Description

In the 1980s the Egypt Exploration Society's expedition to Amarna discovered a well-preserved private chapel at the Workmen's Village and the largest that had been built there. Amidst the rubble were many hundreds of fragments of painted plaster fallen from the walls. Over many subsequent years they were recorded, fitted, together and, in the case of some key groups, restored into panels. Here the results are finally presented, as a detailed catalogue that illustrates all fragments of any likely significance, set within descriptions of the chapel building and its archaeological fill. They form a valuable point of reference for the beliefs of people during the Amarna Period. The remarkable lack of attention to Akhenaten's ideas helps to define the limits of penetration of the Aten cult and its imagery into the lives of people who lived separate from the royal court.