Amarna the Place
Amarna occupies a large bay of almost flat desert hemmed in for much of its perimeter by cliffs that rise by approximately 100m to a high desert plateau. From the north headland to the south headland, both of which approach close to the Nile, is a distance of 10km. The broadest extent, between river and cliffs, is nearly 5km. Plateau and cliffs are cut by dried valleys and torrent beds (wadis) that lead further back into the desert. In the south-east, the cliffs fall back to leave a broad flat valley about 3km wide that begins above a low and very irregular terrace edge that continues the line of the cliffs.
Ancient Quarries
The principal area of ancient quarrying at Amarna is on the desert plateau behind the North City. It is most easily reached via the wadi entrance that separates the North Tombs into two groups and then by following the floor of the side wadi (Wadi Zabeida) that runs north-westwards.
Boundary Stelae
The sacred territory of Akhetaten comprised an arc of desert on the east of the Nile bounded by tall cliffs, a broad tract of agricultural land with villages across the river on the west, and a narrower strip of western desert in front of a low escarpment.
Central City
The name Central City is a modern one given to a distinct zone of the city where the two principal temples to the Aten and the main state palace were situated, as well as numerous administrative buildings.
Desert Altars
Desert Altars is the name given to a group of mud-brick buildings that lie close to the road – on the north side – that leads out to the North Tombs. They were excavated by the Egypt Exploration Society in 1931–2.
North Cliffs Cemetery
Most of the population of Amarna were buried in one of four large cemeteries on the desert outskirts of the city. The largest of these cemeteries (the South Tombs Cemetery) lies in a wadi beside the South Tombs. The other three burial grounds are located near the North Tombs (the North Cliffs, North Desert and North Tombs Cemeteries).
North Tombs Cemetery
Most of the population of Amarna were buried in one of four large cemeteries on the desert outskirts of the city. The largest of these cemeteries (the South Tombs Cemetery) lies in a wadi beside the South Tombs. The other three burial grounds are located near the North Tombs (the North Cliffs, North Desert and North Tombs Cemeteries).
North Desert Cemetery
Most of the population of Amarna were buried in one of four large cemeteries on the desert outskirts of the city. The largest of these cemeteries (the South Tombs Cemetery) lies in a wadi beside the South Tombs. The other three burial grounds are located near the North Tombs (the North Cliffs, North Desert and North Tombs Cemeteries).
South Tombs Cemetery
Most of the population of Amarna were buried in one of four large cemeteries on the desert outskirts of the city. The largest of these cemeteries (the South Tombs Cemetery) lies in a wadi beside the South Tombs. The other three burial grounds are located near the North Tombs (the North Cliffs, North Desert and North Tombs Cemeteries).
Kom el-Nana
This local name is given to an enclosure south of the Main City and to the east of the modern village of el-Hagg Qandil, originally built by Akhenaten as a sun temple.
Main City
Main City is a convenient term to apply to the area of the city, largely given over to housing, that extends southwards from the Central City for a distance of 2.7km.
Maru Aten
Maru-Aten is the ancient name for a building that stood in the desert to the south of the main city, near the modern village of El-Hawata. It was briefly explored by the Egypt Exploration Society in 1922.
North City
The North City occupies a triangular piece of ground between the river and the lower slope of the approaching cliff that eventually reaches the river bank and closes the Amarna plain to the north.
North Palace
An isolated rectangular building, in modern times called the North Palace, stands between the North Suburb and the North City, facing west towards the river and standing perpendicularly on a line a little back from the prolongation of Royal Road.
North Suburb
The name North Suburb has been given to a large area of ancient housing that lay separated by empty desert from the Central City to the south, and from the North Palace to the north.
North Tombs
The northern group of rock tombs are situated on the north-east side of the desert plain, where the cliff reaches a height of about 85 m.
Royal Tomb
The Royal Tomb lies in a narrow side valley leading off from the Royal Wadi at a distance of 6 kms from its mouth. It was intended for Akhenaten, princess Meketaten, and probably for Queen Tiy.
South Tombs
The South Tombs belonged to a broader range of officials than those in the north, from a chief of police, to the “God’s Father” Ay, who was later to become king.
Stone Village
The low plateau that shelters the Workmen’s Village is also the setting for the Stone Village, which lies nestled in a shallow valley on its eastern face.
Workmen’s Village
This is the name given to an isolated settlement tucked into a south-facing valley in the low plateau that runs westwards from the cliffs and divides the eastern part of the Amarna plain in two.
The individual parts of the city occupy three zones:
- The line of the cliffs is marked by two sets of rock monuments of the Amarna Period. One is a series of carved tablets and statues (the Boundary Stelae) by which Akhenaten marked out the limits of Akhetaten. The other comprises two groups of rock tombs (the North Tombs and South Tombs) that belonged to Akhenaten’s courtiers and high officials. They are decorated with carved and painted scenes in the distinctive style of Akhenaten’s reign. A third group of rock-cut tombs lies much further back, along one of the wadis. These were intended for the royal family, and include the Royal Tomb. The upper surface of the desert plateau was also utilised for the extraction of limestone needed for royal buildings and for columns and doorframes in private houses. Many Ancient Quarries are preserved, mostly towards the northern end of the site.
- Scattered across the intermediate zone of low desert are the Desert Altars, that lie between the North Suburb and the North Tombs, and the Workmen’s Village and Stone Village, which occupy locations on the flanks of a low plateau that juts out into the Amarna plain almost on its middle line.
- The ancient city itself lay alongside the river, which seems to have followed a course very similar to its present one. Originally it probably extended directly to the river bank, but in later ages a strip of cultivated land developed which all but destroyed the western edge of the city. What is left is a discontinuous strip of ruined buildings on the desert running for a distance of 6 kms south from the northern headland and having a maximum width near the centre of 1 km.
The city is, for the most part, covered with sand or badly eroded. None of the stonework of temples or palaces survives, for this was removed after the end of the Amarna Period. What was left behind were the walls of sun-dried mud brick (adobe) from which the houses and large parts of the palaces had been constructed. These have been reduced to ruins by wind, occasional rain, and human reuse of building materials, and are now largely sanded over. A continuing programme of cleaning and repair is gradually making more of the city accessible.
The city divides into a number of zones, to which modern names have been given. The Central City was home to the main palaces, temples to the sun, and administrative buildings. Running directly south was a dense area of houses, the Main City, with a more thinly developed southern extension, the South Suburb. To the north of the Central City, after a gap, came another area of housing, the North Suburb. Further north still lay the isolated North Palace, and beyond this, and nestling on rising ground at the foot of the cliffs, the North City.
In the latter part of the twentieth century a major agricultural development turned the southern part of the Amarna plain into farmland. In the course of this an isolated garden-temple of the Amarna Period, Maru-Aten, was completely destroyed. A second similar building, Kom el-Nana which had been partly built over in early Christian times by a monastery, still survives as an island of desert within the fields.
The geographic co-ordinates of the Central City are: 27˚ 38´ 52.87˝ N and 30˚ 53´ 56.97˝ E.