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Akhenaten and Tutankhamun: Revolution and Restoration

By: David P. Silverman
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Museum Publication
ISBN: 1931707901
ISBN-13: 9781931707909
Released: 11 Nov 2006
RRP: £13.94
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Customer Reviews

Dispassionate summary of the period - By: Gordon Eldridge, 26 Nov 2007
The book is structured into chapters which each deal with a different topic relating to the period, including; Akhenaten himself, Atenism, the palaces, rituals & daily life of the city of Akhetaten, the role of royal women, the fate of Egypt's empire during the Amarna years & the return to more traditional beliefs under Tutankhamun. The epilogue provides a succinct overview of how scholarly writings on the period have often been an artifact of the ethos of the writer & the period of writing as well as how opinions about the Amarna period have changed over time.

As a recent publication the book contains some important new evidence, such as the 2005 CT scan of the mummy of Tutankhamun, which showed that a head injury that had previously been considered a possible cause of death had in fact been a consequence of the mummification process.

In contrast to many of the books about this period of Egyptian history, this book does not attempt to argue for a particular portrayal of Akhenaten. Rather it provides a fairly concise survey of what is known about the Amarna age & of the various conjectures about the period scholars have made over the years. Readers who are looking for a cohesive argument which attempts to explain the events of the period will therefore be disappointed, but those looking for a dispassionate summary of events & evidence will find details included which are often omitted from other studies because they are not relevant to the author's argument.