Book 8
May 29 - June 1
Book 8
May 29 - June 1
A Rebellious Pharaoh
It has been a while since I first heard about Akhenaten, the only pharaoh who for a short span of time introduced monotheism to his subjects. From the book "The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Amarna and Its People" I got to know that there was much more to that story than this simple explanation, and there were more dimensions to Akhenaten's personality than I imagined.
Since childhood, I have always rooted for underdogs, unsung and underrated heroes. Perhaps the earliest example of such a hero that stuck with me for my whole life was the protagonist from the animated film "Balto", which I watched when I was seven. That was the first videotape in my home collection. I have watched it a hundred times, I think. Then there was Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" with her unconventional thinking, later Aladar from "Dinosaur". Those ones made me feel for underdogs. And I think my interest in Akhenaten is explained by the fact that he was also a bit of an unsung hero. Of course, he suffered from megalomania and considered himself a deity, but it makes me really sad, how after his death all his legacy was obliterated. Now historians and archaeologists are trying to recreate the whole picture of his rule and life bit by bit.
Barry Kemp's work on Amarna, the city built by Akhenaten, and on this pharaoh, took more than 30 years of his life. This book is the result of his efforts. I thoroughly enjoyed every page. I'm glad that I started from a more simple read "Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians". After getting acquainted with the overall picture of the Ancient Egypt's history, I felt it wasn't too hard to read this book by Kemp even though it is rich in terms, names and dates. I found tons of valuable information, drawings, photos, tables and plans of the buildings in Akhenaten's city. Now I can make Akhenaten more believable as a character of my mystery novel "The Lost Caravan".
Akhenaten was a visionary, a man much ahead of his epoch, the one capable of creating a new religion and constructing new cities, the rebellious pharaoh, whose statues and images after his death were destroyed, whose beautiful cities were demolished and abandoned. As for Akhenaten himself, he was reburied, but the location of his tomb is still unknown. The archaeologists suspect one of the unidentified mummies buried in a used tomb may be Akhenaten. A very sad end of a great man.
I strongly recommend this book to all lovers of Egypt and history in general.
10 out of 10
Today I'm starting "Elevation" by Stephen King, a little of fiction literature for a change. June 2 - 4
Book 8
May 29 - June 1
A Rebellious Pharaoh
It has been a while since I first heard about Akhenaten, the only pharaoh who for a short span of time introduced monotheism to his subjects. From the book "The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Amarna and Its People" I got to know that there was much more to that story than this simple explanation, and there were more dimensions to Akhenaten's personality than I imagined.
Since childhood, I have always rooted for underdogs, unsung and underrated heroes. Perhaps the earliest example of such a hero that stuck with me for my whole life was the protagonist from the animated film "Balto", which I watched when I was seven. That was the first videotape in my home collection. I have watched it a hundred times, I think. Then there was Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" with her unconventional thinking, later Aladar from "Dinosaur". Those ones made me feel for underdogs. And I think my interest in Akhenaten is explained by the fact that he was also a bit of an unsung hero. Of course, he suffered from megalomania and considered himself a deity, but it makes me really sad, how after his death all his legacy was obliterated. Now historians and archaeologists are trying to recreate the whole picture of his rule and life bit by bit.
Barry Kemp's work on Amarna, the city built by Akhenaten, and on this pharaoh, took more than 30 years of his life. This book is the result of his efforts. I thoroughly enjoyed every page. I'm glad that I started from a more simple read "Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians". After getting acquainted with the overall picture of the Ancient Egypt's history, I felt it wasn't too hard to read this book by Kemp even though it is rich in terms, names and dates. I found tons of valuable information, drawings, photos, tables and plans of the buildings in Akhenaten's city. Now I can make Akhenaten more believable as a character of my mystery novel "The Lost Caravan".
Akhenaten was a visionary, a man much ahead of his epoch, the one capable of creating a new religion and constructing new cities, the rebellious pharaoh, whose statues and images after his death were destroyed, whose beautiful cities were demolished and abandoned. As for Akhenaten himself, he was reburied, but the location of his tomb is still unknown. The archaeologists suspect one of the unidentified mummies buried in a used tomb may be Akhenaten. A very sad end of a great man.
I strongly recommend this book to all lovers of Egypt and history in general.
10 out of 10
Today I'm starting "Elevation" by Stephen King, a little of fiction literature for a change. June 2 - 4
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