125: Amarna, The House of Meritaten

The History of Egypt Podcast

Dominic Perry

History, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2020

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A Princess of Egypt. By 1351 BCE, princess Meritaten was approximately ten years old. The pharaoh's eldest daughter was front and centre of propaganda. But what was her life like? Today, we explore the life of an Egyptian princess... Date c. 1451 BCE. Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.com Music by Ancient Lyric www.bettinajoydeguzman.com Follow us on social media www.facebook.com/egyptpodcast and www.twitter.com/egyptianpodcast Select Bibliography: Badawy, Alexander. ‘Maru-Aten: Pleasure Resort or Temple?’ The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 42 (1956): 58–64. Davies, Benedict G. Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty. Vol. IV. Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1992. Davies, Norman de Garis. The Rock Tombs of El-Amarna. London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1903. Dodson, Aidan. Amarna Sunrise: Egypt From Golden Age to Age of Heresy. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2014. Dodson, Aidan. Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2009. Hornung, Erik. Akhenaten and the Religion of Light. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999. Kemp, Barry J. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization. 3rd Revised Edition. London: Routledge, 2018. Kemp, Barry J. ‘Tell El-Amarna, Spring 2011’. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 97 (2011): 1–9. Kemp, Barry J. The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and Its People. First paperback edition. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014. Murnane, William J. Texts From the Amarna Period in Egypt. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995. Murnane, William J. ‘The End of the Amarna Period Once Again’. Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 96 (2001): 9–22. Neveu, François. The Language of Ramesses: Late Egyptian Grammar. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2015. Pasquali, Stéphane. ‘A Sun-Shade Temple of Princess Ankhesenpaaten in Memphis?’ The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 97 (2011): 216–22. Peet, T. E., and C. Leonard Woolley. The City of Akhenaten, Volume I. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1923. Wegner, Josef. The Sunshade Chapel of Meritaten from the House-of-Waenre of Akhenaten. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In the half light of a pre-dawn morning, a dark-skinned man squatted in the courtyard of an Egyptian palace.
0:09.0	Close to the Nile, the open air was damp, the sand cool beneath his feet. the
0:15.0	nile, the open air was damp, the sand cool beneath his feet. Sunrise was still an hour or two away, and the night lingered chilly and dark.
0:20.0	All was silent except for the man now beginning his work.
0:25.0	The artisan, a man named Ra Mosa, crouched before a shallow dish.
0:31.0	A piece of broken pottery nestled in the sand glowing red.
0:35.6	Embers at the center of the dish were beginning to catch fire. Soon it would be ready.
0:41.5	Ramosa stokedoked the embers, enjoying the warmth as it caressed his skin.
0:47.0	He was bare-chested, wearing only a kilt.
0:50.0	His task was difficult, and Ramosa did not want to sully his finer clothes unnecessarily.
0:57.0	After a while the fire in the dish began to burn bright and hot.
1:01.0	Now the artisan could perform his task. Gently Rameosa placed a small pot into the flames. It was made of terracotta a ceramic jug of a deep red brown. Its base blackened from many fires.
1:16.4	Within its depths the pot contained a measure of oil, possibly moringa or cedar, which Ramosa knew as ash or buck, respectively.
1:27.8	The oil was the highest quality and it glimmered darkly in the growing light of dawn.
1:34.0	Swowing the oil, Ramosa judged the moment when it was ready.
1:38.0	When the oil had heated just right, Ramosa added a lump of fat. This was prepared earlier, a fat mixed with
1:46.2	variety of ingredients like honey, moor, incense, or fenugreek. When heated, the fat fat would melt mingling with the oil and together the ingredients
1:56.6	would form a perfume. Working quickly, Ramosa mixed the oil with the fat, watching closely to make sure the mixture did not burn.
2:06.0	When he judged it ready, Ramosa took the pot from the flames and poured its new contents into an open-topped vessel. This was a far nicer piece than the cooking dish, a deep blue decorated with bright yellow patterns and tapering at the top like a tear drop.
2:24.0	Ramosa swirled the pot hearing the contents mixing inside.
2:28.2	When he judged it right, he placed a lid over the vessel, stamped out the small fire and then left the courtyard.
2:36.2	He was heading for the palace's inner halls.
	...

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