Hello and welcome back to the History of Egypt podcast.

This is a short side episode, Building Quickly.

Having seen how the Pharaoh of Egypt, Akhenaten, established his new royal

residence, the city of Omanah, it's worth looking at how that city itself was constructed.

Not the monuments or houses, but rather the building blocks, the materials that artisans and

laborers used to raise the mighty structures.

Today, we take the 99% invisible route, examining things you may not think about,

but which played a massive role in shaping the city which Arcanaten and his people inhabited.

This episode is brought to you by Linda and Seymour, my priest level supporters on Patreon.

Linda, Seymour, you rock. Thank you for your generosity. I hope this small episode goes some way

to paying my debt. To everyone listening, thank you for joining me and on with the show.

The year was 1357 BCE, approximately. Across the landscape of Amana, or Aket Aten, horizon of the Aten, thousands of workers to construct a vast array of structures. Temples, palaces, shrines, houses, and workshops rose from

the desert sands, all shaped by the hands of labourers, stone masons, foremen and overseers.

They worked quickly, perhaps urgently.

Pharaoh's demands were great, and over the course of just a few years, they accomplished

a remarkable feat, raising a city where none had been before.

How did they do this, and how did they do it so quickly?

Last time, we got introduced to a man named Hattiyai. Hattiyai held the title of Imirākha-Qa-U, or Overseer of the Works.

Hattiyai was perhaps the chief organizer of construction work in the city of

Amana, and his role is central to this episode. Even though he doesn't appear physically,

Hatiah would have been one of the men organizing the thousands of laborers who helped to raise the city.

The work that he and his colleagues did is quite noteworthy,

...