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A new account of the return to orthodoxy after Akhenaten’s revolution which "combines erudition with expertise to create an exciting account of a much mythologized period" (Book News,) now in a fully revised paperback
Amarna Sunset tells the story of the decline and fall of the pharaoh Akhenaten’s religious revolution in the fourteenth century bc. Beginning at the regime’s high point in his Year 12, it traces the subsequent collapse that saw the deaths of many of the king’s loved ones, his attempts to guarantee the revolution through co-rulers, and the last frenzied assault on the god Amun.
The book then outlines the events of the subsequent five decades that saw the extinction of the royal line, an attempt to place a foreigner on Egypt’s throne, and the accession of three army officers in turn. Among its conclusions are that the mother of Tutankhamun was none other than Nefertiti, and that the queen was joint-pharaoh in turn with both her husband Akhenaten and her son. As such, she was herself instrumental in beginning the return to orthodoxy, undoing her erstwhile husband’s life-work before her own mysterious disappearance.
This fully updated and extensively revised paperback edition addresses new evidence and discussions that have appeared in the decade since the book was originally published. Amarna Sunset, together with its recently updated companion volume, Amarna Sunrise, accordingly provides readers with a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of Egyptian history during the golden years of the Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East.
"Dr Dodson . . . has achieved the monumental task of listing the relevant facts without losing the reader in a morass of detail. The result is a concise and highly readable text."—Ancient Egypt Magazine
"In Amarna Sunset, Aidan Dodson has produced a compact book chronicling the demise of the Eighteenth Dynasty from the reign of Akhenaten, through to the dynasty’s final reign of Horemheb. The book is highly readable and is a worthy and useful summary of the political and religious machinations of these times aimed at expert and ‘informed beginner’ alike. . . . Dodson has produced a book that will be an asset to any Amarna scholar’s personal library. The book contains much valuable information, despite its size, and is the perfect introduction to the period for the Amarnan beginner, and its bibliography should enable the reader to follow further research if they so wish."—Peter Robinson
“Intriguing and involving historical study and extrapolation. Amarna Sunset is an absolute ‘must’ for college library Egyptology collections.”—Midwest Book Review
"The research is meticulous and clearly cited. . . . Dodson combines erudition with expertise to create an exciting account of a much mythologized period."—Book News
“For those wanting all the academic details about Tutankhamun’s life and times, and to gain the knowledge necessary to weigh up the recent theories and evidence, this is the place to start.”—Garry Shaw, The Art Newspaper
List of Illustrations
Maps
Abbreviations and Conventions
Preface
Introduction: Sunrise
1. The Noonday Sun
2. The Waning Sun
3. The Northern Problem
4. The Living Image of Amun
5. The Zananzash Affair
6. God’s Father to God
7. The Hawk in Festival
8. Sunset
Notes
Appendices
1. Chronology of Ancient Egypt
2. Relative Chronology of Egyptian and Foreign Kings of the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Dynasties
3. Royal Names of the Late Eighteenth Dynasty
4. Tentative Genealogy of the Late Eighteenth Dynasty
Bibliography
Index