Wedel, C. 2005. Nofretete und das Geheimnis von Amarna. – Mainz am Rhein, Philipp von Zabern (Zaberns Bildbände zur Archäologie)

Abstract

One of the most brilliant pieces of art known from Egypt is the bust of Nefertiti, wife of Akhenaten. Akhenaten, during whose reign the art and religion of Egypt were marked by revolutionary change, founded a new city in his fifth regnal year: Akhetaten (‘Horizon of the Aten’), at the place nowadays known as El–Amarna in Middle Egypt. The new capital however, was soon after Akhenaten’s death (he reigned for about 18 years) abandoned.

Amarna is one of the best preserved examples of an Egyptian New Kingdom settlement, but unlikely to have been a typical Egyptian city (Shaw & Nicholson, 1997: 26). Various excavators worked at the site among which Flinders Petrie and Leonard Woolley. The British Egyptologist Barry Kemp works since the 1970s at the site (extensively published, among others the Amarna reports; see ‘Cited literature’ below). Read more...