OI Armchair Travelers Amarna: City of the Sun God's Horizon

Social distancing have you hungry for world travel? Join NELC PhD candidate, Rebecca Wang from the comfort of your home as she guides you through an exploration of the ancient city of Amarna. Though little remains of Akhenaten's capital in middle Egypt, Rebecca provides insight to reconstruct how ancient travelers may have experienced this imposing city in the desert.
The OI Armchair Travelers series is designed to give you a taste of OI tours. Led by academics, OI tours bring you up close to the ancient world. Traveling with the OI gives you unparalleled behind the scenes access, and the opportunity to experience the sites while examining current fieldwork. To learn more about upcoming OI tours, visit: oi.uchicago.edu/programs-even...
To support this and all of our research, become a member of the Oriental Institute. To explore the benefits of joining, please visit: oi.uchicago.edu/member
Please excuse the audio and video, this podcast was recorded at-home.
2021, Oriental Institute
music: bensound.com

[@cholst1]

I love this Armchair Series!

[@edgarsnake2857]

It's always been hard for me to grasp Amarna as a subject because of the city being demolished. I thank you for bringing it to life with your lecture and slides. Greatly appreciated Rebecca.

[@tennisguyky]

Worshipping the Aten doesn’t seem all that strange since the sun literally does give life to our planet. But it must have been earth shattering for his subjects who were used to multiple gods. Akhenaten was fascinating in so many ways.

[@darrellkr]

Great lecture, information and images! Thank-you.

[@anam.caballerowilson9421]

Interesting armchair travel😊

[@romerovictoria9]

Hello! Congratulations. I consult if there are specific studies on the offering tables in the temples and represented in the tombs. I also ask if fragments of the offering table were found in the temple. Thank you!

[@eedgelord1471]

This was very interesting, thanks, specially the comparison between Aten temple and Karnak. Aten priests all had skin cancer apparently.

[@dandan3521]

Kemet

[@dnifty1]

The Ramessid Dynasty originated in the South with the first pharaoh of the 19th dynasty, Ramses I, was the son of a man named Seti. Seti is honored by his descendants and worshipers in the year 400 stela which states that Seti was "chief of the Meday" and follower of "Set from Nubt". Nubt is a town in Upper Egypt that was the birthplace of Set worship along the Nile going back to the predynastic. Nubt is called "Naqada" in modern times but in predynastic times the name was associated with the town being a gold trading center, as "nub" is the ancient term for gold. This seti also had a brother named Khaemwaset who was Viceroy of Kush whose wife was a priestess of Amun. All of these are southern in origin. The year 400 stela is a testament to this lineage. Horemheb chose Ramses I to start the 19th dynasty because his family lineage had strong Southern roots and could be moved North to maintain vigilance against enemies invading from the North. And a big reason for choosing Ramses I was due to Akhenaton not being vigilant on the Northern Borders. Keep in mind that during the New Kingdom Amun worship was declared to have originated in Gebel Barkal, which is in Kush and this deity was basically the father of all pharaohs and symbolized often as an ithyphallic figure symbolizing the demiurge and immaculate conception. All pharoahs during this time were ritually born of amun through a ceremony when the new king was coronated and the kings mother was symbolically impregnated by Amun. Akhenaton went away from this which caused much concern to the priests of Amun and institution of Divine Wife of Amun which were female priestesses and held a lot of power.

[@awuma]

Everything we know indicates that Horemheb and Paramesse came from the North and not from the South. The Nubians did not take over in Egypt until some six hundred years later.

[@dnifty1]

@@awuma The Year 400 stela is the history of the Ramessid Dynasty. What "other" history are you referring to? It says spcifically that Seti Paramesse was chief of the Medjay. It also says that they Seti was named after Set "the Nubti" or of the town Nubt in the South where Set worship originated. The Medjay were the primary police and military forces of the country. The primary centers of power in the 18th dynasty were all in the South and most of the population centers. Horemheb was not of the Ramessid dynasty. He wasn't of royal ancestry on either side anyway, but again just like the 18th dynasty started in the South, most of the power centers remained in the South because of the worship of Amun. And during the 18th dynasty the center of power was in Luxor in association with Amun worship. Amun worship was extended all the way into Sudan during the 18th dynasty and the people of Kmt declared that Amun originated in the South. So by any "history" you go by the South was always the core of and origin of the culture in the Nile Valley and the 19th dynasty was an extension of that.

[@anam.caballerowilson9421]

Athen moved to Japan the land of the rising sun

[@anthonypruitt4838]

China is

[@christosvoskresye]

"The main gauze! The man in gauze!" Sorry, but "Pi-Ramesses" sounded too much like "King Ramesses".

[@Imtahotep]

Philologists neither Egyptologists know what the ancient language sounded like; written only in consonant values, modern Egyptologists typically stick an E between the consonants to aid in pronunciation and call it a day: there were plenty King Ramesses, each one, they all had 5 different names, this can help you with which one is which: Sehetepibre mem oset seet sekum.

[@RockStarholic]

So you're premiering your video on inauguration day... that seems like a bad plan.

[@RockStarholic]

@@marktrain9498 Thank the gawds that the intertubes will forever provide an endless stream of contrarians and their 2 cents.

[@ISAC_UChicago]

While this prerecorded video will be available starting at 2 p.m (CST), it will stay up for you to watch at any time. This is not a live event.

[@JulianoVieiraDuarte]

@@ISAC_UChicago I believe the fellow's comment had more to do with the algorithm than politics. I myself am greatly looking forward to it and immensely enjoy the OI's content, and I can see that there is a point to be made about the fact that this particular video could be buried under content pertaining to the inauguration, therefore losing potential viewers. Anyways, as said, it will remain available, and the harm, if any, will probably be minor.

[@seaotter52]

@@RockStarholic Here's my 2¢, the OP was contrarian 🤔😁😁😁

[@ingurlund9657]

@@seaotter52 That's my opinion too.