Amarna Period

Horemheb excised as much of the Amarna Period as he could from official histories and monuments, considering it an aberration.

According to Horemheb's revised monuments, he directly succeeded Amenhotep III, essentially erasing 30 years of history.

Some state that Akhenaten restored monotheism while others point out that he merely suppressed a dominant solar cult by the assertion of another, while never completely abandoning several other traditional deities.

Scholars believe that Akhenaten's devotion to his deity, Aten, offended many in power below him, which contributed to the end of this dynasty; he later suffered damnatio memoriae.

Previously, the presence of many gods explained the natural phenomena, but during the Amarna period there was a rise in monotheism.

The view of this god is seen through the poem entitled "Hymn to the Aten": When your movements disappear and you go to rest in the Akhet, the land is in darkness, in the manner of death... darkness a blanket, the land in stillness, with the one who makes them at rest in his Akhet.

Akhenaten is depicted in an androgynous and highly stylized manner, with large thighs, a slim torso, drooping belly, full lips, and a long neck and nose.

[2] Some believe that the break with convention was due to "the presence at Amarna of new people or groups of artists whose background and training were different from those of the Karnak sculptors.

"[1] Colossi and wall-reliefs from the Karnak Aten Temple are highly exaggerated and almost grotesque when compared to the Egyptian royal and elite art during the millennium preceding Akhenaten's birth.

Then, he retaliated by going to war against Egypt's vassal states in Syria and Northern Canaan and captured the city of Amki.

Unfortunately, Egyptian prisoners of war from Amki carried a plague which eventually would ravage the Hittite Empire and kill both Suppiluliumas I and his direct successor.

He also died without surviving children and appointed his successor, Paramessu, who under the name Ramesses I ascended the throne in 1292 BC and was the first pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty.

The Amarna Letters feature correspondence among the rulers of several empires, dubbed by modern historians The Club of Great Powers:[8] Babylon, Assyria, Mitanni and Hatti, viz.

It was the pharaoh responding to the demands of King Kasashman-Enlil, who initially inquired about the whereabouts of his sister, who was sent for a diplomatic marriage.

[10] Then later correspondence dealt with the importance of exchanging of gifts namely the gold which is used in the construction of a temple in Babylonia.

[11] By the time of the Amarna letters, the Assyrians, who were originally a vassal state, had become an independent power.

[13] These letters were written by the King Tuiseratta and dealt with various topics, such as preserving and renewing marriage alliances, and sending in various gifts.

They were related through the political marriages but is an idea of a village of clans which gives reason to the good wishes and update on the health of the monarchs themselves.

The monarchs seem to have very little concept of the time of travel between each other and at most likely saw that the village worldview they lived in was applicable for the long distant correspondence of the Amarna letters.

Scholars pointed out that to demonstrate good friendship it had to be on the practical level of constant stream of gift giving.