Next Lecture Reservations

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Discoveries At Nefertiti's Sun Temple

Jacquelyn Williamson

This event is Sponsored by the DC chapter of ARCE (American Research Center in Egypt)

Stone relief fragments were recently excavated from Kom el-Nana at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt, the site of Nefertiti’s Sun Temple. They date to approximately 1350 BCE, the period when Pharaoh Akhenaten closed Egyptian temples and dismissed the priesthood, declared the sun deity Aten as the true God, and with his wife Nefertiti established a new capital of Egypt at Amarna.

In an illustrated presentation, Jacquelyn Williamson reconstructs the architecture, art, and inscriptions from the site to demonstrate Kom el-Nana is the location of Queen Nefertiti’s ‘Sunshade of Re’ temple as well as another more enigmatic structure there that served the funerary needs of the non-royal courtiers at the ancient city.

The art and inscriptions provide new information about Queen Nefertiti and challenge assumptions about her role in Pharaoh Akhenaten’s religious movement dedicated to the sun god Aten.

Jacquelyn Williamson is Assistant Professor of Art and Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean World at George Mason University

This event will be held at Bamian Afghan Cuisine:  5634 Leesburg Pike / Falls Church / Virginia / 22041.

The luncheon begins at 2 pm; the lecture begins at 3 pm

Canceled