The North Riverside Palace was a royal residence in the former Egyptian city of Amarna. This palace should not be confused with the North Palace, which was the residence of first Queen

Kiya Kiya was one of the wives of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Little is known about her, and her actions and roles are poorly documented in the historical record, in contrast to those of Akhenaten's ‘Great royal wife’, Nefertiti. Her unusual n ...

and later

Meritaten Meritaten, also spelled Merytaten, Meritaton or Meryetaten ( egy, mrii.t-itn) (14th century BC), was an ancient Egyptian royal woman of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Her name means "She who is beloved of Aten"; Aten being the sun-deity whom h ...

The Palace

The North Riverside palace was the first building one would encounter when entering the city of Amarna from the north. This residence was located about 3 km north of the

Central City In urban planning, a core city, principal city metropolitan core, or central city, is the largest or most important city or cities of a metropolitan area. A core city is surrounded by smaller satellite cities, towns, and suburbs. A central city ...

. This palace complex was likely the main residence of

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth D ...

and his family.Kemp, Barry, The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and its People, Thames and Hudson, 2012Rolf Gundlach and John H Taylor, 4th Symposium on Egyptian Royal Ideology Egyptian Royal Residences: London, June 1st-5th 2004, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2009 The North Riverside Palace was a large citadel surrounded by an enclosing wall. The palace was first excavated in the 1930, but the change in the way that the river runs has washed away a lot of the foundations of the palace. The enclosing wall however was preserved to some extent and shows a thick wall that had square towers incorporated at regular intervals. A palace of this size likely included gardens. One gateway was excavated and parts of plaster were discovered showing a Pharaoh in a chariot. It is not clear if this Pharaoh was Akhenaten or one of his successors.

The Royal Progress

The royal residences and sunshades such as the

Maru-Aten Maru-Aten, short for Pa-maru-en-pa-aten (The Viewing-Palace-of-the-Aten), is a palace or sun-temple located 3 km to the south of the central city area of the city of Akhetaten (today's el Amarna). It is thought to have been originally constru ...

were widely dispersed. Scenes in the Rock Tombs of Amarna show the royal family traveling by chariot. If the main residence was the North Riverside Palace, the family may have traveled along the Royal Road to the other sites at Amarna.

References

{{coord missing, Egypt Buildings and structures completed in the 14th century BC 1930 archaeological discoveries Amarna Palaces in Egypt