Great Temple of the Aten

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¤ṜĎThe Great Temple of the Aten is located in the abandoned city of Akhetaten (modern Amarna, in Egypt). It is one of the 2 major temples in the city, the other being the Small Aten Temple.


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 structures. A portion of the northern section of this temple is now partially buried under a modern cemetery.[1]

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[edit] 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.

[edit] Exploration

Project leader Sarah Parcak of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, "Based on the coins and pottery we found, it appears to be a massive regional center that traded with Greece, Turkey and Libya."

This is part of a larger project aiming to map as much of ancient Egypt's archaeological sites, or "tells," as possible before they are destroyed or covered by modern development.[2]

[edit] Image gallery

[edit] Sculptural fragments from the temple

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Great Aten Temple at Tell el-Amarna, Middle Egypt (satellite photograph by DigitalGlobe)
  2. ^ Ancient Egyptian City Spotted From Space
  • George Hart, A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Routledge, 1986
  • Barry Kemp, Amarna Reports IV, Egypt Exploration Society, 1987
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