120: Queen Tiye, Reverend Mother
Akhenaten (Part 10): Queen Tiye's Retirement. For the first decade of Akhenaten's rule, his mother Tiye was a background figure. But we have more evidence for her later years than you'd expect, includ...
30 Jan 202042min
The Doomed Prince
Ancient Fairytales (Part 2). Sometime in the 18th Dynasty, perhaps around the time of Akhenaten, a fairy-tale became popular in Egypt. The story spoke of a prince, forced to flee his home after a prop...
8 Jan 202017min
The Tale of Two Brothers
Ancient Fairytales (Part 1). In the late 18th or early 19th Dynasties, a story developed in Egypt. It told of two siblings, Anubis and Bata, who contended with injustice and misfortune. Facing treache...
1 Jan 20201h 11min
119: Tut-ankh-Aten (Tutankhamun the Prince)
Akhenaten (Part 9): A Royal Son. By 1352 BCE, Akhenaten and his family were well ensconced in the palaces of Amarna. The pharaoh could enjoy the company of his Great Wife, Nefertiti, and his three eld...
18 Dec 201937min
118b: Funding the Aten Temples
Around 1354 BCE (regnal year 8), Akhenaten took care to organise his new royal city. Among other things he expanded the agricultural domain which would serve Aten (the sun god), and he also appointed ...
4 Dec 201935min
118: The Temples of Aten
Amarna (Part 5): Great Temples. When he established his new residence-city, Akhenaten made special provision for his god’s house. Two great temples, dedicated to the solar disc, rose on the east bank ...
21 Nov 201936min
Akhnaten (a MetOpera Cast Interview)
In 1983, Philip Glass debuted his opera Akhnaten, a bold musical exploration of the pharaoh, his reign and his legacy. Now, Akhnaten returns in a new run. Akhnaten by The Metropolitan Opera, in New Yo...
13 Nov 201952min
117: Adoring Ra (or Where Did Akhenaten Get His Ideas?)
Precursors to Atenism. The god Aten has a long history; and in the 18th Dynasty, many Egyptians were praising the sun god in a variety of forms (Ra, Atum, Horakhty, Aten, Khepri etc). Akhenaten's refo...
7 Nov 201933min
