Creation of Ritual Space in the Non-Royal Tombs of Amarna Restricted; Files Only
Butner, Amy C. (Spring 2020)
Published
Abstract
Over the course of his brief reign, the 18th dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep IV instituted seemingly drastic changes to Egyptian art and religion. He shifted ritual focus away from the god Amun, the traditional ‘king of the gods’, and created a new cult to the deified sun-disk, a god named Aten. The king changed his own name to Akhenaten, closed Amun’s temples, and abandoned Amun’s sacred city, Thebes to build Akhetaten, a new city sacred to Aten in the Egyptian desert near modern-day Amarna. Included in this were tombs for the king’s officials. Although none was finished and some were hardly started, close examination of surviving text and decoration allows us to analyze the structure and function of the tomb. Through architecture, decoration, and text Amarna private tombs served to express the identity of the tomb owner and his relationship to the king and society, and to ensure he lived on after death.
This work focuses on the interaction of the architecture and decoration of Amarna private tombs in order to address the creation of ritual space and illuminate transformations in funerary practices. I suggest that arguments supporting an Egyptian monotheism have been influenced by the religious biases of scholars and reexamine the evidence in order to establish an interpretive framework for the art of the period. The following chapters reintegrate text, image, and architecture in order to interpret how decoration created new ritual spaces within the tomb. The decoration of the central aisle of the tomb was designed to draw the visitor to the back of the tomb for the performance of ritual offerings on behalf of the tomb owner. The decoration of the central aisle was thus more important than that of the walls of the main room, contrary to scholarly belief.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 1
Ancient History of the Site ....................................................................................................... 1
The Tomb in Ancient Egypt..................................................................................................... 2
Landscape of Akhet-Aten......................................................................................................... 4
History of Excavation ............................................................................................................... 5
Recent Scholarship on the Elite Tombs of Amarna............................................................... 9
Creation of Ritual Space ........................................................................................................ 14
Explanation of Chapters ........................................................................................................ 15
Tomb Designations ................................................................................................................. 17
Labelling System ..................................................................................................................... 18
Titles, Names, and Epithets.................................................................................................... 21
Chapter Two: Reexamining Amarna Religion ........................................................................... 26
Monotheism and Amarna ...................................................................................................... 29
Defining Monotheism.............................................................................................................. 31
Destruction of Temples........................................................................................................... 34
Tutankhamun’s Restoration Stela and the Topsy-Turvy World ....................................... 37
Diesseitige-Jenseits: Role of the Afterlife at Amarna........................................................... 42
Chapter Three: Architecture of the Tombs................................................................................. 59
Façades..................................................................................................................................... 59
Tomb Layout ........................................................................................................................... 60
Southern Column Tombs ...................................................................................................... 61
Northern Column Tombs ...................................................................................................... 67
Corridor Tombs..................................................................................................................... 70
Transverse Tombs................................................................................................................. 72
Chapter Four: Decoration of the Central Axis........................................................................... 74
Façades (FL/FR)...................................................................................................................... 74
Doorways ................................................................................................................................. 77
Doorways: Lintels................................................................................................................. 78
Doorways: Lintels, Emblematic Type .................................................................................. 79
Doorways: Lintels Royal Type ............................................................................................. 83
Unique Lintel Types ............................................................................................................. 85
Doorways: Door Jambs......................................................................................................... 90
Images of Tomb Owner on Doorways.................................................................................. 94
Entrance Thicknesses (TL1/TR1, ATL1/ATR1).................................................................. 95
Other Thicknesses................................................................................................................. 104
Ceilings................................................................................................................................... 106
Architraves ............................................................................................................................ 112
Columns and Abaci............................................................................................................... 114
Shrines.................................................................................................................................... 116
Chapter Five: Decoration of the Walls of the Main Room ...................................................... 126
ML1/MR1: Major Scene Types ........................................................................................... 126
ML1/MR1: Major Scene Types: Reward Scenes ............................................................... 127
ML1/MR1: Major Scene Types: Eating/Drinking Scenes.................................................. 134
ML1/MR1: Major Scene Types: Offering Scenes .............................................................. 138
ML2/MR2: Major Scene Types ........................................................................................... 140
ML2/MR2: Royal Procession Scenes ................................................................................. 145
ML2/MR2: Reward Scenes................................................................................................. 147
ML2/MR2: Eating/Drinking Scenes ................................................................................... 148
ML2/MR2: Tribute Scenes ................................................................................................. 150
ML3/MR3: Major Scene Types ........................................................................................... 152
ML3/MR3: Reward Scenes................................................................................................. 152
ML3/MR3: Temple Scenes................................................................................................. 154
ML3/MR3: Offering Scenes ............................................................................................... 155
ML3/MR3: Eating/Drinking Scene..................................................................................... 156
Main Room of the Tomb of Mahu....................................................................................... 157
Chapter Six: Interpretation ....................................................................................................... 165
Central Axis of the Tomb ..................................................................................................... 168
Case Study: Tomb of Meryre (4)......................................................................................... 177
Main Room Decoration: Tomb as Cityscape...................................................................... 185
Case Study: Tomb of Tutu (8) ............................................................................................. 190
Case Study: Tomb of Mahu (Tomb 9) ................................................................................ 192
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 193
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