Monday, October 08, 2007

Barry Kemp lecture on Amarna in the U.S.

NWA News

Archeologists and historians across the globe have been fascinated by such ancient civilizations as Pompeii for years. But there’s another ancient city, located about a half-day drive south of Cairo, the capital city of Egypt, whose mysteries are still being uncovered.

That ancient city is Tell el-Amarna, more commonly referred to by historians as Amarna. On Saturday afternoon, Dr. Barry Kemp, a professor of Egyptology at the University of Cambridge, spoke to an audience at the Bentonville Public Library about the Amarna Project.

Amarna was the capital city built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten in pursuit of a society dedicated to the cult of one god, the power of the sun. The city rose up quickly but was abandoned shortly after Akhenaten’s death, estimated to be 1332 B. C. Amarna, which is said to have existed for a span of less than 20 years, remains the largest readily accessible living-site from ancient Egypt.

“ If you go there expecting to find something like Pompeii, you’ll be disappointed, ” Kemp said. “ You have to work to find it. You can see the shapes there. But this truly is like a city that fell asleep. ”



See the above page for more.

No comments: