- Great Temple of the Aten
The Great Temple of the Aten is located in the abandoned city of Akhetaten (modern
Amarna , inEgypt ). It is one of the 2 major temples in the city, the other being theSmall Aten Temple . coord|27|39|03|N|30|53|52|EThe temple was quickly constructed, mostly out of mud-brick and
Talatat , so when it went out of use, this material was easy to reuse in other structures. A portion of the northern section of this temple is now partially buried under a modern cemetery. [ [http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=070604_satellite_egypt_02.jpg&c] at Tell el-Amarna, Middle Egypt (satellite photograph by
DigitalGlobe )]Excavation
Flinders Petrie was the first person to work in the temple, and his assistant,Howard Carter excavated in the sanctuary area. However, it wasJohn Pendlebury who actually fully mapped this area during his excavations in 1935. The EES Amarna Survey project returned to re–dig the site and corrected some mistakes in the mapping.Exploration
Project leader
Sarah Parcak of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, "Based on the coins and pottery we found, it appears to be a massive regional center that traded with Greece, Turkey and Libya."This is part of a larger project aiming to map as much of ancient Egypt's archaeological sites, or "tells," as possible before they are destroyed or covered by modern development. [ [http://www.livescience.com/history/070605_satellite_egypt2.html Ancient Egyptian City] Spotted From Space]
Image gallery
culptural fragments from the temple
References
* George Hart, A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Routledge, 1986
* Barry Kemp, Amarna Reports IV, Egypt Exploration Society, 1987
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