Lucía Jiménez Bazán A01213326

Camila Saavedra Lozano A01210873

René Jesús Flores Vega A01127853

Urban Theory

Prof. Silvia Mejía

Group: 1

28 – January – 2015

ANCIENT EGYPT: AMARNA

INTRODUCTION

Among all the cultures of ancient times, one of the most important and relevant ones

was Ancient Egypt. This is mainly due the great amount of mathematical, architectural

and cultural advances that were develop by the Egyptians in almost 3000 years of

civilization. The Egyptian Empire rose along the coast of the Nile River in northern

Africa, which gave them a great growth opportunity as the Nile every year, floods its

coasts irrigating and creating fertile lands. The Nile also worked as a transport axis,

which helped to communicate all cities of the Empire.

Egyptian cities are not conserved in good conditions, mainly because they were built

with mud bricks and other organic material, and most parts of the cities had little to none

urban planning. The reason for this was that most construction materials and handwork

were used in the construction of religious buildings like the temples and tombs that are

known worldwide. Another important factor that shaped Egyptian cities was their lack of

enemies on the area, which translated into the lack of any protection walls or

architectures. Also the geographical conditions of their location surrounded by the

dessert or mountains helped as a natural barrier against any possible threats.

One of the most important characteristics of Ancient Egypt civilization was its culture,

which was developed around their polytheistic religion. Egyptians believed in many

gods that represented different concepts of life and nature, however there was a main

cult to the god of life and fertility Amun. Most festivities were related to religious events

with ceremonies taking part inside the restricted access temples.

The capital of the empire was Thebes, where all the main economical and political

activities were held. The religious capital was Karnak, a temples settlement near

Thebes were priest had their ceremonies. Thebes was the home of the Pharaoh,

Egypt’s ruler of sacred origins.

Among all the rulers of Ancient Egypt, one of the most relevant ones was Amenhotep

IV, who later changed his name to Akhenaten due to his religious believes. Akhenaten

decided as he rose to power to change Egyptian religion to a monotheist believe in

Aten, the sun god, often represented as a sun disk. The controversy created by his

political and religious reforms caused that after his death he was referred as the heretic

king and erased from most records.

Of the many changes that Akhenaten’s period meant for the Egyptian society, one of

the most important ones was the capital relocation from Thebes on the southern (or

upper) part of the empire to a newborn city on the western bound of the Nile called

Amarna during his reign from 1353 B.C. to 1336 B.C.

CITY ORIGINS

The Ancient Egypt had its capital in Thebes, now Luxor. This ancient capital used to be

ruled by the pharaoh, the priest and above all of them, the Gods. This place was a

polytheist place, which means that they used to believe in more than one God, but the

most important one was Amon, the God of fertility and creation. Akhenaten wasn’t

actually a “true believer” of this polytheism, he instead believed in a main God above all

of the other ones, Aten or “Sun Disc”. The problem came, as this great religious

changes demanded too much of the same place were all the other Gods had their

temples. The capital was conceived as an unholy and unpractical place for this new

kingdom of his, so Akhenaten decided to move the capital to a new location, a virgin

land for Aten. He decided to do it in what nowadays would be halfway between Luxor

and Cairo, on the eastside of the Nile River. This place was baptized as Akhet-Aten, or

also known as Tell el-Amarna. This way he saw his new city be born and prosper for the

short time of his reign. However, after his death and forty years after it’s foundation the

capital was moved back to Thebes and Tell el-Amarna was ravished and deleted from

most official records.

THE CITY AND ITS URBAN PLANNING

The new city of Amarna was rapidly built with the used of sundried mud brick

techniques instead of the regular stone construction method used in temples and

palaces.

The new capital was located at the exact middle point between Cairo and Luxor, at 250

miles away from both on the eastern shores of the Nile. The new location was chosen

because of the topography of the land, near the Nile River and mostly because of the

surrounding cliffs, which had an opening at the exact point where the sun would rise

every morning, this had an incredible resemblance to the sun god birth hieroglyphic and

was interpreted as a holly place for Sun Disc God. The city had a boundary stelae

carved in the cliffs that surround it, attributing the choice of this site.

Photo taken from: civilization.org.uk

Photo taken from: Christine Hobson, The World of the Pharaos, New

York: Thames and Hudson, 1987, 0.108.

The city had a linear urban development following the Nile, with three main streets,

parallel to the river. Its maximum length was about eight kilometers and had a width of

around 1 km making it a relatively small but dense city, as the urban layout and housing

suggests. The city was built without an actual urban plan. This meant that the citizens

erected buildings where they felt it was convenient, and it started to grow in an irregular

haphazard way. There is even some evidence that suggest that Pharaoh Akhenaten

didn’t have all the resources or time to control and project the rapid urban growth or its

population.

