The Small Aten Temple is a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

to the

Aten Aten, also Aton, Atonu, or Itn (, reconstructed ) was the focus of Atenism, the religious system formally established in ancient Egypt by the late Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten. Exact dating for the Eighteenth Dynasty is contested, thou ...

located in the

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian city of

Amarna Amarna (; ) is an extensive ancient Egyptian archaeological site containing the ruins of Akhetaten, the capital city during the late Eighteenth Dynasty. The city was established in 1346 BC, built at the direction of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, and a ...

. It is one of the two major temples in the city, the other being the Great Temple of the Aten. It is situated next to the King's House and near the Royal Palace, in the central part of the city. Original known as the ''Hwt-Jtn'' or ''Mansion of the Aten'', it was probably constructed before the larger Great Temple. Its only contemporary depiction is found in the tomb of Tutu (Amarna Tomb 8). Like the other structures in the city, it was constructed quickly, and hence was easy to dismantle and reuse the material for later construction. It was first excavated in 1931 by the Egypt Exploration Society.

Layout

The structure was surrounded by a large

temenos A ''temenos'' ( Greek: ; plural: , ''temenē''). is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, such as a sanctuary, holy g ...

enclosure wall made of large bricks measuring 37 x 19 x 14.5 cm. The temenos enclosed an area of 127 m by 200 m. On the eastern end the remains of flower beds were found, and an avenue of trees separated it from the surrounding buildings. The main entrance was from the west, through two massive brick pylons. Each pylon had slots for two flag poles. Walls projecting forward from the pylon gateway originally held doors. In the main entrance, a large area of preserved gypsum plaster was found bearing the impressions of blocks and mason's marks. This area of plaster was the base of a later platform with a stepped exterior approach and a ramped interior. The find of a ring bezel bearing the name 'Ankhkheperure' dates this to the reigns of pharaohs Smenkhkare or

Neferneferuaten Ankhkheperure-Merit-Neferkheperure/Waenre/Aten Neferneferuaten (), or "Neferneferuaten", is the name of a queen regnant ('female pharaoh, king') of ancient Egypt who reigned in her own right near the end of the Amarna Period during the Eightee ...

. Smaller entrances, with their own projecting walls, were found on either side of the main pylons.

First court

A ramp of whitewashed mud led down into this area. On either side of this ramp were offering tables of

mudbrick Mudbrick or mud-brick, also known as unfired brick, is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of mud (containing loam, clay, sand and water) mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE. From ...

and in the centre a large altar of mudbrick. The whole court was paved with mud plaster. This area seems to be the oldest part of the complex, as it overlays clean gravel and its surface underlays the later pylon gateway. This 'Great Altar' was later demolished to ground level and some of its bricks were incorporated into the enlargement of the two altars nearest to the entrance, which may have served as the bases of statues.

Second court

A second set of pylon gateways with smaller entrances identical to the main entrance lead to this court. Within the pylons were niches for granite

stelae A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

. This court had side entrances to the north and south, thought to be private entrances for the king and priests respectively. The southern entrance has a small porters house. Outside this gate was a dump of stone from the destruction of the Sanctuary, like that of the Great Aten Temple. The southern pylon had a small priest's house attached to it. Fragments of a small painted uraeus cornice were found here.

Sanctuary court

The gateway to this court was again flanked by pylons identical to the previous gates. However, there were no additional entrances and no niches for stelae. Trees surround the Sanctuary on the eastern side. The southern half of the court contained a number of buildings. In the southeast corner there was a small brick building that contained a series of rooms including one with a dais. To the northwest of this building was another approached by a ramp which was possibly a subsidiary chapel. To the west of this building was another, consisting of a single room, which was connected to the south wing of the Sanctuary by a series of walls that possibly belonged to a small house. Its walls were thick and well built, and the floor was paved with bricks.

Sanctuary

The outer court of the Sanctuary had projecting wings on either side of the main building. The exterior of these walls were stone and the partitions were of mud brick. A ramp with balustrade led to the first court of the Sanctuary, passing between two thin pylons, and likely continued as a causeway to the altar in the centre. This first court was full of offering tables. The thin gateway to the inner court was flanked by four large columns on each side. It is likely that the life-size limestone statues, fragments of which were found in the dump, once stood in this area. The entrance to the inner court was of the same winding type also seen in the Great Aten Temple. The entire court was filled with offering tables and surrounded by small chapels built into the walls. In 1994, concrete replicas of the papyriform columns were assembled in their original position in front of the inner sanctuary court. These columns were replicas based on the fragments found in the 1931 excavation and were manufactured in Egypt from moulds made in England.

References

External links

Amarna Project page for the preservation of the Small Aten Temple
{{Amarna Navigator 14th-century BC religious buildings and structures 1931 archaeological discoveries Amarna Egyptian temples Atenism 14th-century BC establishments in Egypt