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Relationship between religion and social change
Impact of religion on social change
Relationship between religion and social change
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Akhenaten, previously Amenhotep IV, was one of the most famous Egyptian pharaohs. He ruled in the eighteenth dynasty from 1353 to 1336 BCE after his father, Amenhotep III (Harris 144). During his reign, one of his reforms was to annihilate all the gods except one, thus creating one of the first monotheistic religions. The worship of all gods that were not Aten was banned and their temples were closed (Ngo). This led to a large divide between the priestly caste and the dynasty (Ricart 58). Akhenaten also abandoned his palace in Thebes and moved to a newly created city (Harris 143). In that city, which he named Akhetaten, he built two elaborate palaces and multiple places of worship for Aten (Crosher 24). When Akhenaten died, he was erased from …show more content…
Akhenaton was not following through with his duties as Pharaoh and was not thinking of the people, and only of Aten. He left people to take care of things themselves and without supervision from the dynasty or from officials, malpractices took a firm hold and the people became corrupt in aspects such as payments (Aldred 166). Other civilizations, such as the Hittites,”flourished” while Egypt was lagging behind (Mertz 219). Another important effect of Akhenaten's sole concern for his god was political. Akhenaten's preoccupation with his religion led to exclusion of things important to Egypt, such as its foreign relations. “Egypt’s foreign dependencies in Syria and Palestine had got out of control, and had only been kept together by the ability and energy of Akhenaten's Great General of Lower Egypt, Horemheb” (Sewell 73). Akhenaten was not interested in foreign affairs while isolated in his palace, and did not help allied nations who asked for military support, thus losing those supporters (Pemberton 95-96). One of these people was the Prince of Lachish, who sent a letter requesting that Akhenaten stand with them against conspiring nations. This letter was one of many from the Tell-el-Amarna letter series (Letter of Pabi). Akhenaten’s lack of fulfilling his Pharoah duties to take care of his country affected Egypt in a negative way because it allowed the …show more content…
Akhenaten’s “neglect of local government increased the problems of maintaining an effective administration and introduced a whole new system characterized by corruption and arbitraries.” This ruined the process of “production and redistribution without providing any new structure to replace it.” Another way that this affected Egypt negatively was that Akhenaten’s mistreatment of his country also affected the army, leading to an unprotected and later unsafe country (Grimal 232). The country was left vulnerable and open to attacks. The Hittites were able to take over the Northern part of Egypt and this happened despite of the warnings Akhenaton received firsthand in the forms of letters. One was from an “elderly nobleman” who was the Prince of Byblos, a coastal city that didn’t fall right away when all of Egypt’s other coastal allies fell. Other leaders tried to warn Akhenaten to prevent any further capturing of Egypt or the countries’ allies. Another example of a letter is from the “Egyptian deputy in Jerusalem.” Akhenaten’s ignorance toward his country's safety also led to the fall of the southern half of Egypt’s Asiatic empire to “fierce desert raiders called the Habiru.” They were strong and “ferocious fighters, and the fortresses of Palestine, weakened by years of neglect under [Akhenaten], fell to them
During the New Kingdom of Egypt (from 1552 through 1069 B.C.), there came a sweeping change in the religious structure of the ancient Egyptian civilization. "The Hymn to the Aten" was created by Amenhotep IV, who ruled from 1369 to 1353 B.C., and began a move toward a monotheist culture instead of the polytheist religion which Egypt had experienced for the many hundreds of years prior to the introduction of this new idea. There was much that was different from the old views in "The Hymn to the Aten", and it offered a new outlook on the Egyptian ways of life by providing a complete break with the traditions which Egypt held to with great respect. Yet at the same time, there were many commonalties between these new ideas and the old views of the Egyptian world. Although through the duration of his reign, Amenhotep IV introduced a great many changes to the Egyptian religion along with "The Hymn", none of these reforms outlived their creator, mostly due to the massive forces placed on his successor, Tutankhamen, to renounce these new reforms. However, the significance of Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaten as he later changed his name to, is found in "The Hymn". "The Hymn" itself can be looked at as a contradiction of ideas; it must be looked at in relation to both the Old Kingdom's belief of steadfast and static values, as well as in regards to the changes of the Middle Kingdom, which saw unprecedented expansionistic and individualistic oriented reforms. In this paper I plan to discuss the evolvement of Egyptian Religious Beliefs throughout the Old,
If the king fails in his duties, both societies suffer the same fate of chaos and warfare. However, the Egyptian and Mesopotamian people view the outcome in different ways. While the author never explicitly mentions the consequences in the Wisdom of Merikare, there are some instances where he hints at failure, writing about “a shameful deed [that] occurred in my time,” which he doesn’t specify. It appears that a nome was attacked and destroyed due to his negligence. This is the main fear from the king’s perspective. The citizens of Egypt want to maintain stability in order to preserve their wellbeing. If the Pharaoh cannot preserve order, then they view him as a failure. However, the criticism the Pharaoh would receive for the millennia to
Amenhotep IV was born in c. 1365 BCE during the 18th dynasty in Egypt to Pharaoh Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye (Aldred 11). He was given his name in honor of the Gods Amun and Re whom Amenhotep III sought to be the earthly representative of (Bratton 17). Amun-Re was the creator God, and Re was the God of the sun (Assmann 485-6). Combined, these two deities were the most powerful God and are therefore normally referred to by their conjoined name of Amun-Re (Redford 97). Although Re was the sole Sun God, there were others under him who were individually responsible for a specific detail of the sun-God. Aten was an aspect of R...
