Friday, July 26, 2013

The City of Akhenaten & Nefertiti: Amarna and its People

Author: Barry Kemp
Stars: 5
Review by: Mandy A

By far the best comprehensive book on the Egyptian city of
Amarna available now. Abandoned after the death of its "heretic" pharaoh
about 3200 years ago, Amarna was built to celebrate the sun disk, and
featured many architectural innovations (including the first
identifiable us of pre-fabricated building materials / bricks).

Although there isn't much of the town left (I've seen it), Kemp conducts
a very full examination of the main and subsidiary buildings, a period
history, an examination of the region's topography and history, all
sorts of things while being both readable and informative at once. Only
tidbit missing is that it was written weeks before DNA testing confirmed
the mummies of Akhenaten, his son / successor Tutankhamen, and several
other relatives.

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