Memphite In Akhenaten

The letter from the Memphite official Apy in Akhenaten’s fifth year, drafted just about five weeks before the date on the early boundary stelae at Amarna (see Chapter 6), signaled that the temple of Ptah and those of other deities in the capital were functioning normally. Nine months earlier (in year 4), a graffito was etched in the quarry area of Wadi Hammamat by an expedition that had been dispatched by Akhenaten to obtain bḫn, graywacke5 stone for a statue of the king. The leader of the expedition was none other than the high priest of Amun, named May.6 Minimally, this reference suggests that while the Aten temples in Karnak were functioning, the adjacent Amun temple was still operational with the high priest who had been appointed by Amenhotep