...rule of Amenemhet. He was responsible for rebuilding democracy, staff of scribes and administrations. He used propaganda literature to reinforce his position as king. The Egyptians pictured him as a good shepherd opposed to inaccessible god. Ammon was given prominise over other gods. His kingdom became extremely powerful. He established trades with foreign land and formed a standing Army and built forts on the southern frontier.
After the of Ay Horemheb became the Pharaoh of Egypt and his wife Mutnodjmet (Which may or may not be Nefertiti’s sister.) became the queen. Horemheb thought that Horus sent him to become Pharaoh so that he can restore Egypt of what it used to be. Very soon after he became Pharaoh he wanted the old religion to be restored so, he reopened all of the Temples of Amun back up. He was very skeptical of appointing the old priest back so he just made trusted military figures the priest. Horemheb started to destroy the Aten temples and reusing the materials for other buildings. As Pharaoh Horemheb was becoming less of a military man so he decided to split the give control to two commanders, one to control lower Egypt and one to control the
Egyptian polytheistic religion recognized gods representing every aspect of life. The Achaemenid Empire served one and only one true god, Ahura Mazda. The military system of the Egyptians was dominated by the chariot warrior and its ability to afford such technology. The Achaemenid Empire relied upon a heavy armored, well organized, and highly trained infantry for its defense and conquests. The government structure of Egypt was rigid. The pharaoh was both king and a god. On the contrary, while the Achaemenid king was the ultimate ruler, he did pass down some authority to provincial governors known as satraps. Whether because of the need to adapt or a need to expand an empire, these differences demonstrate how two cultures can evolve over a 2000 year period with completely contrasting views on religion, military tactics, and governmental
For centuries, the ancient Egyptians worshipped a vast host of deities who they claimed controlled all natural phenomena and the underworld (Edgar et al. pg 22). The polytheistic religion of the Egyptians was incorporated into many of the most famous examples of Egyptian art and architecture. For instance, the mysterious deities of the Egyptians were immortalized in hieroglyphic drawings, and the Egyptians’ belief in an afterlife led them to construct some of the most recognizable monuments in the world. However, for a brief instant in Egyptian history, a new, monotheistic cult overshadowed the traditional worship practices (Damen sec 1). Akhenaten, a pharaoh who reigned during the time now known as the “Amarna Period,” was the founder of this radical new religion (Damen sec 2). Originally named Amunhotep, a name which pays homage to the god Amun, the pharaoh started his widespread religious reforms by changing his own name to Akhenaten, which means “he is agreeable to the sun-disk” (Damen sec. 2B-C). The reasoning behind Akhenaten’s drastic religious reforms is not yet known, although some exper...
Amenhotep wanted paintings of people to look more natural than formal. One painting has Amenhotep and his wife playing with just three of their six little daughters. (Edwards 22) Amenhotep married a very beautiful queen named Nefertiti, despite of his looks. Nefertiti was an adviser to Amenhotep and was a powerful woman. (Edwards 10-11,11) The son of the powerful Akhenaten was a boy king of the 18th Egyptian dynasty. (Networks) The people of Egypt practiced “a polytheistic religion” for a long time. (rodgers 13) around 1350 B.C King Akhenaten abolished all the nation’s gods and replaced them with one god. The Aten.
In his fifth or sixth year reigning as Pharaoh, Nefertiti’s husband, Amenhotep IV, changed his name to Akhenaten, meaning “He Who Serves the Aton, ” and moved to Tell el-Amarna from the city of Thebes to create a new establishment to worship the Aten. Nefertiti and their children accepted his movement as the new truth and she expanded her name to Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti. Nefertiti and Akhenaten had six children, daughters, to which two became Queens themselves after her death. Their eldest daughter, Meritaten became Queen Consort and wife to Smenkhkare, a short-lived Pharaoh who succeeded Akhenaten, and their third born daughter, Ankhesenpaaten, became Queen to Tutankhaten, Smenkhkare’s successor. The new religion wasn’t clearly understood. Nefertiti and Akhenaten named themselves High Priests and tried to recapture the old authority that the king was a god. Over time, old inscriptions containing the name “Amon” were removed, and anything pertaining to gods or goddesses was hacked off. Nefertiti replaced all motherly goddesses, and her husband was the God-King of all of Egypt. The royal couple would address a hymn to worship their god, Aten. The hymn would give praise to Aten with phrases, “You fill every land with your beauty. You are beauteous, great, radiant ,” as well as be a
In 626 Babylon they defeated the Assyrian army. It was then that Egypt began to give active support to their former overlords, in order to keep Assyria as a much weakened buffer state between their regions of interest and the rising powers of the East - an interesting example of Realpolitik.
