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The Amarna Revolution
Introduction: Although ancient Egypt was
a relatively stable kingdom, this does not imply that change never occurred. The
development of religious thought in Egypt reached one of its climaxes during the
reign of Amenhotep IV (1353-1336 B.C.). He engineered a palace revolution of
sorts aimed at overthrowing the powerful priesthood devoted to the god Amun-Re
and at closing the gap between the living king and the su preme divine power.
This was an effort to reestablish the high status of kingship enjoyed by
monarchs of the Fourth Dynasty, those pharaohs who had constructed the great
pyramids. After changing his name to Akhenaten, "worshipper of Aten," Amenhotep
broke with the Egyptian polytheism exemplified in more traditional religious
texts. He not only established Aten as the supreme deity, but also proclaimed
that Aten could be worshipped only through the divine person of the pharaoh
himself. The "Hymn to Aten" was written to glorify the new god and was inscribed
in one of the rock tombs at Tel el-Amarna, the new capital of the Egyptian
kingdom built by order of Akhenaten. Some scholars suggest that the pharaoh was
the world's first monotheist. Yet, because Akhenaten claimed to be Aten's son
and the divine intermediary between the god and ordinary mortals, it would
perhaps be more accurate to suggest that he developed a henotheistic religious
cult. Absorbed in his spiritual quest, Akhenaten had little interest in public
affairs; the pharaoh and his family lived in seclusion at his newly constructed
capital city at Amarna, surrounded by a few converts to the new cult. Eventually
deposed by a powerful contingent of priests and bureaucrats, Akhenaten was
probably insane when he died in isolation. (from Marc Anthony Meyer, Landmarks
of World Civilizations (Guilford, Conn., 1994), 51)
Additional
introduction: The eighteenth dynasty was not without its own troubles, however.
Amenhotep IV (c. 1364-1347 B.C.E.) initiated a religious revolution when he
introduced the worship of Aton, god of the sun disk, as the sole god in a
society that had always been polytheistic and consequently tolerant of many
gods. Amenhotep pursued the worship of Aton with great enthusiasm, changing his
own name to Akhenaten ("It is well with Aton"). He closed the temples of other
gods and especially endeavored to lessen the power of Amon-Re and his priesthood
at Thebes, which had grown rich and powerful as a result of the imperial
expansion of the eighteenth dynasty. Akhenaten strove to reduce the influence of
this priesthood by replacing Thebes as the capital of Egypt with Akhetaton
("dedicated to Aton"), a new city located near modern Tell-el-Amarna, two
hundred miles north of Thebes.
Akhenaten's attempt at religious
revolution proved to be a failure. It was too much to ask Egyptians to give up
their traditional ways and beliefs, especially since they saw the destruction of
the old gods as subversive of the very cosmic order upon which Egypt's survival
and continuing prosperity depended. Moreover, the priests at Thebes were
unalterably opposed to the changes, which had diminished their influence and
power. At the same time, Akhenaten's preoccupation with his religious revolution
caused him to ignore foreign affairs and led to the loss of both Syria and
Palestine. Akhenaten's changes were soon undone after his death by his
successors who returned the government to Thebes and restored the old gods. The
Aton experiment had failed to take hold, and the eighteenth dynasty itself came
to an end in 1333. (from William J. Duiker, Jackson J. Spielvogel, World History
(Minneapolis, 1994), 24)
"Hymn to the Aten," by Akhenaten
(this is
the primary source; see introduction)
Splendid you rise in heaven's
lightland, O living Aten, creator of life! When you have dawned in eastern
highland, You fill every land with your beauty. You are beauteous, great,
radiant, High over every land; Your rays embrace the lands, To the limit of all
that you made. Being Re, you reach their limits, You bend them for the son whom
you love; Though you are far, your rays are on earth, Though one sees you, your
strides are unseen.
When you set in western highland, Earth is in darkness as
if in death; One sleeps in chambers, heads covered, One eye does not see
another. Were they robbed of their goods, That are under their heads, People
would not remark it. Every lion comes from its den, All the serpents bite
Darkness hovers, earth is silent, As their maker rests in
lightland.
Earth brightens when you dawn in lightland, When you shine as
Aten of daytime; As you dispel the dark, As you cast your rays, The Two Lands
are in festivity. Awake they stand on their feet, You have roused them; Bodies
cleansed, clothed, Their arms adore your appearance. The entire land sets out to
work, All beasts browse on their herbs; Trees, herbs are sprouting, Birds fly
from their nests, Their wings greeting your ka. All flocks frisk on their feet,
All that fly up and alight, They live when you dawn for them. Ships fare north,
fare south as well, Roads lie open when you rise; The fish in the river dart
before you, Your rays are in the midst of the sea.
Who makes seed grow in
women, Who creates people from sperm; Who feeds the son in his mother's womb,
Who soothes him to still his tears. Nurse in the womb, Giver of breath, To
nourish all that he made. When he comes from the womb to breathe, On the day of
his birth, You open wide his mouth, You supply his needs. When the chick in the
egg speaks in the shell, You give him breath within to sustain him; When you
have made him complete, To break out from the egg, He comes out from the egg, To
announce his completion, Walking on his legs he comes from it.
How many
are your deeds, Though hidden from sight, O Sole God beside whom there is none!
You made the earth as you wished, you alone, All peoples, herds, and flocks; All
upon earth that walk on legs, All on high that fly on wings, The lands of Khor
and Kush, The land of Egypt. You set every man in his place, You supply their
needs; Everyone has his food, His lifetime is counted. Their tongues differ in
speech, Their characters likewise Their skins are distinct, For you
distinguished the peoples.
You made the Nile in the underworld. You bring
him when you will, To nourish the people, For you made them for yourself. Lord
of all who toils for them, Lord of all lands who shines for them, Aten of
daytime, great in glory! All distant lands, you make them live, You made a
heavenly Nile descend for them; He makes waves on the mountains like the sea, To
drench their fields and their towns. How excellent are your ways, O Lord of
eternity! A Nile from heaven for foreign peoples, And all lands' creatures that
walk on legs, For Egypt the Nile who comes from the underworld.
Your rays
nurse all fields, When you shine they live, they grow for you; You made the
seasons to foster all that you made, winter to cool them, heat that they taste
you. You made the far sky to shine therein, To behold all that you made; You
alone, shining in your form of living Aten, Risen, radiant, distant, near. You
made millions of forms from yourself alone, Towns, villages, fields, the river's
course; All eyes observe you upon them, For you are the Aten of daytime on
high.
You are in my heart, There is no other who knows you, Only your
son, Neferkheprure, Sole-one-of-Re, Akhenaten, Whom you have taught your ways
and your might. Those on earth come from your hand as you made them, When you
have dawned they live, When you set they diei You yourself are lifetime, one
lives by you. All eyes are on your beauty until you set, All labor ceases when
you rest in the west; When you rise you stir everyone for the King, Every leg is
on the move since you founded the earth. You rouse them for your son who came
from your body, The King who lives by Maat, the Lord of the Two Lands,
Neferkheprure, Sole-one-of-Re, The Son of Re who lives by Maat, the Lord of
crowns, Akhenaten, great in his lifetime; And the great Queen whom he loves, the
Lady of the Two Lands, Nefernefruaten Nefertiti, living and youthful
forever.
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