15 - 21 February 2001
Issue No.521
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 15 - 21 February 2001 Issue No.521 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Sun worship at Saqqara
ARCHAEOLOGISTS from the joint Egyptian/Dutch mission working at Saqqara have discovered the tomb of a high priest of Aten. Though primarily an Old Kingdom burial ground, New Kingdom tombs have been found at Saqqara. Those dating from the time of Akhenaten, though, are extremely rare.
Maarten J Raven of the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities believes that the tomb's owner was originally the high priest of the goddess Neith but that when Akhenaten (c 1375-1350 BC) broke away from established polytheistic worship to promote a single god, Aten, the priest followed his lead. According to Raven, a section of the wall inscription "clearly shows that the symbol of the goddess Neith was altered to the symbol of Aten, the sun disk with rays".
The tomb, which consists of an entrance doorway, a courtyard and a burial chamber, contains scenes of the deceased accompanied by his family honouring Aten and others of workers. And as accumulated earth was being removed from the tomb, coloured reliefs of wailing women and weeping men came to light, along with inscriptions that identify the owner of the tomb as Mery-Neith, a name subsequently changed to Mery-Aten to denote his religious affiliations.
The joint mission, which started work on the tomb last month, also uncovered bones and skeletons from a variety of periods, suggesting that the high priest himself usurped an existing tomb that was later reused by yet others.
"This is not the first time an Amarna tomb has been found at Saqqara," says Zahi Hawass, director general of the Giza plateau. "The tomb of Aper-El, a high priest and vizier, dates from the same period." But the fact that Mery-Aten held two titles, as high priest and as overseer of the god Aten, suggests the possibility that a temple dedicated to the sun god lies somewhere on the site, waiting to be discovered.
Full coverage next week.
photo: Randa Shaath
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