The New Kingdom period of Ancient Egypt began in 1550 BCE and is also known as the Egyptian Empire period due to Egyptians expanding their borders and power. One of the most famous Egyptian dynasties was prevalent during this time period; the Eighteenth Dynasty. Amenhotep III was the ninth king of the Eighteenth Dynasty and was well known for a time of united harmony (“The New Kingdom”). He was able to obtain significant allies, which in turn gave him protection and a powerful empire. This time of peace gave Amenhotep III the ability to admire and create new works of art. He was a follower of the ancient Egyptian religion which involved many gods and goddesses, but a new religious cult was emerging during his reign that followed the sun god Aten. However, Amenhotep III focused many of his projects on the traditional religious beliefs and deities (Mark 2011). The Bust of Sekhmet is an example of the traditional Egyptian religion. Sekhmet is known as the goddess of war and vengeance who protected the Pharaohs of Egypt. The word “sekhem” can be translated to mean “power.” She was the
The first thing he did was he changed religion. He called his religion Aten that is the worship of the sun (El Mahdy 1999: 88). This not the first mentioning of Aten in Egypt it has been used before. Aten was known of since the twelfth dynasty getting more mentions over the years. Thutmoses IV for example refers to a large scarab as a god of battles who makes the pharaoh mighty in his domain, and brings all his subjects under the sway of the sun- disk (Alfred 1988: 239). The symbols for Aten were changed the old way was shown as either a pyramid or a falcon (Rempel 2000: 4). The new symbol was now the sun shown as a disk with rays radiating down ending as hands (Rempel 2000: 4). Akhenaton's religion had only one god coming from a religion of many gods (Eliade 1987: 169). Atenism is Monotheism. This paved the way for combining gods. Combining a lesser god with a greater god (Wilkenson 2000: 83). Also the sun never played that big of a role in the day-to-day run of Egypt. The ways were done by Osiris, Isis, and Horus a cycle of life (Grempel 2000: 2). Osiris represented the fertilizing power of the Nile, Isis the reproductive earth and Horus
The first ruler during this period, an Egyptian by the name of King Amhose I, overthrew the foreign conquerors and drove them out, establishing control and unifying both Upper and Lower Egypt. Once the Hyksos had been driven out, the Egyptian civilization began to regrow and prosper. However, this time the New Kingdom developed into a military-centric civilization, unlike the Middle Kingdom. Using the Hyksos military inventions, the Egyptians entered a period of rapid military expansion, conquering other people and, consequently, becoming the first Egyptian Empire. Instead of just focusing on trading and commerce, the New Kingdom combined military expansion and diplomacy with foreign trade to become a major international force, conquering Nubia to the south and Palestine to the north, although they were never able to conquer their archenemies, the Hittites. It was also during the New Kingdom that the term “Pharaoh” was adopted by the ruler of Egypt, starting with Thutmose III. A although kings were considered to be the “mouthpiece of god”, the title pharaoh mean that the ruler himself/herself was a physical manifestation of a god. During the reign of the Pharaohs, Egyptian society grew and flourished for almost 500 years, adopting customs and technology from other cultures and assimilating it. However, over time, Egypt weakened internally due to corruption, civil unrest, and foreign invasion. Eventually, invasions by the Sea People, the Assyrians, and the Berbers led to the overthrow of the New Kingdom and the end of ancient Egypt as a free
and during their earliest years of reigning together her husband decides to change the ancient religion that has been worshipped for centuries to a new religion called Aten “The Sun God”. Instead of worshiping more than one god, Pharaoh Amenhotep IV thought it would be best to worship “One” god (“Nefertiti”, 2010). Not to mention Akhenaton said, “Aten is the greatest of all Egyptian gods and the only one who should be worshiped” (“Nefertiti”, 2017). During Amenhotep IV fifth year reign he decided to change his name to Akhenaton. As well as Akhenaton changing his name Nefertiti changed her name to Neferneferuaten, which means “Beautiful are the beauties of Aten, a Beautiful woman has come” (“Nefertiti”, 2010). Nefertiti was not your ordinary queen, she was by her husband side through it all. She was not secondary to her husband, she was hand and hand with
...n 1163 B.C., Egypt entered a period of slow decline (Scarre 1997:116). Pharaohs became less powerful, and their prestige dwindled. Hungry soldiers were terrorizing the community, while tomb robbers were raiding the pyramids for resources that were very much needed. They had buried their pharaohs with food, goods and jewelry, all of which were needed to keep the civilization in tact. They had built too many pyramids, and there were setbacks in Asia which corrupted trade. People did not understand why the pharaohs could not fix the problems that were going on. They viewed them as gods and lost trust and faith. Egypt fell apart as these things culminated with loss of belief in the pharaohs.