All this had been planned from the start. Ay had plotted and worked into the early hours, year after year, as Akhenaten prepared for his great moment. Ay proved himself an administrative genius. I admired him for his subtle cunning, the way he’d kept his plans so close to his heart. The city had been created in the minds of Akhenaten, Ay and Nefertiti and kept secret in detailed plans on roll after roll of papyrus. Akhenaten realised his dream of creating a place for the Aten; he also wreaked hideous vengeance on the great ones of Thebes, its nobles, administrators and priests who, for years, had either ignored or mocked him.
At first Akhenaten’s opponents tried to exploit the situation but Sobeck’s influence was even greater whilst the prospect of work for the new city emptied the slums of both Thebes and the Necropolis. Tens of thousands of people wrapped their possessions in bundles and trekked North to begin a new life. They were quartered on the west bank of the Nile and used to shape millions upon millions of hard mud bricks. Surveyors became busy with stakes and ropes laying out the new city in accordance with Akhenaten’s dream. The shanty towns around the construction site grew whilst detailed plans ensured a special place for the imperial family and other nobles and scribes. All was protected by Egypt’s war-chariots, her massed regiments drawn in from every garrison and outpost throughout the Kingdom of the Two Lands. The Nile had just flooded so transport was easy whilst the deserts on either side, deliberately neglected for years, were full of game for the hunter. At the same time the great storehouses and granaries of nearby cities were ordered to open their doors to send a constant stream of supplies to that great camp now growing midway between Memphis and Thebes. No wonder Ay had been concerned about the previous harvests. They had been good and so now he reaped the fruits of his hard work.
I must confess in my long, sin-sodden life, I have met few real surprises, but to see a city, its palaces, temples, houses, gardens, parks, pools and lakes literally spring up from the desert was truly awesome. It happened so quickly, almost like the sun rising and flooding the land with colour and exciting life. What a city! All the resources of a great empire were directed to its construction. The imperial residences were the first priority; its colonnaded great bridge spanned the King’s Highway with the glorious Window of Appearance so Akhenaten and Nefertiti could meet those they wished to favour. The Northern Palace followed next with its inner and outer courtyards, glistening pools, colonnades, altars open to the sun, gardens full of flowers, and row upon row of lush vines. Floors were laid, so highly polished they gleamed like water. The beautiful Green Room was constructed with its long windows all two yards high and seven yards long, overlooking the most sumptuous garden, richly stocked with every kind of herb, flower and tree. The Chamber’s other three walls were painted a deep blue to reproduce the beauty of the Nile. The exquisite green borders at top and bottom represented the Nile’s fertile banks, alive with all the exotic birds of the riverside. The floor and ceiling were of pure white, so brilliantly constructed and originally painted, the illusion was created that the room was an extension of the garden and that the garden was an extension of the room.
Other chambers in the palace were decorated with different motifs. In the River Room, kingfishers nested in lotus and papyrus thickets, the red spathus of the papyrus so realistic, they seemed to be bending under a breeze. Above these, black and white kingfishers dived towards the water, so vivid you’d expect to hear the splash and see them fly up. Another chamber, the Vine Room, was decorated with girls gathering grapes whilst nearby bird-catchers drew in a clap net full of trapped wild fowl, so lifelike, if you stared long enough you’d think the birds were about to flutter, you’d even strain to catch their cries. The ceiling was decorated with pictures of vine trellises, their grapes of purple faience so luscious you were tempted to stretch up and pluck them. In the centre of this palace, as in other palaces, was the Throne Room with majestic columns on either side resplendent in every colour. At the far end, under a beautiful sculptured canopy of stone, stood the gold and jewel-encrusted thrones of Akhenaten and his Queen.
The temples of the Aten, the Eternal Mansion or the House of Rejoicing dazzled the eye with the whiteness of their limestone founded on pink granite. These were approached through soaring pylons: you would cross spacious courtyards and climb tiers of steps to altars open to the sky, carefully positioned to catch the rays of the sun. Around these sanctuaries stood the storehouses stuffed full of gorgeous tribute brought to the temples from the broad-slabbed quaysides which now ran along the Nile. All such buildings were bounded by walls, each with its own spring, well and gardens. Every palace had its own sunshade pavilions, garden chapels with cool rooms and colonnaded walks decorated with gold asps as well as plants or flowers painted in the form of rosettes and garlands.
The private houses of the nobles to the north and south of the city were all built flat-roofed and mud-bricked, but made all the more resplendent with columns, porticoes, steps and colonnades, all brightly painted and decorated with artwork. The inside walls blazed with light depicting hunting, farming or river scenes though it was almost compulsory that the central hall depicted Akhenaten, his Queen and their children being blessed by the rays of the Aten. Akhenaten’s watchword to his builders, architects and craftsmen was ‘to live in the truth’. By this he meant art was to reflect life in all its detail and the heart of all life was the glory of Aten. The nobles were only too eager to comply. Their mansions became small palaces with rich drapes covering the windows, exquisite furniture, beds of ebony and ivory, baskets of flowers and, everywhere, the sign of the Sun Disc, the symbol of the Aten’s true son, Akhenaten.
The city was composed of three sections: the northern suburbs, the central city with its temples, Great Palace and Mansion of Aten and, beyond that, the southern suburbs with the villas and mansions of the nobles. To the north-east of the city were the houses of the workers whilst others had to find homes on the west bank of the Nile. Streets were clearly named and the entire city was connected by a broad imperial avenue called the King’s Highway. In the centre lay the administrative heart of Akhenaten’s city, the House of Scribes, the House of Reception and the House of Secrets with its police station and cells where I executed my office. Djarka became my lieutenant. We allowed no one to join us from Thebes but recruited mercenaries, Asiatics and Nubians to patrol the streets. Horemheb and Rameses were responsible for the security of the approaches by land and river; at night, the eastern clifftops gleamed with the campfires of their soldiers.
I have been asked so many times what life was like in the City of Aten. It was peaceful at first, full of petty incident and excitement as the seasons of the year rolled one into another. All of Thebes and Egypt had been shocked by the speed and thoroughness of Akhenaten’s revolution; like a wrestler with the breath knocked out of him, they could only stagger and choke but do little. Animals bitten by a certain snake become paralysed, so it was in both Egypt and the Palace of the Aten. Oh, I can describe the different buildings, their beauty as well as the stream of ordinances issued to keep everything fresh and lovely. But in the end? Well, we were like children invited into a beautiful garden to play. The sun shone and shone and shone, plates of sweet dates and iced melon were served and served and served. The music played and played and played but night never came. No breeze blew to cool our sweat and we were not allowed to go home. The sun, indeed, became too bright. Our guests grew sick of the rich food. Our ears were dinned with so much music, we longed for the darkness of the night and the coolness and peace it would bring.