Everyone Thought This Ancient City Was Destroyed By Plague. A New Analysis Says It Never Happened

IFLScience ^ | Dr. Katie Spalding

[SunkenCiv]

The tale of Akhetaten, the ancient Egyptian city that for a brief point in the 14th century BCE was the state's capital and home of the god-king Akhenaten, is one of tragedy. It was founded in the middle of nowhere by a pharaoh who would go on to be all but stricken from the record; it was almost immediately hit by a devastating plague that left nine royals and many hundreds of commoners dead; finally, it was abandoned entirely, becoming once again as deserted as it had been just 20 years before.

At least, that's what we thought happened. There's just one problem: according to a new analysis of the physical and written record of the city, most of it is completely incorrect...

...the Hittite Empire was pretty much at its apex, with its southernmost point just butting up against the most northerly extent of Egypt's New Kingdom... at the time of Akhetaten, relations were frosty.

So, when some kind of deadly epidemic hit the Hittite capital Hattuša, the local historians knew who to blame.

"When [the Hittites] brought back [...] the [Egyptian] prisoners which they had taken, a plague broke out among the prisoners and these began to die," reports the Plague Prayers of the Hittite king Muršili. "When they moved the prisoners to the Hatti [Hittite] land, these prisoners carried the plague into the Hatti land. From that day on people have been dying in the Hatti land."

...

"The Battle of Amka, for example, the tenuous origin of the Hittite outbreak, is usually thought to have occurred after the death of Tutankhamun," the authors explain. "By the time of Tutankhamun's death, Akhetaten had not been the seat of the royal family for several years, although it was not fully abandoned."

[SunkenCiv]

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The rest of the Akhenaten keyword, sorted:

• Christian Community Reinhabited Abandoned City of Amarna [07/03/2025]
• Revealing the Face and Identity of the Controversial Mummy KV55 [09/08/2023]
• 5 Archaeological 'Digs' to Watch in 2022 [01/15/2022]
• Golden City [18th Dynasty / New Kingdom Egypt / tehn Aten] [12/11/2021]
• David Rohl : Greek Dark Age, Hyksos Invasion and Sea Peoples [04/14/2021]
• Are We Close to Finding the Tomb of Queen Nefertiti in the Valley of the Kings? [10/16/2019]
• Epilepsy, Tutankhamun and Monotheism: A theory on inherited disease in the Egyptian New Kingdom [08/28/2018]
• In Ancient Mass Graves, Archaeologists Find Child Slaves of Biblical Egypt [02/05/2018]
• Has Tutankhamun's tragic teenage wife finally been found? [01/17/2018]
• Study aims to uncover mystery of Luxor's tomb KV55 [06/17/2016]
• Scientists Say Egypt is in Denial Over Hidden Rooms in King Tut's Tomb [05/15/2016]
• Experts Doubt Claims of 'Hidden Chambers' in King Tut's Tomb [03/30/2016]
• New scans of King Tut's tomb may reveal hidden chamber [...again...] [03/04/2016]
• Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's wet nurse might have been his sister [12/22/2015]
• Who Made the Bust of Queen Nefertiti? Nefertiti mystery solved [11/13/2015]
• Infrared Scans Show Possible Hidden Chamber in King Tut⬢s Tomb [11/07/2015]
• Fixing Tutankhamun's beard: 'unfortunately they used epoxy' [10/21/2015]
• Where Is the Tomb of Queen Nefertiti? [10/19/2015]
• INTERVIEW: Egypt's antiquities minister speaks on the search for Nefertiti in Tutankhamun's tomb [10/05/2015]
• Egypt approves Radar for Nefertiti Tomb Quest [09/22/2015]
• Has Queen Nefertiti been found behind King Tut's tomb? [08/11/2015]
• Ancient Egyptian capital Amarna mapped through satellite imagery system [03/11/2015]
• Another Tomb Discovered at Al-Qurna [18th Dynasty Egypt] [03/11/2015]
• 18th-Dynasty Tomb Discovered in Luxor [03/04/2015]
• Coolest Archaeological Discoveries of 2014 [CHEESE!] [12/30/2014]
• Ancient Egyptian Woman with 70 Hair Extensions Discovered [09/21/2014]
• The Greek Age of Bronze -- Middle Helmets [04/24/2014]
• A different take on Tut [02/16/2014]
• Tombs of legendary lovers [02/15/2014]
• King Tut's Mummified Erect Penis May Point to Ancient Religious Struggle [01/06/2014]
• King Tut's Sister Stolen in Massive Museum Heist [11/15/2013]
• Pictures: Looters Shatter Museum of Ancient Egyptian Treasures [08/25/2013]
• Mysterious Toe Rings Found on Ancient Egyptian Skeletons [07/06/2013]
• Tutankhamun's death and the birth of monotheism [09/10/2012]
• Berlin marks 100 years of discovering Nefertiti [09/03/2012]
• Archaeology meets politics: Spring comes to ancient Egypt [12/01/2011]
• Nefertiti & the Aten in Colour! 16K Amarna Art Talatat blocks in Luxor w/Original Pigment Preserved [08/10/2010]
• DNA Shows that KV55 Mummy Probably Not Akhenaten [Smenkhare] [03/02/2010]
• Egypt reveals Tutankhamun's lineage, cause of death [02/17/2010]
• When Ancient Artifacts Become Political Pawns: Egypt contesting German possession of Nefertiti bust [10/27/2009]
• Famed Nefertiti bust a fake: expert [05/06/2009]
• Egyptian Queen In Berlin -- Cairo Demands Clarification on Nefertiti Bust [04/20/2009]
• "Beauty of the Nile" May Have Had Ancient Makeover [03/30/2009]
• King Tut's Father ID'd in Stone Inscription [12/21/2008]
• The Androgynous Pharaoh? Akhenaten had feminine physique [05/02/2008]
• Study Shows Life Was Tough For Ancient Egyptians [03/28/2008]
• Grim Secrets Of Pharaoh's City [01/26/2008]
• Queen Nefertiti: More Than A Pretty Face [08/08/2007]
• Mystery of Tut's Father: New Clues on Unidentified Mummy [07/10/2007]
• 'Hands off my bust' says Egypt prof [If we give this to Egypt for 3 months they won't return it] [05/11/2007]
• Archaeologists find Akhenaten-era tomb (as a result of Dutch team excavation in the Sakkara area) [02/14/2007]
• Amarna: Ancient Egypt's Place in the Sun [ U Penn exhibit, open now ] [11/25/2006]
• The Trial of Akhenaten [ a play ] [11/21/2006]
• Neferititi was actually a 'fascinating' aging beauty [09/15/2006]
• Potential Cure Discovered for Marfan Syndrome [07/10/2006]
• King Tut returns to Chicago [05/30/2006]
• Researchers to look into Victorian historical 'truths' [11/27/2005]
• Nefertiti's 'Love Affair' With Moses to Hit the Silver Screen [04/08/2005]
• Theban Mapping Project (Valley of the Kings etc) [01/13/2005]
• Teasing The Sun (Nefertiti) [09/12/2004]
• Smenkhkhare, the Hittite Pharaoh [07/30/2004]
• Akhenaten: An Early Egyptian Monotheist [04/05/2004]
• First Lion Mummy Found in Tomb of King Tut's Wet Nurse [01/14/2004]
• Setting Ancient Nefertiti Bust on Bronze Nude Touches off a Tussle [06/17/2003]
• Nefertiti mummy 'found in Egypt' [06/10/2003]
• Found: Queen Nefertiti's Mummy [06/08/2003]
• Mystery of Dead Sea Scroll unravels [04/03/2002]
• Colossal head discovered in Egypt that could be Queen Nefertari [03/28/2002]
• All The King's Men [10/09/2001]

