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TOPOGRAPHICAL

NOTES

ON

THE

CENTRAL

CITY,

TELL

EL- AMARNAH

BY

H.

W.

FAIRMAN

IN

a well-known

passage

in

the so-called

early

text of the

Amarnah

Boundary

Stelae

(Stelae

K, M,

and

X),

Akhenatenenumerates

he

chief

buildings

which

he

will erect in

his

new

city.

The

precise

nature and

position

of

some

of these

places

is

still in

doubt,

and

dis-

cussion

of them would be out of

place

here,

but

the

opening phrases

of

the

building

passage

are

of no little

interest,

and

worthy

of

quotation.

The

followingcopy

is

based

on

my

own

collation

of

Stela

K

(Davies,

The

Rock Tombs

of

El

Amarna,v,

Pls.

xxix,

xxx),

with

a

few

restorations

rom

X,

and one or

two additional

estorationswhich

seem

probable,

and

which

are

inserted

for the sake

of

clarity

and

continuity.

1 1

1

1

2

(14)

.....

0[n]R (^

XaE-

11

^AQ0Ia,

(15)

I

3

4

Ca000

[JI), S17]

AntH[x0] S

q

0

q

k

il

T

5 6 7

?

(14)

...... I

am

making

a

House

of

the

Aten

for

the

Aten

my

father

in

Akhetaten

n

(15)

this

place.

I am

making

the

Mansion

of

the

Aten

for

the

Aten

my

father

in

Akhetaten

in

this

place.

I

am

making

the

Sunshade

of

Rec

of

the

[great] royal

wife

........ for the

Aten

my

father

in

Akhetaten n

this

place.

I

am

making

a

House

of

Rejoicingfor

the

Aten

my

father

in

the island

of

Aten

distinguished

in

jubilees

in

Akhetaten

n

this

place.

I

have

made

a

House

of

Re-(16)[joicing

of

the

Aten] for

the

Aten

my father

in the

island

of

Aten

distinguished

in

jubilees

in Akhetaten n

this

place.

In the following lines a brief discussion is given of those places mentioned in Akhenaten s

declaration whose

identification

with

excavated sites

in the

Central

City

is certain

or

probable, together

with

notes on

other

parts

of

the

same

area

which

it has

been

possible

to name. These

notes aim

solely

at

affording

a

preliminary

presentation

of

the

present

state

1

Restored from

X.

2

Battered but

certain.

3

The

top

of

the

sign

is

destroyed.

It is

difficult to

decide

whether

there

is room

for

-,

but

it

is

im-

probable

that

there

is

any

need

to

restore it-this

name

is

normally

spelt

with

the direct

genitive.

Sign

almost

completely

destroyed,

but it

must

obviously

be 1.

K

has e

clearly;

Davies

gives

_

by

mistake;

X

has .

6

A

mere trace

of

E-,

but it is

certain: X

has

7

slightly

damaged.

Both stelae have a lacunahere, but the restoration s sufficientto fill the

gap.

The name is

clearly

a

longer

one than

that of the

first

Pr-hcy.

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NOTES

ON

THE

CENTRAL

CITY,

TELL EL- AMARNAH

137

of

our

knowledge,

and

of the

theories

upon

which,

at

present,

we are

working.

A fuller

discussion

of these

and other

names,

together

with

copies

of the

inscriptions,

will

appear

in

due course

in

The

City

of

Akhenaten,

in.

1.

~

-

x

:n

q-

,

:

The Mansion

of the Aten. The

excavations

of 1931-2

have

proved that this is the smaller of the two Amarnah temples (cf. the preliminary report in

Journal, 18,

143-9).

The

identification

is

supported by

(a)

the

sign

E

which

is

stamped

on

many

of

the

bricks,

and

(b)

the

fact that this is

the

only

name

to

be

found on

any

of

the

237

portions

of

reliefs and

inscriptions

found and

registered.

The

building

is

clearly

a

product

of

the

early

Aten

period:

not

a

single example

of the late name of the

Aten

is known from

this

site.

It

would

appear

that the name Mansion of the

Aten

covers not

merely

the

temple

itself,

but

those

parts

of the

palace1

which lie

immediately

to

the north

of

it,

and

on

the

east

side

of

the

Royal

Road:

both

buildings

used bricks

stamped

~.

2.

[7

L

q

:

The House of the Aten. This is the

larger

of

the two

temples,

which was

finally

excavated

in

the

seasons 1932-4

(cf.

the

preliminary reports

in

Journal,

19,

113-18; 20,

129-36).

There

can be little

doubt about the

accuracy

of the

identification,

which is supportedby the evidence of the inscriptions,and by the strikingcorrespondence

between

the final

plans

and the

tomb-drawings

f the

temple.

Undoubtedly

each

portion

of

the

temple

originally

had its

own

name,

but at

presentonly

two

sections

can be named

with

any certainty:

(a)

The concrete

platforms

immediately

to the east

of the

second

pylon

are

probably

called

.X

~ q V~, q

~ q

,

,

The

House

of

Rejoicing.

(b)

The

sunken courts which

succeed the

platforms appear

to

bear

the name