One of the most important things of the city is that it was divided into suburbs attributing

the first urban sprawling to be discovered according to BBC documentary Amarna:

Egypt's Other Lost City.

The main city is to be known as Central City, which contains the housing for the Royal

Place, the Great Temple Per-Aten, middle class housing, taxes and political offices and

other services; while the rest of the citizens lived south to Central City. Among the main

aspects that ruled the urban planning of Amarna were that the wealthier the person, the

better spot he could choose to build it property, this meant to be close to the river or

Central City and is a clear example of the notion of division of property that was already

present in the society.

Diagram of the construction of the city. Rich people started building on their chosen lands, followed by the middle

classes and finally the lower classes, who built inside the gaps that were left.

ARCHITECTURE: HOUSING

The housing areas were built without an actual plan for their location. There were no

blocks, parcels or lot land size established. Most of the middle class families built their

houses under subsides given by Akhenaten to lure the population of the new city.

A neighborhood was conformed by all type of houses: the high class people, who could

choose their land so they built in the main streets, the medium class took the vacant

spaces, that were left from the high class houses, and the low class lived in the gaps

between the rest of the other houses. However, there was a very distinctive division

between the classes, which meant for the lower class people and workers to be

segregated and secluded to selected parts of the city.

A typical high class house was composed of three main sections:

1. The living quarters were the bedrooms where. The master bedroom had its own

bathroom while the other bedrooms would have to share a common one.

2. The garden, a main and important status element and well, which was a central

part of the house as it supplied drinking water and helped in the maintenance of

the garden and house.

3. The workers and servants quarters, this part was secluded and hidden from the

rest of the house behind a wall on the southern part of the building.

THIS IS THE REPLICA OF A GRAND HOUSE. WHICH WERE MADE OF SUN-BAKED BRICK AND SURROUNDED BY A HIGH WALL. GARDENS WITH LOTTUS FLOWERS ARE SET OFF AT THE UPPER RIGHT, COW-PENS AT THE EAST REAR OF THE HOUSE. WORKERS ROOM (SUCH AS SCRIBES,CARPENTERS,VINTNERS AND HERDSMEN), KITCHENS, SERVANT’S QUARTERS AND STABLE ARE LOCATED IN THE REAR SOUTH PART OF THE HOUSE.

http://mitchtestone.blogspot.mx/2012/02/egyptian-nobleman.html

ARCHITECTURE: PALACES

There were four palaces in the city. These were also oriented in the same direction as

the temple and had very specific locations. None of them had the same form. The

program contained the palace, the administrative facilities, storage and workshops, all

of this in order to support the royal family, the court and the temple cults.

Taken!from!www.egipto.host22.com

4 PALACES IN THE CITY WHICH VARY CONSIDERABLY IN FORM, PLUS ALL THE ADMINISTRATIVE FACILITIES, STORAGE AND WORKSHOPS NECESSARY TO SUPPORT THE ROYAL FAMILY, COURT AND THE TEMPLE CULTS.!!!

THE WORKMENS VILLAGE

It’s believed it was used as a housing development for the workers of the rock tombs

and temples; it was settlement on the east side of the city. Its main characteristic is that

it was a walled enclosure of regular houses along parallel streets with defined axis, and

only one exit. The architecture of this neighborhood was known for having uniform style

houses, with no gardens and an outdoor patio. The main reason for this being the only

part of the city with a defined pattern was that it was built for functionality, trying to

house as many workers in a secluded space as possible and control them. This shows

the hard segregation and division of labor that was present during ancient Egypt and

that was reflected upon their architecture.

Source: http://ib205.tripod.com/workmen_village.html

ART

The Ancient Egyptian art was generally formal, and presented an idealized version of

the subject matter which often encompassed many layers of meaning. When depicting

people, traditional art stuck closely to strict guidelines and formal poses. With

Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV), a new form of art with more fluent motives evolved, also

known as "naturalistic”. The use of strangely and characteristic elongated skulls, wide

feminine hips, spindly legs, a pendent breast and a rounded or sagged belly

characterized this new style.

In the Amarna period existed 3 art phases:

− First phase: The kings’ family was depicted with standard body sizes and

shapes.

− Second phase: During the commands of sculptor Bek, they started to

depict with feminine curves, heavy thights and belly, half-closed eyes, full

lips, and a long face and neck.

