num_pages: 282
description: The latter part of the fifteenth century BC saw Egypt's political power reach its zenith with an empire that stretched from beyond the Euphrates in the north to much of what is now Sudan in the south. The wealth that flowed into Egypt allowed its kings to commission some of the most stupendous temples of all time some of the greatest dedicated to Amun-Re King of the Gods. Yet a century later these temples lay derelict the god's images names and titles all erased in an orgy of iconoclasm by Akhenaten the devotee of a single sun-god. This book traces the history of Egypt from the death of the great warrior-king Thutmose III to the high point of Akhenaten's reign when the known world brought gifts to his newly-built capital city of Amarna in particular looking at the way in which the cult of the sun became increasingly important to even 'orthodox' kings culminating in the transformation of Akhenaten's father Amenhotep III into a solar deity in his own right.
language: English
title: Amarna Sunrise: Egypt from Golden Age to Age of Heresy
publisher: The American University in Cairo Press