The Amarna Mysteries

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Fetters

< 1 min read

Restraints for the wrists, arms or ankles of captives and prisoners. Egyptian reliefs show prisoners of war with their arms roped together at the elbows behind the back, strung in lines by cords around the neck, or with both hands locked in a wooden manacle; tomb reliefs carved at Saqqara in Tutankhamun's reign show foreign captives held in these ways. The bound captive was also a royal emblem of ma'at mastering isfet: Tutankhamun's sandals and footstools carry images of foreign enemies for the king to tread on.

War, diplomacy, and empire
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The Amarna Mysteries

Mystery novels of ancient Egypt, built on the scholarship of the Amarna period. Published by The WordFish Group GmbH, Basel.

The Series

  • Series overview
  • Geography of the series
  • Naming Ancient Egypt
  • Healers & poisons
  • Scribes & bureaucracy

The Amarna Period

  • Overview
  • Akhenaten & the Aten
  • The royal women
  • Succession & aftermath
  • Horemheb

Behind the Books

  • Overview
  • Methodology
  • Research
  • Reader's Companion
  • From the Notebook

© 2026 A.J. Tilke. All rights reserved, including the novels, their text, descriptions and covers.
CC BY 4.0: the historical essays and the Reader's Companion.

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