364. Ancient Egypt: The Fall of Akhenaten (Ep 3)
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Why was Akhenaten’s name erased from history?
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Hello and welcome to Empire with me, Anita Arnon.
And me, William de Rimpel. Now, in the 12th year of his reign, the pharaoh Akhenaten staged the most spectacular ceremony of his rule. From across the known world, delegations came to the new capital city of Amarna bearing tribute to Ivory and gold from Nubia, painted pottery from the Aegean, horses and lapis lazuli from the kingdoms of the Near East, exotic animals, bolts of fine cloth, cedar wood from Lebanon, the tomb paintings of Akhenaten's officials recorded in extraordinary detail. Dozens of figures prostrated before the king and his queen, the rays of the Aten pouring down on all of them, Akhenaten and Nefertiti. at the absolute zenith of their power. The revolution triumphant.
It was also, as it turned out, the last great moment. Within a year, the deaths would begin. Within five years, Akhenaten himself would be dead. Within two decades, his city would be abandoned, his name erased from every single monument in Egypt. And the priests he had suppressed... Well, they would have taken their revenge so thoroughly, so entirely, that he would be remembered in later Egyptian records, when he was remembered at all, as the criminal of Akhenaten.
What led to the construction of Akhenaten's city in the desert?
Eric Klein brought us the world Akhenaten was born into. Lloyd Llewellyn Jones brought us the theology of what he built. Today, the story of how it all fell apart. And there is no better guide to that story than our guest who joins us now for his first appearance in this series. He is the author of the definitive account of this extraordinary collapse, Amana Sunset, the world's leading authority on the Amana period. We're very happy to welcome Professor Aidan Dodson of the University of Bristol. A very warm welcome to you, Aidan. And I can't not notice... The enormous, and I'm going to call it a sarcophagus because that's what it looks like to me, Aidan, right behind you. If you're listening, trust me, it's enorm.
But you're not speaking from the British Museum, I take it though.
Have you half-inched something precious and put it in your house? What's going on?
Sadly, it's an inflatable one.
Okay.
How did the Amarna Revolution reach its peak?
No! It's not one of those many missing pieces from the British Museum that we keep reading about in the papers.
I know, that was quite the scandalous story. Aidan, if you have anything to confess?
Not at all. No, this was bought from the museum shop in St. Louis, Missouri, many, many years ago. That's very disappointing.
So, William, where are we starting? Just remind us where we are at the moment.
So this is year 12 of the Amana Revolution. The Great Durbar is about to take place, and it's worth spending a moment looking at this city at its peak. And Nathan's had it built at astonishing speed. And some accounts say it's actually quite jerry-built, that when you look inside the kind of gleaming exterior, they've sort of shoved all sorts of rubbish inside. And it's like one of those sort of Indian airports that get built at double speed, and then all the bits fall apart.
What were the consequences of Akhenaten's reign on Egyptian society?
Yeah.
you're not flying in for some time to come.
There was a, there was a, can you remember when the Olympics happened? Yes. All the, all the, all the crooks in Delhi built these bridges that fell as soon as the Olympic crowds turned up. Anyway, it was that sort of thing. And, um, Within a decade, a city of 20 or 30,000 people had risen from the Bad Desert. And this is a time when, you know, there are no other cities of 20 or 30,000 people, except possibly Babylon or Ur of the Colossus. Are there any other 20,000 people cities at this period in history?
One would suspect that Memphis in Egypt certainly is, because that's the really ancient capital. And probably Thebes is a similar kind of size. But probably the idea is that
This is not Memphis as in Elvis Presley.
No, this is one just outside Cairo.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why was Akhenaten’s name erased from history?
0:00–2:01
2
What led to the construction of Akhenaten's city in the desert?
2:01–2:54
3
How did the Amarna Revolution reach its peak?
2:54–3:43
4
What were the consequences of Akhenaten's reign on Egyptian society?
3:43–4:32
5
What were the signs of trouble during Akhenaten's rule?
4:32–5:40
6
How did Akhenaten's family tragedies impact his reign?
5:40–6:19
7
What happened to the city of Amarna after Akhenaten's death?
6:19–7:41
8
How did Akhenaten's death influence the return of old religious practices?
7:41–50:06
Speakers
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