Amarna Layout

The City - Amarna - Capital Cities

Layout

There are 4 Districts to the city which are now known – for ease of reference – as:

North City; constructed around the Northern Palace. The Royal Family lived to the rear; the remainder of the Palace was open air to celebrate the God Aten and was reserved for the greeting of guests – ambassadors and emissaries from abroad – and where God Aten was worshipped

Central City; designed around the Great Temple and the Small Temple of God Aten; and tended to be used for the administrative working centre of Akhetaten, along with the quarters for those workers

Southern Suburbs; the residential suburbs for the Nobles and wealthier Egyptians with large House and Estates. Such as Vizier Nakhtpaaten, Noble Ranefer, Panehesy; High Priest of the Aten, and Ramose; Master of Horses

Outskirts; lived in by the Farmers to provide the City with their food and the home of the Tombs of the Royal Family

Boundary Stelae

14 Boundary Stelae encircled the Capital. The earliest remaining Stelae that exists is Boundary Stelae K which has been dated to Year 5, IV Peret (Month 8), Day 13 of Akhenaten’s Reign

“His Majesty mounted a great chariot of electrum, like the Aten when He rises on the horizon and fills the land with His love, and took a goodly road to Akhetaten, the place of origin, which the Aten had created for Himself that he might be happy therein. It was His son Akhenaten who founded it for Him as His monument when His Father commanded him to make it. Heaven was joyful, the earth was glad every heart was filled with delight when they beheld him………This is the theme of the occasion which is illustrated in the lunettes of the stelae where he stands with his queen and eldest daughter before an altar heaped with offerings under the Aten, while it shines upon him rejuvenating his body with its rays”

Central Akhetaten

Great Temple of Aten, Central Akhetaten

The Great Palace, Central Akhetaten

My interpretation of what the Great Palace may have looked like