aking of Aten his own personal god is now seen as a reflection of the change in the state policy. Akhenaten now decides that a temple is not enough. This desire to create something bigger and better for his new god, along with other factors that we will mention later move Akhenaten to build a new capital. That new capital city dedicated to Aten is to be built in El-Armarna to be named Akhenatenehet-Aten, which means The place of the effective glory of Aten. This new capital city was built with many courtyards and had the feeling of being open to the air so that the sun disk could be worshiped in all its glory. It was well planned and ordered. The royal palace was built in the north of the city. It was a large complex of many types of buildings and offices. There was a ceremonial palace which led to a large residential area. This then lead to the official section which held the main temple of Aten and a large ceremonial palace which served as a place for public's ceremonial activities of the king took place. This was surrounded by the office of the government and the police headquarters. There was a smaller temple the was surrounded by a fortified wall which led to the small official city in which the high officials lived. The residents who lived there included the chief of police , the vizier, high priest, the mayor and other high officials of the city and government. He swore an oath never to go beyond the bounds of the city. This is today taken not to mean that he would never leave it, but that he wouldnt push the bounds of the city beyond designated boundary stones. Or that when he died that he would be buried here. The questions we should ask now is who is this god Aten? Why did Akhenaten decide to make him the one all powerful god, and build another capital city to move to? Aten appears to ever presented both the sun god in the solar disk itself. Aten first appears in the Middle Kingdoms as a small form of the sun god. ...
