Step 3 of 11

The Style

Fig. 1 - Akhenaten, Nefertiti and three daughters under the sundisk - Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung - [ÄM 14145](http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=607132&viewType=detailView) — Fig. 1 - Akhenaten, Nefertiti and three daughters under the sundisk - Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung - ÄM 14145

This stela shows detailed depictions and many hieroglyphs. The style of the characters is reminiscent of a time in Egyptian history that is known as the ‘Amarna period’ (ca. 1353-1334 BC).See H. D. Schneider, Beeldhouwkunst in het land van de farao’s (Amsterdam, 1992), 78. In this period, king Akhenaten moved Egypt’s capital to the new city of Amarna, and he continued his father’s changes in the religious structure, with an increasing emphasis on the sun disk Aten. The art style of this period is very recognizable (see fig. 1). During the reigns of the kings in the aftermath of the Amarna Period – Tutankhamun, Ay and Horemheb – elements of the Amarna style remained, such as full bellies and elongated skulls and faces. See K. A. Bard, An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt (John Wiley & Sons, 2015), 240. This stela is a good example of the post-Amarna style, and it is thus plausible that it dates from the time of these kings.

Now we will take a closer look at the different parts of the stela.