Period amarnienne

The expression indicates the period during which the Pharaon Akhénaton reigned in its new capital, Akhetaton. The Arab name of the site is Such el-Amarna, from where the adjective amarnien, ienne .

On the religious level, this period was marked by a whole of single reforms in the history of old Egypt: “the king heretic” proclaimed the supremacy of the solar god Aton, closed the temples of the god thébain Amon, prohibited the worship of the traditional gods and confiscated the goods of the clergy to the profit of the State.

At the same time, it gave up Thèbes, the religious capital, and built its new capital in a desert place on average Egypt, with Such el-Amarna. The court just as the royal chancellery moved with Akhetaton and the notable ones which followed the king in his new capital were made dig their burials in cliffs surrounding the site. Built with haste and mainly out of believed bricks, the city will not resist the time proof, helped in that by the successors of Akhénaton who will seek to erase any trace of the “heresy” amarnienne.

In the field of art also, the period amarnienne is in rupture with the past: the Art amarnien is characterized by a representation of the characters, especially of the royal family, which one described of expressionnist or caricatural. This representation makes contrast with a delicate figuration of nature, a naturalism where the plants, the flowers and the animals abound.

External bonds

http://www.egypte-ancienne.fr/periode_amarnienne.htm presents to you the reforms founded under the reign of Akhenaton, Nefertiti and the daily life with Akhetaton.

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