Hawass chides anti Akhenaten statements

Egypt State Information Service

Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme council of Antiquities(ESCA) Zahi Hawwas slammed statements by British Professor Barry Kemp and Professor Jerry Rose, of the University of Arkansas, USA, distorting the history of pharaonic King Akhenaten and the construction of his city in Amarna. . . .

Hawwas termed as nonsense the statements on Akhenaten that, he sid, were not based on any admissible scientific proofs.

Building Akhenaten city was an obsession for ancient Egyptians like the Giza Pyramids and workers wanted to realise a national achievement to be proud of, he said.

He added that ancient labourers used to live beside the royal palace and get the best food daily to be able to continue their work.

The rest of this post describes some of the points made by the BBC programme (which has been covered on earlier posts).