Stela of a Western Asiatic soldier, his wife, and his servant

Probably from Amarna
Reign of Akhenaten, 1353­1336 B.C.
Limestone; h. 29.5 cm, w. 23.5 cm, d. 3.3 cm
Agyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Berlin

Many ordinary people -- court officials, artisans, workers, soldiers -- accompanied the royal family to the new city at Amarna. Here a soldier and his wife relax at home, seated comfortably on stools. His spear is propped behind him, and a servant assists him in drinking beer through a bent tube, a device for straining out the dregs. The soldier, dressed in Western Asiatic style, may be a recruit from Egypt's widespread empire. His wife appears to be Egyptian, suggesting that intermarriage occurred in the cosmopolitan society of Amarna