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Egyptian Artifacts

Small Limestone Stela of Akhenaten

Here’s another piece from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology! This is a small limestone π“‡‹π“ˆ–π“ˆ™π“Œ‰ stela π“Ž—π“…±π“†“π“‰Έ of the pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– (by small, I mean it is only about 8.5cm in height)!

While the image 𓏏𓅱𓏏 is very crudely drawn, it is quite obvious that we are looking at Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– here because art during the period of his rule was incredibly unique! On the stela π“Ž—π“…±π“†“π“‰Έ, Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– can be seen standing in front of two 𓏻 vases of incense with his arms raised in a worshipping position. The Sun 𓇳𓏺, or the Aten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³, can be seen above Akhenaten’s π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– head 𓁢𓏺.

The Petrie Museum has a lot of unique pieces from Akhenaten’s π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– reign because Petrie helped to excavate Amarna, which the place in modern-day Egypt π“†Žπ“…“π“π“Š– where Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– moved the capital to (the capital of Egypt π“†Žπ“…“π“π“Š– was originally in Thebes π“Œ€π“π“Š–). The new capital was called Akhetaton β€œHorizon of the Aten” and it was established ~1332 B.C.E., around the time when the Aten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³ was declared to be the only god π“ŠΉ.

One of the reasons I enjoyed my trip to the Petrie Museum so much was being able to see all of these unique pieces that really can’t be seen in other museums! Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– is my second favorite pharaoh 𓉐𓉻, so I really enjoyed seeing all of the Amarna-era pieces!