Fragment of Relief Showing the Aten (Sun Disk)
Carved around 1345 – 1347 BCE
Purchased from the Egypt Exploration Society in 1922
Accession # 7043-12
Many Aten carvings like this one showed the sun’s rays ending in human hands offering life to the king and his family. In more well-preserved scenes, the Aten’s hands would hold out life (symbolized by the ankh sign) to the those standing below. It’s common to find objects showing the god Aten—represented by a sun disk—in Amarna because King Akhenaten change Egypt’s polytheistic religion to focus on the Aten as the sole god.