Lecture: From Babylon to Amarna
The 14th century BC was a period of vibrant cultural relations throughout the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean. Babylonian, which was the international language of the age, was also the language of the Amarna letters of Pharaoh Akhenaten. These letters have been the most famous witness of this dynamic time since their discovery in the late 1880s. Important new discoveries in Middle Eastern archaeology now allow us to bring this fascinating international age into sharper focus.
Tickets: £40 (concessions £20).
Host: The Egypt Exploration Society
Date: Saturday, February 7, 2009
Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Birkbeck College, University of London
Street: Malet Street
City/Town: London, United Kingdom
Contact InfoPhone: 02076316627
Email: contact@ees.ac.uk
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Rare Amarna sculpture to be auctioned at Sotheby
A fragmentary statue of an Amarna princess from ancient Egypt is expected to garner between $400,000 and $600,000 (US) at an upcoming Sotheby’s auction in New York.
The sculpture (ca. 1347-1345 B.C.) measures 34.3 cm (13 1/2 in.) in height. It was carved from nummulitic limestone, a hard material composed largely of fossils dating from the Eocene Epoch (57.8 to 36.6 million years ago) and found abundantly in the Sahara Desert. The work most definitely comes from Akhetaten (modern-day Tell el-Amarna).
The sculpture probably represents either Meretaten or Meketaten, one of six daughters sired by Akhenaten and Nefertiti, the pharaoh’s beguilingly beautiful queen. What remains of the princess’ right arm is tucked under her breasts. A hand resting on her right shoulder suggests that the statue was once part of a larger composition, the princess’ sister presumably having once stood directly to her left. The sculptor’s emphasis on the girl’s pronounced pubic mound, most likely an overt reference to fertility and creation, is consonant with similar works from the same period.
Tutankhamun & Amarna Period Books
The ceaseless fascination with ancient Egyptian art and civilization during the revolutionary age of the “heretic” pharaoh Akhenaten (r. 1353-1336 B.C.) and Tutankhamun (r. 1332-1322 B.C.) continues to inspire extensive research and the publication of quality color-illustrated studies. Suitable for students, scholars and enthusiasts, many are exhibition catalogues authored by world-renowned museum curators and art historians. Most are available in bookstores and through Internet retailers.
History
* Shaw, Ian (ed.). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University, 2000, 218-313.
General
* Hawass, Zahi. Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs (exh. cat.). Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2008.
The Amarna Period: An Introduction
* Freed, Rita E., Yvonne E. Markowitz and Sue D’Auria (eds.), et. al. Pharaohs of the Sun: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamen (exh. cat.). Boston, New York and London: Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown and Company, 1999.
* Kozloff, Arielle P., Betsy M. Bryan, et al. Egypt’s Dazzling Sun (exh. cat.). Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1992.
* Silverman, David. P., Joseph W. Wegner and Jennifer Houser Wegner. Akhenaten and Tutankhamun: Revolution and Restoration. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.
Life and Art During the Reign of Akhenaten and Nefertiti
* Aldred, Cyril. Akhenaten, King of Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 1988.
* Arnold, Dorothea, et al. The Royal Women of Amarna (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997.
* Redford, Donald B. Akhenaten, the Heretic King. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.
* Reeves, Nicholas. Akhenaten: Egypt’s False Prophet. London: Thames & Hudson, 2001.
* Smith, Ray Winfield and Donald B. Redford. The Akhenaten Temple Project. Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1976.
* Ziegler, Christiane (ed.). The Pharaohs (exh. cat.). New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2002, 466-469.
Amarna’s Archaeology
* Trope, Betsy Teasley, Stephen Quirke and Peter Lacovara, et al. Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London (exh. cat.). Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2005, 67-78.
Tutankhamun
* Amenta, Alessia. The Treasures of Tutankhamun and the Egyptian Museum of Cairo. Vercelli: VMB Publishers, 2007.
* Desroches-Noblecourt, Christiane. Tutankhamun: Life and Death of a Pharaoh. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1963.
* Edwards, I.E.S. The Treasures of Tutankhamun (exh. cat.). London, Thames & Hudson, 1971.
* James, T.G.H. Tutankhamun. New York: Metro Books, 2002.
* Reeves, Nicholas. The Complete Tutankhamun: The King, the Tomb, the Royal Treasure. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1995.
Excavating Tutankhamun’s Tomb: Archival Photographs from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
* Allen, Susan J. Tutankhamun’s Tomb: The Thrill of Discovery (Photographs by Harry Burton) (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006.
* Wonderful Things: The Discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976.
Bibliography prepared by Stan Parchin
San Francisco’s Legion of Honor showcases ancient Egyptian masterpieces
An outstanding collection of the treasures of the State Museums of Berlin that honors the contributions of patron James Simon is now at the Legion of Honor until January 18, 2009. James Simon supported excavations in Amarna from 1911 to 1914. The German share belonged to Simon, who first lent the treasures to the Egyptian Museum in 1913 and in 1920 designated the loans as gifts.
QUEEN TIYE, Reign of Amenhotep III. 9 in. – HEAD OF NEFERTITI, reign of Amenhotep IV – Akhenaten, ca. 1345 B.C. Limestone, H 28.7 cm
This 18th-Dynasty sculpture was crafted during the reign of Amenhotep III. Standing nine inches, it is composed of Yew wood, silver, gold, lapis lazuli, and faience. It was a major purchase among James Simon’s Egyptian New Kingdom collection. The mother of Akhenaten, Queen Tiye is realistically depicted as middle-aged with furrowed brows. She possesses a regal and careworn look marked with an awareness of the power she wielded.
This limestone head of Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s queen, comes from the same workshop of the Chief Sculptor Tuthmosis and was by the same hand as the famous Bust of Nefertiti. With black paint on its cheeks and face as sculptors’ guides, the head served as a model for artists producing portraits of the queen.
