temple, and the royal tombs in the eastern cliffs survive. Independent investigators have documented anomalies in the bedrock-cut royal tombs not explained by the brief Amarna occupation.

27.6428°, 30.8961°

Look Closer — this site carries open questions: stones heavier than the period's tools could lift; stones fitted without mortar, almost no gap.
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Walkthrough videos (1)

Exploring Akhenaten's Fabled Capitol City At Amarna In EgyptExploring Akhenaten's Fabled Capitol City At Amarna In EgyptBrien Foerster

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