to Assiut. TELL EL-'AMAUNA. 18. Route. 203
S. side of the valley, is a large Quarry, which, according to a now
defaced inscription, yielded stone in the first year of Amenophis 111.
for the temple at Hermopolis. Farther up the valley are quarries
of the time of Nektanebos.
On the W. bank, 1 M. from the Nile, is the town of Melawi
(Mallaoui; rail, stat., p. ISO). Farther on, on the E. bank, at the foot
of the hill of the same name (p. 190), lies Shekh Sa'id, with tombs
of the Early Empire, belonging to princes and high officials of the
'hare-nome'.
"We next reach (on the E. bank) the ruins of —
Tell el-'Amarna.
The Tourist Steamers halt here on the return-voyage long enough to
permit passengers to visit the Stucco Pavements in the Palace of Amen¬
ophis IV. — Adequate time to visit the tombs can be secured only by
using the Railway, which should be quitted at the station of Der Mawds
(p. 190) or at Deriit (p. 191). — Accommodation may be obtained if re¬
quired at Hagg-Kandil from the 'Omdeh (p. 191). The keeper of the palace
and the N. tombs lives at et-Tell, the keeper of the S. tombs and the
king's tomb at Hagg-Kandil.
Tell el-'Amarna (or, better, El-'Amarna), a name derived from
the Beni Amran or El-'Amarna Beduins, is the name now given to
the extensive ruins and rock-tombs which lie near the villages of
Hagg-Kandil on the S. and et-Tell on the N., and form the last
relics of the ancient royal city Ekhut-Aton, 'the horizon of the sun'.
When Amenophis IV. (p. lxxxii) became converted to the ex¬
clusive worship ofthe sun and abjured the ancient gods, he quitted
Thebes, the capital until that time, and withdrew with his court to
a new sacred spot. This was situated in the Hermopolitan nome in
Central Egypt, on both banks ofthe Nile, and its boundaries may
be traced to this day by inscriptions chiselled on the rocks near
el-Hawdla (p. 210) and et-Tell (E. bank) and near Tuneh and Gildeh
(W. bank). The new royal residence-town was founded on the E.
bank and speedily prospered. Temples and palaces sprang up, beside
the imposing royal abode arose the dwellings ofthe nobles, and lordly
tombs were prepared for the king and his favourites in the hills to
the east. But after the death of Amenophis the ancient religion
once more obtained the upper hand, the court returned to Thebes,
and the new town rapidly decayed. Its life had not lasted for more
than 50 years, and the site upon which it stood was never again
occupied. Owing to this circumstance the ancient streets and
ground-plans have remained to this day and may be traced with
little trouble. The religious revolution under Amenophis IV". was
accompanied by a revolution in art. The artists who worked in his
reign, probably feeling themselves more independent of ancient
traditions, attempted to lend their creations an expression more in
accordance with nature. In many rases, however, they fell into ex¬
aggeration, as, for example, in the representations of the lean form
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