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In this article:
- For nearly a century, archaeologists and historians have known about the existence of the golden city of Egypt that was built during the reign of Amenhotep III.
- While many archaeological teams have looked for the lost city, none were able to find it until 2020.
- Egyptologist Zahi Hawass and his team of archaeologists discovered the lost city in the Valley of the Kings just outside the city of Luxor.
- They uncovered jewelry, pots, amulets, tools, and many more items that give historians great insight into what the life of an Ancient Egyptian was like.
- The city of Aten, as it’s known, was built during an extremely peaceful and prosperous time in Ancient Egypt. The discovery is being hailed as the second most significant Egyptian archaeological find ever (after King Tut’s tomb).
For most of us living in the United States, a golden city in a place called Luxor probably brings up memories of losing a bunch of money in a famous Las Vegas casino.
However, what most Americans probably don’t know is that the Luxor casino is actually named after a real city in Egypt, which was built on the site of the ancient city of Thebes, the pharaoh’s capital at the height of Ancient Egyptian civilization.
Thebes (modern-day Luxor) was the epicenter of the Ancient Egyptian empire. Some of the most notable landmarks in the area include the Valley of the Kings (the burial site of many Ancient Egyptian pharaohs), the Temple of Karnak (one of the most impressive temples in all of Egypt), and the Luxor Temple (another impressive temple full of magnificent ancient sculptures).
However, in 2020, archaeologists discovered something that makes all of those other landmarks pale in comparison: a lost city of gold.
Alright, perhaps that was a bit of a misrepresentation. What archaeologists discovered last year was not the El Dorado of Egypt, some lost city where the floors and ceilings are made entirely of 24-karat gold.
The discovery, made in September of 2020, was labeled the “golden city” because it is believed to date back to the “golden era” of Ancient Egypt. But, before you get disappointed, you should know that it’s been hailed as the second-most important Ancient Egyptian archaeological discovery ever, behind the tomb of Tutankhamun (or King Tut, as you probably know him).
In this article, we’re going to examine the events that led up to this discovery, what these archaeologists found, and what it tells us about life in Ancient Egypt.
How Archaeologists Found the Lost Golden City of Egypt
Archaeologists and historians have known of the existence of the ancient “golden” city, known as Aten, for nearly a century.
They knew that Amenhotep III, the pharaoh who was in power during the height of the city, had amassed unprecedented wealth in his time of peace and would have poured some of his riches into building a city.
However, the precise location of the city was unknown, and many attempts to uncover it failed.
In 1934 and 1935, a team of French archaeologists set out to find it, but they were searching in the wrong place. The French team began digging around a cluster of buildings that were dedicated to Amenhotep III and around the pharaoh’s tomb. Unfortunately, they came up empty-handed.
It wasn’t until September 2020 that anyone considered digging slightly south of these monuments in search of the lost city of Aten.
Egyptologist Zahi Hawass took his team of archaeologists south into the Valley of the Kings and, within a few days, began uncovering mudbrick walls and artifacts that they believed were part of Aten.
Much of the city that they discovered was remarkably intact and they also unearthed colored pottery, scarab beetle amulets, mudbricks bearing Amenhotep III’s seal, and jewelry.
On top of that, they also found entire rooms full of tools and a room that they believed to be a bakery. They were also able to identify certain parts of the city as the residential district, the administrative district, and the graveyard.
This is thought to be the second most important discovery ever uncovered in Ancient Egypt behind the tomb of King Tut (who was Amenhotep III’s grandson). The items revealed in this archaeological dig tell us a lot about the daily life of the average Egyptian.
It’s clear that the people of the city were skilled craftsmen.
Many of the artifacts found suggested that highly intricate methods were used to produce their pottery, tools, homes, and pretty much everything in the city. There were also many items found that were believed to be celebratory, such as caskets of wine and dried meats.
It seems like, if you had to be an Ancient Egyptian, living in Aten under the reign of Amenhotep III was about as good as it could get.
The History of Aten
Due to inscriptions found on pieces of pottery in the Aten archaeological dig, historians have been able to date the city with strong precision. The city is believed to date back around 3,400 years (1386-1353 BCE) during the reign of Amenhotep III.
One of the artifacts discovered, however, was dated 1337 BCE, which would have been during the rule of the disgraced pharaoh Akhenaten. Akhenaten formed a new religion that only worshipped the sun god that was mandated for all citizens of Egypt.
He also moved the capital to a new city that he named after himself (known today as Amarna), leaving the city of Aten abandoned. After his death, Akhenaten’s name was wiped from the historical records by his own people and Egypt returned to its traditional religious belief system.
It is believed that Tutankhamun, son of Akhenaten and grandson of Amenhotep III, reoccupied the city of Aten. Tutankhamun was known for restoring many of the temples around Egypt that had been pillaged by Akhenaten, so it’s very possible that he did the same with the city of Aten.
After Tutankhamun, it is believed that Ay, the penultimate pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, also used the city of Aten. Other archaeological evidence shows that the city was inhabited (whether continuously or not) up until the Coptic Byzantine era from the 3rd century to the 7th century CE.
Can You Visit the Golden City of Egypt?
If any of the avid travelers reading this are wondering whether you can walk through the walled city of Aten, the answer is no. At least, not right now.
The Aten archaeological site is still active (as they believe there are still many more artifacts to be unearthed) and is not currently open to the public. However, you can travel to the Valley of the Kings and view the city from afar.
