Birket Habu: Amenhotep III’s Ceremonial Lake at Western Thebes by Barry Kemp 09-12-2017

Birket Habu — ‘the lake of Habu’ — is the modern name for the outline of a huge basin on the edge of the Nile floodplain not far south of the temple of Medinet Habu. Although now entirely filled with sediment its outline is defined by embankments and hills of excavated sediment which define a rectangle of roughly 2 x 1 km. Around its north-west corner it runs adjacent to the remains of a mud-brick town of the reign of Amenhotep III. Known today as Malkata, it contained palaces. To judge from many inscribed objects the celebration of at least two of Amenhotep III’s jubilees were held. The purpose of the Birket Habu remains uncertain. The lecture looks at the evidence for dating it to Amenhotep III’s reign and considers whether it served as a harbor or was a place for water-borne ceremonies. Both it and the adjacent palaces and town of Malkata flourished only a few years before the accession of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten. Although he nowhere appears in the tomb and temple scenes which record the jubilee festivals it is reasonable to think that he would have witnessed them. Does the site, therefore, make a contribution to understanding Amarna?

Professor Barry Kemp, is Professor Emeritus of Egyptology at the University of Cambridge and is currently directing excavations at Amarna in Egypt. His widely renowned book Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization is a core text of Egyptology as well as many Ancient History courses.

Kemp was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1992, and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honors for services to archaeology, education and international relations in Egypt.