Akhnaten - Funeral of Amenhotep III

The scene presents the funeral of Akhnaten’s father, Amenhotep III. As the starting point of the opera, it represents the historical moment immediately before the “Amarna period“ or the reign of Akhnaten and depicts the society in which the reforms of Akhnaten (reforms which appeared so extreme that they can be called revolutionary) took place. The action of the scene centers on the funeral rites of the New Empire of the 18th Dynasty.