Editing Amarna (section)

==Life in ancient Amarna/Akhetaten==
Much of what is known about Amarna's founding is due to the preservation of a series of official boundary stelae (13 are known) ringing the perimeter of the city. These are cut into the cliffs on both sides of the Nile (10 on the east, 3 on the west) and record the events of Akhetaten (Amarna) from founding to just before its fall.<ref>{{cite book |title=Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, Revolution and Restoration |author1-link=David P. Silverman |author1=Silverman, David P |author2-link=Josef W. Wegner |author2=Wegner, Josef W |author3=Jennifer Houser |year=2006 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |department=Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology}}</ref>

[[File:Limestone fragment column showing reeds and an early Aten cartouche. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|thumb|Limestone fragment column showing reeds and an early Aten cartouche. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London]]
To make the move from Thebes to Amarna, Akhenaten needed the support of the military. [[Ay (pharaoh)|Ay]], one of Akhenaten's principal advisors, exercised great influence in this area because his father [[Yuya]] had been an important military leader. Additionally, everyone in the military had grown up together, they had been a part of the richest and most successful period in Egypt's history under [[Amenhotep III|Akhenaten's father]], so loyalty among the ranks was strong and unwavering. Perhaps most importantly, "it was a military whose massed ranks the king took every opportunity to celebrate in temple reliefs, first at Thebes and later at Amarna."<ref>{{cite book |title=Akhenaten, Egypt's False Prophet |author=Reeves, Nicholas |publisher=Thames & Hudson Ltd. |place=London, UK |year=2001}}</ref>

[[File:Siliceous limestone fragment of a statue. There are late Aten cartouches on the draped right shoulder. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|thumb|Siliceous limestone fragment of a statue. There are late Aten cartouches on the draped right shoulder. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London]]

===Religious life===
While the reforms of Akhenaten are generally believed to have been oriented towards a sort of [[monotheism]], or perhaps more accurately, [[monolatrism]], archaeological evidence shows other deities were also revered, even at the centre of the Aten cult – if not officially, then at least by the people who lived and worked there.

<blockquote>
... at Akhetaten itself, recent excavation by [[Barry Kemp (Egyptologist)|Kemp]] (2008: 41–46) has shown the presence of objects that depict gods, goddesses and symbols that belong to the traditional field of personal belief. So many examples of [[Bes]], the grotesque dwarf figure who warded off evil spirits, have been found, as well as of the goddess-monster, [[Taweret]], part crocodile, part hippopotamus, who was associated with childbirth. Also in the royal workmen's village at Akhetaten, stelae dedicated to [[Isis]] and [[Shed (deity)|Shed]] have been discovered (Watterson 1984: 158 & 208).<ref>{{cite thesis |first=Philip |last=Turner |url=https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:180305 |title=Seth – a misrepresented god in the Ancient Egyptian pantheon? |type=PhD  |publisher=[[University of Manchester]] |place=Manchester, UK |year=2012}}</ref>
</blockquote>

[[File:Fragment of tomb relief depicting four scribes at work.jpg|thumb|Scribes with pens and papyrus scrolls. Relief from Amarna]]