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[SunkenCiv]

One of *those* topics.

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FWIW, I'd never before encountered any such explanation. Akhetaten had a pretty brief existence. When Pharaoh Akhenaten died there was a dynastic struggle. His (and his father's, and probably grandfather's) worship of the Aten ended, and there was a turn back to the Amun priesthood by one of the factions. The world-famous King Tut started out as Tutankhaten, then changed deities, and his name to Tutankhamun. There's a major colonnade at Luxor that Tut built. His cartouches were mostly recarved for Ramses II "the Great" -- those close to the ceiling were left alone.

But even his dynastic victory was short-lived.

Meanwhile, the former capital Akhetaten was largely abandoned, although architectural elements were stripped for reuse in subsequent years.

[SunkenCiv]

The presence of smallpox in 18th dynasty mummies is known and uncontroversial, btw.

[Red Badger]

For those who don’t know, Akhenaten was King Tut’s daddy............

[SunkenCiv]

Question “who’s your daddy” was posed here:

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/elf-bowling-l6q

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Maybe.

Or might have been his uncle.

Or cousin.

The lines got a little weird.

[systemjim]

Any time I see “BCE” instead of “BC,” I immediately quit reading because I know the author is an idiot!

[SunkenCiv]

I’m sure the author can take the hit.

[GingisK]

...It was founded in the middle of nowhere...

Vegas East?

[MortMan]

Part of the Akhen-Tuten line?

[Sirius Lee]

He was also the source of obama’s freakish genetics from the look of it.

[SunkenCiv]

I noticed a video that claims that the Sphere in Vegas is a $2 billion+ failure. I suspect that’s just part of the long boom and bust pattern out there.

[imardmd1]

bmk