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Information About

Great Temple Of The Aten




Known as ''House of Aten in Akhetaten'', it was constructed around year 9 of Akhenaten 's reign. Unlike temples to other Egyptian gods it consisted of a huge area of courts and offering tables. The 'public' spaces started with the ''House of Rejoicing'' (''Per-Hay''), and the ''Meeting Aten'' (''Gem-Aten'') area, where the offering tables and courts were. The main sanctuary to the east was where Akhenaten and Nefertiti would act as intermediaries for the people to the god.

The temple was quickly constructed, mostly out of mud-brick and Talatat , so when it went out of use, this material was easy to reuse in other stuctures. The area of this temple is now partial under a modern cemetary.


EXCAVATION


Flinders Petrie was the first person to work in the temple, and his assistant, Howard Carter excavated in the sanctuary area. However, it was John Pendlebury who actually fully mapped this area during his excavations in 1935. The EES Amarna Survey project returned to re–dig the site and corrected some mistakes in the mapping.


EXTERNAL LINKS



REFERENCES

  • George Hart, A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Routledge, 1986

  • Barry Kemp, Amarna Reports IV, Egypt Exploration Society, 1987