The ancient Egyptian city of Tell el-Amarna (or simply Amarna) was the short-lived capital built by the ‘heretic’ Pharaoh Akhenaten and abandoned shortly after his death (c. 1332 BCE). It was here that he pursued his vision of a society dedicated to the cult of one god, the power of the sun (the Aten). As well as this historic interest Amarna remains the largest readily accessible living-site from ancient Egypt. It is thus simultaneously the key to a chapter in the history of religious experience and to a fuller understanding of what it was like to be an ancient Egyptian. There is no other site like it. (from http://www.amarnaproject.com/)

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The Tell Amarna project is lead by Egyptologists Barry Kemp and Anna Stevens. Read below for some of their answers to your questions about Egypt and Amarna!

1. What would happen if the pharaoh did not have any children?

Egypt was run by a group of people consisting of the royal family and of individuals who had gained a prominent position through a separate power base. By the latter part of the New Kingdom this was commonly the army. We have no sources that give us an inside picture of the succession from one king to another. But there is enough evidence to show that sometimes personal ambition and intrigue interfered with the ideal succession of the eldest son inheriting from his father. If there was no son, there would always have been individuals who would seek to become the next king. In some cases the next king, whatever his family roots, strengthened his position by marrying the king’s eldest daughter. We have a letter written by a recently widowed queen (probably Ankhsenamun, wife of Tutankhamun) to the king of the Hittites seeking to marry one of his sons (who would have become Pharaoh) because there was no man in Egypt who, in the queen’s opinion, was of sufficient status. The plan failed, and a man who was probably an elderly uncle (his name, Ay) became the next king, seemingly marrying Ankhsenamun himself. He was succeeded by the leading military officer of the time (Horemheb) who seems to have come from a different family. In other words, personal politics played a large part.

Once a successor was agreed by the inner group, then a process was followed of giving him legitimacy. This was done through grand pageants at the main temple (at Thebes during the New Kingdom and later). One element could be a piece of theatre in which a statue of the god Amun, whilst being carried in procession in the temple, sought out the chosen person and gave a clear sign that this was to be the next ruler (I say ruler, to accommodate the case of Queen Hatshepsut, who was made ‘king’ on the death of her husband and given legitimacy by means of this oracle).

2. Did Ancient Egyptians like Akhenaten as much as they did his father?

It is impossible to assess the degree of popular support for Akhenaten. He clearly offended powerful interests. Amongst them we can assume were army leaders since, in the end, the kingship passed first to the general Horemheb, then to a military family from the north of Egypt who became the Nineteenth Dynasty (Sety I and Ramesses II were amongst its kings). They controlled ‘the media’, in other words the formal record of events in Egypt as they were recorded on temple walls and similar inscriptions.

One might guess that some people found Akhenaten’s ideas exciting or, at least, mildly appealing. But their voices are lost to us.

3. What was the most commonly found object at Amarna?

Broken pieces of pottery – potsherds. The Egyptians used large quantities of mass-produced pottery, for the transport and storage of many different kinds of perishable materials and in the preparation and eating of food. The pots were well made but were often in a fairly soft ceramic fabric that broke easily. The larger vessels could break into a great many pieces. It is common, on archaeological sites in Egypt, to see the ground carpeted with potsherds, and parts of Amarna are like this.

The next most common object is either a bead or a piece of a finger ring made from a bright blue or blue-green glazed material called faience. It was cheap and easy to produce, looked attractive and also broke easily.