The site chosen by Akhenaten for his new capital lies about halfway
between Cairo and Luxor on the East bank of the Nile . Here the cliffs of the
high desert recede from the river, leaving a great semicircle about eight miles
long and three broad .
At intervals in the cliffs great clefts make their
appearance . These are dry torrent beds or wadys cut by the force of the
water which drains off from the downpours of rain which occur periodically
between the Nile and the Red Sea . Along these wadys run old forgotten tracks leading to the ports
and trading stations to the east . On the summit of the cliffs can still be
made out the routes of the patrols which run along the level rim, stopping
short at the wadys across which they could
challenge each other . Such a system must have been very necessary, since the
high desert then, as now, was the refuge of outlaws, and the parties of Mazoi or police setting out on a man-hunt in the hills
must have been as frequent a sight at that time as is that of the Sudanese
camel-police to-day engaged in the same work .
In the face of the cliffs themselves were carved huge boundary stelae
setting the limits of the city and telling the story of its foundation . There
are fourteen steles in two sets ( eleven were carved in the eastern mountain,
and three in the western mountain ) . The first were carved soon after the
fourth year of Akhenaten's reign when he originally decided upon the spot for
his new capital . The later ones date from the sixth year when the city, or
part of it, was an accomplished fact, and on the latter a reiteration of his
vows was made in the eighth year .
More stelae occur on the West bank, enclosing a vast area of fertile
ground . Here we may see the land allotted for the fields and estates belonging
to the city – for certainly the city proper did not extend to the other side of
the river . Naturally Akhenaten wished his city to be self-supporting . There
must always have been in the back of his mind the possibility of trouble in the
rest of Egypt and his city's being isolated . Both the pictures in the tombs,
which depict a river front, and the excavations which show that many of the
ancient remains lie below the narrow strip of modern cultivation, seem to
indicate that in those days the cultivation on the East bank did not exist and
that the houses ran right down to the river . Probably then the West bank was
devoted to the supply of the immediate needs of the city and supported a few
villages of farm labourers and the bailiffs and servants of the great nobles .
On the East bank the city straggled north and south in
a haphazard way along the river .
The main thoroughfares run parallel to the Nile . The Chief of them,
called even to this day the Sikket
el-Sultan, the King's Way, serves all the most important buildings in the city .
It may even have been in existence as a regular road before the city was built
. At the South end lies Maru-Aten, a pleasure palace of the King, with a lake
and pavilions with gaily painted pavements . The road runs north through the
main city and passes between the Palace and the Royal House . Here it is
spanned by a bridge with three openings . Above this must have been the Window
of Appearance at which Pharaoh would display himself in splendour and throw down
the gold of his favour to his faithful followers . Further north it serves the
Great Temple . Then it becomes one of the main streets of the modern village of
El-Till, and beyond that can be traced at intervals in the modern cultivation .
It emerges again for a few hundred yards by the North Palace, re-enters the
cultivation and finally comes out between the great wall which fronts the
Queen's Palace and the large mansions of the North City . Another important
road is High Priest Street, some way further East, from which the estates of
many great nobles and officials were entered . This is continued as West Road
in the North Suburb . Further East still lies East Road . These roads are
connected by others at right angles to them . But there seems to be little
town-planning as we know it, except in the Official Quarters of the city .
Estates, roughly rectangular in shape, were allotted when the city was founded
. The wealthier classes took care to take up those which lined the main roads,
leaving the inner space for the less rich . Sometimes a claimholder was unable
to take up his allotment and sublet it, so that we find a group of small houses
all enclosed within the boundaries of what was originally intended to be one
large estate . At the North end of the North Suburb, which was the direction in
which the city was expanding at the end of the period, we find that in many
cases the boundary trenches have been dug, sometimes the estate walls have been
built but the owner had not had time to build his house before the city was
deserted . In one case, however, the owner had completed his house even to the
interior decoration . All that remained was to hoist into position over his
front door the stone lintel which would give his name and titles . The lintel
had been hauled up to the steps when the order came to leave the city, and
there it was found – roughly blocked out .
As we have said, there seems to be little town-planning except in the
Official Quarters . These cover roughly a square kilometre and are situated in
the centre of the bay . To the North lay the Great Temple of the Sun's Disk
which was to be the crowning achievement of the whole city, with its annexes,
the Hall of Foreign Tribute, the house of Penehsy the Chief Servitor of the
god, its priests' house and magazines ( storerooms ) . To the South lie the
Royal Magazines ( storerooms ) for tribute and the storing of the taxes . Next
comes the Royal Estate with its Private Temple . East of this lies the Foreign
Office with its Records Magazine ( storeroom ) – the " Place of the
Correspondence of Pharaoh " as the bricks are inscribed . Next door is the
University or " House of Life ", where the young scribes learnt
calligraphy and the art of administration . To the South are rows of clerks'
houses all built on a single plan and sharing walls with their neighbours . To
the East lie more magazines ( storerooms ) and finally the barracks of the
police with the commandant's house, the dormitories and armouries, and the
great parade ground with a deep well in the middle, long cobbled stables with
mangers and tethering stones to the East and stations for a " flying squad
", in the square itself, to be perpetually in readiness .
This central part of the city was particularly well laid out . The various blocks are self-contained and are divided up by streets as straight as an Egyptian could be expected to make them . The Royal Estate and the Palace together with the Great Temple front on to the main road . The official house of Penehsy has easy access both to the Temple and to his own private house to the South ; a track which must have been made by his passage from one to the other is still visible on the surface of the desert at evening . The barracks are on the edge of the desert so that a clear view could be obtained of any suspicious movement towards the hills and, even more important, there was a clear run for the chariots on the level desert to a point opposite any scene of disturbance in the city before having to traverse narrow streets .
That part of the city which lies to the South of the Official Quarters was probably the first to be built . Here are the great mansions of the most important nobles – Nakht the Vizier, Pa-wah a High priest, General Ramose, Penehsy's private house, that of Ranefer Master of Horse, and many other estates yet unexcavated . Here too was a sculptors' quarter, just north of the broad wady which divides this part of the city in two . It was in this area that the master-sculptor Tuthmosis lived, in whose house were found the numerous works of art now mostly in the Museum at Berlin . Just South of the Palace lies the centre of the glass-making industry .
Part ( 3 ) .. Coming
SoOoOon .....
Uploading ..... ↻
Follow us to receive
our latest posts, Leave your comment and Tell your friends about our Blog ..
Thank you ☺☺
No comments:
Post a Comment