Hi there. Last episode, I promised a return to the empire, to the battlegrounds of Syria,

and the Egyptians struggle to maintain their control over their vassals in the near east.

I've changed that schedule slightly so that I could focus on writing an episode with slightly more cheerful tones.

Not to worry, the political and military stuff will come soon. For now, something lighter.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the History of Egypt podcast,

Episode 122 Letters from the Capital.

Today, we take a look at some smaller details of daily life in the city of Akhet Aten, Amana.

We're going to forget the pharaoh for a moment, and spend some time with ordinary men and

women, their stories, their concerns, their equally meaningful lives.

This episode is brought to you by everyone who supports the show on Patreon.

My thanks to Kevin, Yager and Skip, who became overseer-level backers and

have stuck with me since 2018. You are too kind, folks. Thank you for your support. To everyone

listening, I hope you are well, and I hope you enjoy the show.

The city of Ait Aten, Pharaoh's royal residence, was now a sprawling urban environment.

It stretched across several square kilometres, and it had distinct suburbs, sections with their own character and purpose. From the royal quarter dominated by temples and

palaces, to the elite estates with their servants and workers attached, to the distant communities of

the tomb builders, Pharaoh's new city had become a massive, complex settlement.

Moving through this environment, thousands of men, women, and children

made their home in the shadow of Pharaoh. Their houses were not palaces, but small compounds,

two or three rooms each. Their furnishings and possessions were humbler, mostly ceramic or mudbrick.

Their adornments were not gold,

but phaence, a kind of artificial stone, blue, green in color, which factories at the city

...