Tell el-Amarna  Tell el-Amarna, also spelled Tall al-Amarna or
Tall al-ʿAmarīnahModel of a noble’s estate at Tell el-
AmarnaCourtesy of The Oriental Institute of The University of
Chicagosite of the ruins and tombs of the city of Akhetaton
(“Horizon of Aton”) in Upper Egypt, 44 miles (71 km) north of
modern Asyūt. On a virgin site on the east bank of the Nile
River, Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV) built the city about 1348 bce as
the new capital of his kingdom when he abandoned the worship of
Amon and devoted himself to that of Aton. About four years after
Akhenaton’s death (c. 1332), the court returned to Thebes, and
the city was abandoned.  Though it had a brief existence,
Akhetaton is one of the few ancient Egyptian cities that has
been carefully excavated. Because Akhenaton chose a new, unused
site for his capital and because of the relatively short
duration of its occupancy, the excavators could reconstruct an
unusually accurate picture of the layout of the city.
“Daughters of Akhenaton,” fragment of a wall pai