Barry Kemp/courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society

In 1887 a peasant woman found an archive of cuneiform tablets at Tell el-Amarna (shown here), about 150 miles south of Cairo. Written in a Semitic language that was an international language of the day, these tablets contain diplomatic correspondence of Amenophis III and his son Akhenaten. After ruling from Thebes for five years, Akhenaten moved his capital to Amarna—naming it Akhetaten in honor of Aten. After Akhenaten’s death, Tutankhamun abandoned Akhetaten and moved the capital back to Thebes.