OI Armchair Travelers Amarna: City of the Sun God's Horizon

Social distancing have you hungry for world travel? Join NELC PhD candidate, Rebecca Wang from the comfort of your home as she guides you through an exploration of the ancient city of Amarna. Though little remains of Akhenaten's capital in middle Egypt, Rebecca provides insight to reconstruct how ancient travelers may have experienced this imposing city in the desert.

Please excuse the audio and video, this podcast was recorded at-home.

2021, Oriental Institute

[edgarsnake]

It's always been hard for me to grasp Amarna as a subject because of the city being demolished. I thank you for bringing it to life with your lecture and slides. Greatly appreciated Rebecca.

[tennisguyky]

Worshipping the Aten doesn’t seem all that strange since the sun literally does give life to our planet. But it must have been earth shattering for his subjects who were used to multiple gods. Akhenaten was fascinating in so many ways.

[darrellkr]

Great lecture, information and images! Thank-you.

[eedgelord]

This was very interesting, thanks, specially the comparison between Aten temple and Karnak. Aten priests all had skin cancer apparently.

[widescreennavel]

I bet the musicians performing for the king included Ancient Egypt's own version of wingnut artists, Kid Rock and Kanye types, for sure!

[dnifty]

The Ramessid Dynasty originated in the South with the first pharaoh of the 19th dynasty, Ramses I, was the son of a man named Seti. Seti is honored by his descendants and worshipers in the year 400 stela which states that Seti was "chief of the Meday" and follower of "Set from Nubt". Nubt is a town in Upper Egypt that was the birthplace of Set worship along the Nile going back to the predynastic. Nubt is called "Naqada" in modern times but in predynastic times the name was associated with the town being a gold trading center, as "nub" is the ancient term for gold. This seti also had a brother named Khaemwaset who was Viceroy of Kush whose wife was a priestess of Amun. All of these are southern in origin. The year 400 stela is a testament to this lineage. Horemheb chose Ramses I to start the 19th dynasty because his family lineage had strong Southern roots and could be moved North to maintain vigilance against enemies invading from the North. And a big reason for choosing Ramses I was due to Akhenaton not being vigilant on the Northern Borders. Keep in mind that during the New Kingdom Amun worship was declared to have originated in Gebel Barkal, which is in Kush and this deity was basically the father of all pharaohs and symbolized often as an ithyphallic figure symbolizing the demiurge and immaculate conception. All pharoahs during this time were ritually born of amun through a ceremony when the new king was coronated and the kings mother was symbolically impregnated by Amun. Akhenaton went away from this which caused much concern to the priests of Amun and institution of Divine Wife of Amun which were female priestesses and held a lot of power.

[romerovictoria]

Hello! Congratulations. I consult if there are specific studies on the offering tables in the temples and represented in the tombs. I also ask if fragments of the offering table were found in the temple. Thank you!

[anam.caballerowilson]

Athen moved to Japan the land of the rising sun

[christosvoskresye]

"The main gauze! The man in gauze!" Sorry, but "Pi-Ramesses" sounded too much like "King Ramesses".

[RockStarholic]

So you're premiering your video on inauguration day... that seems like a bad plan.