To summarize from my last post, Amarna is the modern name for the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Akhen-aten. This city was constructed for the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled from 1351-1334 BCE (Amarna Project). After Akhenaten died later pharaohs reject his new religion as heresy and moved the capital back to Thebes and then Memphis leaving the city of Akhen-aten was abandoned until thousands of years later it was rediscovered. In class this week we had group discussions about our final project regions.
(Above Is a Map That Nicely Illustrates Key Locations From the Last Post)
The biggest takeaway from my group discussion was a unique brick style that only seen in the city of Amarna that of Talatats. A talatat is a small stone block (similar to a brick) that has a very standardized size and was used for the construction of temples and palaces at the city of Amarna.
(Above is an example of a Talatat from the Great Palace With a Chariot Inscribed On It)
These stones were very easy to decorate and are often found with carved and painted decorations. In fact much of the recovered art from Amarna was lifted off of Talatats. What was ingenious about these blocks was that, “The principal use of limestone at Amarna was as wall blocks in the temples and in parts of the palaces. The blocks were cut to a common size, one cubit (52 cm) long, so of a size that one man could just lift and put into place during building.” (Amarna Project 2017).
(Notice the Corn Flower Decoration on the Talatat from the Great Palace)
Therefore these blocks were great for rapid construction projects such as Amarna which was built entirely over one pharaoh’s reign. Now that I have found the primary construction material for my Palace I need to figure out where I am going to put it. After investigating the geographical elements of Amarna, I believe that. Iam going to situate my palace to the south of Maruaten temple keeping it far away from the North Palace where the Pharaoh lives. Next week I my post will defend this decision outlying my rationale.
Works Cited:
Amarna Project (2017), “Ancient Quarries.” Amarna Project, accessed March 31th, 2019, http://www.amarnaproject.com/pages/model_of_the_city/index.shtml.
I was excited to learn about talatat blocks because I have always been really interested in Amarna and its unique features. Based on your post, it seems that these blocks functioned as both architectural and artistic elements within palaces; architecture as a meaningful art form can have a powerful effect on visitors, especially within the context of ancient Egyptian palaces. As unique as Akhenaten’s city was, I wonder if this could be a point of connection between Amarna and other examples of Egyptian architecture? (What comes immediately to mind is columns in the shape of lotuses at sites like Luxor).