− Third phase: Thutmose, the chief sculptor, depicted with more natural

conventions but kept the elongated skull. His work is a clear example of

the actual knowledge Egyptians had of the human form and its

proportions.

One of the most important representations of this art is the famous bust of Nefertiti.

Thutmose was the sculptor who made it, highlighting her features in a distinct and

individual way and giving one of the few actual and realistic representations of the

Egyptians physique.

Image taken from:

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/amarnaperiod

.htm

Image taken from:

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/ama

rnaperiod.htm

POLITICS

The main political relevance of Amarna was on its reason to be created as a new

capital. This meant for it to be a symbol of Akhenaten’s period and intentions of

seclusion so he could start his new religious policies. A clear example of this can be

found in the Amarna Letters, which were a diplomatic written on stone. They were the

most important 'records' founded in the city. These letters were sent to Akhenaten from

the kings of Babylonia, Assyria, Hatti and Mitanni, minor kings and rulers of the Near

East, and vassals of the Egyptian Empire. In this letters, written in a cuneiform

language, they request for help (money and military troops), and complaints about the

moving of the capital. The lack of response from Akhenaten to this requests shows the

level of seclusion and religious devotion that composed his ruling period and some of

the reasons why, after he died, actions were made to erase what he had done.

DAWN OF AMARNA

Once Akhenaten died Neferneferuaten followed him. A female ruler who is thought to be

Nefertiti. Neferneferuaten continued to rule Egypt from Amarna but only until her dead

two years later. The next ruler, Tutankhamen, was the son of Akhenaten and one of his

other wifes, he decided to take the capital back to Thebes along with reinstalling the old

religion. This caused the abandonment of Amarna after just 40 years of being built. As a

way of deleting this part of Egyptian history, all evidence of Akhenaten along with most

of Amarna was deleted, hence the lack of information that remains of the city.

FINAL REMARKS

The Amarna period is one of the most iconic moments of the Ancient Egyptian Empire

as it was a breakpoint both political and religiously. The reforms promoted by

Akhenaten during his period that gave place to the birth of Amarna were a radical

change which meant that the city, as a new place for the reforms to take place, had to

be built under extremely fast conditions and had little to non planning. This caused the

urban sprawl of the city with the workmen’s village being the only part of it with an

standardized house type and defined axis due to the functionality required to house as

many workers as they could on a limited secluded space. Another effect of the fast pace

that Akhenaten required for Amarna started some political and urban actions like

housing subsides that were necessary in order to populate the city and lure wealthy

people to the new capital.

In conclusion Amarna was a very short period in the long line time of the Egyptian

history, nevertheless it is a very important part of it’s history, this is because it meant the

institution of monotheism in Egypt, leaving behind the polytheism and dedicating the city

to Aten. It also meant a new beginning in the urban development because it started out

with a city plan based on axis, and then the city was left to grow in a more disorganized

way, leaving the city to the urban sprawl. In Amarna clear examples of the segregations,

labor divisions that that were made for the lower classes are present. Also the way the

city grew by the location of houses depending on the wealth of their owners shows the

way property was divided and built. Amarna was a period, which not only imposed a

new religious way and life style, but also created different politics and arts. Overall it

was too much to take for the general population and religious members of Ancient

Egypt, so it ended up in the worst way, with hatred to the dynasty, and the wish to left

behind the city erasing almost entirely 40 years of Egyptian history.

Bibliography:

A.E.J. MORRIS. (1984). History of Urban Form. Before the Industrial Revolutions..

Barcelona: Gustavo Gili.

http://www.bergerfoundation.ch/Akhenaton/en/table.html

http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-maps-conquest-amarna-tablets-letters-

akhenaten-habiru-abiru-hebrews-1404-1340bc.htm

http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/index.html Ancient Egypt Online, by Jenny Hill.

Biblical Archeology,

http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/arc/amarna01/amarna.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/akhenaten_01.shtml

http://katherinestange.com/egypt/citycentremap.htm

by Kate Stange Copyright © 1996-2000. Last updated March 1, 2000.

http://www.egipto.host22.com/mapas/mapa_tell_el_amarna3.html

http://discoveringegypt.com/ancient-egyptian-kings-queens/akhenaten/

http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/semitic/amarna.html

Pharaohs of the Sun, p 14.

1. Ancient Egypt: The Great Discoveries.

2. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization by Barry Kemp (Routledge, 1989)

3. Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1994,

p. 236, Figure 13.

4. http://www.civilization.org.uk/miscellaneous/amarna-and-pompeii-the-towns