Akhenaton did abandon Thebes. As tensions grew he came to realize that
his new faith could not flourish in the city of Amon. There were
theological reasons, too, for Aton had no city that was distinctly
dedicated to his worship. Akhenaton decided to build a new capital,
dedicated to the god Aton, with the name Akhetaton, "the horizon of
Aton."
The move to Akhetaton, modern Amarna, three hundred miles north of
Thebes, must have been welcome both to Akhenaton's court and the Theban
priesthood. The city seems to have been built in haste, and when
Akhenaton left Thebes it was for good. Was life at Akhetaton all that
Akhenaton envisioned? The inscriptions and the paintings from the rock
tombs suggest that the royal family enjoyed a few happy years in
devotion to Aton and to one another. True, the envoys from distant lands
and subject peoples noted the growing gulf between Akhenaton and the
people, and the empire suffered as the Egyptian Pharaoh lived in the
seclusion of his capital. Tragedy entered the lives of Akhenaton and
Nofretete when their second daughter Meketaton died and was buried in
the family tomb east of Akhetaton.