THE EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND
The third of a series of lectures arranged by the Egypt Exploration Fund (to which we referred in our December number) was given at the rooms of the Royal Society at Burlington House on January 23rd, by Professor T. Eric Peet. The subject of the lecture was "El Amarna, the City of Egypt's Heretic King." The lecturer said that from the evidence of the mummy generally supposed to be his, Amenhotep IV. appears to have been little more than a boy when his father died. Nevertheless, as early as the fourth year of his reign, he introduced the worship of the Aton, the Disk of the Sun, and did his utmost to establish it as the State religion, and to suppress the worship of Amon and all other Egyptian gods. The new religion was purely monotheistic in character, for the Aton was regarded as the creator, not of Egypt only, but of the world. The new deity was represented in the art of the period by a picture of the disk of the sun, from which emanated numerous rays, each terminating in human hands, some of which are holding out the sign of life to the worshippers. The king changed his own name from Amenhotep ("Amon is content") to Akhenaton ("The Disk is pleased"), and he shifted his capital from Thebes to El Amarna.
Excavations at El Amarna have brought to light remains of a temple dedicated to the Aton, and a palace erected for the use of the king, with beautifully painted floor, fragments of which show a freedom of drawing and lack of convention which distinguish this period from most other Egyptian art. The remains of many private houses have also been discovered, and from these it is comparatively easy to gather the size, design, and general construction of the houses of the nobles of that time. Most of them seem to have been built on the same plan, and comprise a central hall, with small apartments surrounding and leading from it. Some of these smaller rooms were used as workrooms, and in one house excavated a number of plaster casts were found, obviously taken from living models, proving that the Egyptians of this period were experts in this work. There were also many finished and unfinished statues of the Royal family, some of which were in very natural positions, quite unlike the usual Egyptian statues of other sites.
The tombs of the officials of the Court were discovered in the cliffs behind the town, their walls being covered with sculptured scenes depicting the everyday life of the capital.
At the close of the lecture the Chairman, Colonel H. G. Lyons, F.R.S., pointed out the extreme importance of systematic and scientific excavations in Egypt and other countries, and the gains which might accrue to science.