Ringed with high mountains and lying along the flow of the Nile River, the ancient city of Tell el-Amarna in Egypt continues to portray religious traditions 3,000 years after its construction.
The city is also known as a symbol of religious revolution dating back to the 18th Dynastic period (1550 to 1292 B.C.)
Tell el-Amarna, formerly known as Akhenaten, was built by King Akhenaton and is strategically located in a sheltered place used for worship. The ancient city was also the capital of Egypt for years.
Unlike his predecessors, King Akhenaton practiced the Aton religion worshiping a single solar deity, and he ordered a temple built in the city of Tell el-Amarna, in opposition to the leading oracles of the time.
In ancient Egypt, religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs, with a separate god for many different things.
The city was abandoned to its fate when Tutankhamun changed the capital after the death of King Akhenaton.
The city hosts a palace and approximately 25 royal cemeteries, including the tomb of the Amon religion’s high priest.
King Akhenaton Nefertiti’s mummy was claimed to have been buried in the ancient city before it was illegally taken abroad in 1923. Nefertiti played a crucial role in changing Egypt's traditional polytheistic religion to a monotheistic religion.
The city took its name from the Amarna tribe that used the ancient site as a settlement for centuries.
Egyptian authorities have been working to include the ancient city on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2000.
