112: Artistic Revolution

Akhenaten (Part 5): Amarna Art.

Around the time of his Sed-Festival, Amunhotep IV introduced a whole new form of artistic representation. Royal imagery was reworked from the ground up, including new proportions, displays and themes. In this episode, we explore the changes to relief and sculpture, and meet the artisans who put pharaoh's vision into practice...

Time Period: c.1359 BCE (regnal year 4)

King: Amunhotep IV (Nefer-kheperu-Re Wa-en-Re, Imen-Hetep)

Queen: Nefertiti (Nefer-neferu-Aten Neferet-Iti)

Locations: Thebes (Waset), Aswan (Elephantine).

Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com.

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Music by Keith Zizza (www.keithzizza.com).

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Select Bibliography:

Cyril Aldred, Akhenaten King of Egypt, 1988.

Dorothea Arnold, Lyn Green and James Allen, The Royal Women of Amarna: Images of Beauty from Ancient Egypt, 1999 (MetMuseum).

N. de Garis Davies, The Tomb of the Vizier Ramose, 1941. Archive.org.

Aidan Dodson, Amarna Sunrise, 2014.

Earl L. Ertman, “Images of Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti in the Style of the Previous Reign,” in Causing His Name to Live: Studies in Egyptian Epigraphy and History in Memory of William J. Murnane, 2009 (Google Books).

James K. Hoffmeier, Akhenaten & the Origins of Monotheism, 2015.

Lise Manniche, The Akhenaten Colossi at Karnak, 2010.

Dominic Montserrat, Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt, 2005.

Donald B. Redford, Akhenaten: The Heretic King, 1987.

Donald B. Redford, The Akhenaten Temple Project vol. II: Rwd-Mnw and Inscriptions, 1988.

Donald B. Redford, “Akhenaten: New Theories, Old Facts,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (2013): 9-34. JSTOR.

Nicholas Reeves, Akhenaten: Egypt’s False Prophet, 2005.

Gay Robins, Proportion and Style in Ancient Egyptian Art, 1994.

Gay Robins, The Art of Ancient Egypt, 1997.

Ray Winfield Smith and Donald B. Redford, The Akhenaten Temple Project vol. I: Initial Discoveries, 1976.

Joyce Tyldesley, Nefertiti’s Face: Creation of an Icon, 2018.

Richard H. Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, 2003.

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Release date

Lydbog: 19. juni 2019