The New Kingdom pharaoh Akhenaten’s choices were highly political, religious and damning to his character. This essay will explore Akhenaten 's application of his cult of Aten to Egypt, focusing firstly on the Egyptian citizen 's reaction to this politically charged reform. Following this is a discussion of Akhenaten 's risky decisions as a pharaoh, including his move to Amarna and reminding the Egyptian 's of another hated pharaoh, Hatshepsut. The art style employed in Akhenaten 's reign also reveals multitudes about his attitude toward the Egyptian traditions and separation from the established culture and religion in his cult of Aten. Then, it is worth understanding the reasons behind Akhenaten 's religious reforms, looking toward the idea Robert Butler suggests a theory that Akhenaten revolutionised Egypt by making a new dichotomy of good and evil, defined either by one’s dedication or opposition to the Aten. This may suggest that the Egyptian people took a dislike toward the Pharaoh’s new beliefs in reaction to his claim that, essentially, due to their reluctance to take to his new theology, they were evil. In fact, Pesch comments that the average Egyptian’s devotion to their own gods did not waver at Amarna, as evidence showing worship of both household gods and even more major gods such as Seth and Amun were found in examples of objects such as figurines and amulets in homes at Amarna in this period. This was the Egyptian citizens’ quiet protest of their pharaoh’s new laws. They clearly could not directly oppose Akhenaten, but their continued beliefs and practices at home exemplify their dedication to their religion above all else, despite his claims that anyone to do so would essentially be considered evil. After the Akhenaten’s death, all the great limestone blocks from Amarna were removed, leaving behind only the foundations of buildings such as the Great Aten Temple. This would have been a tremendous effort, deconstructing such large projects that would have already required much skill and time to be created by Egypt’s builders, Almost all facades on the staircases at Amarna are decorated with images of the royal family and the Aten. Although one limestone stela was created during Akhenaten’s reign, it shows Queen Tiye and Amenhotep III sitting underneath the rays of the Aten. This directly echoes the familial image on another stela of Akhenaten and his wife with their children, also sitting underneath the Aten, being reached by the hands holding Ankhs, the symbol of eternal life. As we understand the Aten to be of extreme importance to Akhenaten, his family held a similar importance as he felt it necessary to depict them posing with the Aten, bringing glory and life to the royal family. It is also possible that in the stela of his parents , Akhenaten was trying to utilise his father’s renowned power and greatness by associating him with his radical new religion, making it familiar to the Egyptian people who already revered Amenhotep III as a ruler. As Johnson notes, Akhenaten’s predecessor and father Amenhotep III’s involvement in Akhenaten’s reign is highly debated, and especially notes that Amenhotep III’s devotion to Amun-Re was widely known and thus may have been unlikely to support his son’s interest in the Aten. Images like the limestone stela of Amenhotep III worshipping underneath the Aten were created when the reign had already been handed to Akhenaten. In
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,
The cult of Amun Re was an expression of Egyptian unity and thereby consolidated a religious and societal cohesion and a rise in nationalism. Eric Hornung argues that the syncretism of the Amun cult with that of Re constituted the evolution of an altogether new
‘The Hyksos forced Egyptian Pharaohs to look beyond their own borders, and involve themselves in the affairs and lives of their neighbor’s’ Through the notion of looking beyond their own borders, the necessity of constant battles was not only to expand but also protect Egypt’s borders, this eventually led to the image of the ‘Warrior Pharaoh’. Egypt became the pre-eminent power in the east due to talented civil, military and religious bureaucracies. The Hyksos ‘encouraged new nationalism and patriotism’ this could be seen through formation of administration, stable rule, gods and building externally while taking on board the establishment of the extensive diplomatic and trading contacts with the eastern Mediterranean region and Nubia. The economic influences created by the Hyksos include various influences that furthermore excelled New Kingdom Egypt to be a greater society. The ‘foreign rulers’ introduced olive and pomegranate trees as well as domesticated cattle to the agricultural practices to Egyptian society.
In New Kingdom Egypt, in the 14th Century BCE, one man would attempt to force a change, a revolution, on a people that had remained unchanged and unchanging for 2000 years. This man, the Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, promoted monotheism primarily because of religious intentions and not for political or personal gain. He selected one God, Aten, and it was this deity that was the center of attention during Amenhotep’s reign. Amenhotep IV, who would later take the name Akhenaten, would lead a controversial reign which would result in failure. He would eventually be deemed the “heretic king” (Assmann 149), but what was it that earned him this title? Was Amenhotep IV truly a “heretic king?”
Ancient Egypt was a single tightly organized state for much of its history (Centanni, n.d.). In all its phases, the Egyptian government was led by the pharaoh. The pharaoh was held to be descended from gods, with the power to assure success and control the rituals that assured the flow of the Nile and the fertility derived from irrigation. Wanting gods to favor Egypt, the entire population of people did not hesitate to carry out laws that the pharaoh placed upon them. Egypt’s pharaohs claimed additional power and authority as actual incarnations of the gods
This was the beginning of ?The New Kingdom,? characterized by god-like pharaohs who left immense temples and fortresses that still stand today. Until this time, the 12th Dynasty had represented Egypt?s ...
... with a few authorly embelishments. Despite his lack of glaring inaccuracies, the author does not seem to capture the anthropological, sociological, and political climate of the Amarna period. Having examined Mahfouz's portrayal of the pre-Amarna and Amarna periods, in the context of popular belief and scholarly interpretation, the novel appears as an interesting yet general view of Akhenaten and his times. Despite his writing geared towards a general audience, Mahfouz does not take advantage of his audience by engaging in heresay and confabulation. The novel appears to be thought out on the basis of scholarship, both Egyptian and otherwise, giving the reader a surface glance of the complications of the Amarna period.
Just like Akhenaten in the aforementioned relief, the king and his family were depicted in an exaggerated style, much different than the idealized style of past Egyptian art. The human body was drawn with emphasis on the curves of the hips and stomach, but also presented individual features that made it easy to discern who was pictured. Along with differences in style, the content of art changed, with the royal family being seen in increased intimacy. There is even a relief of Nefertiti sitting on Akhenaten’s lap, a closeness not previously seen in royal art. The Aten Great Temple reflects the changes in architecture that especially permeated temple architecture. Temples were built open to the air, allowing Aten to penetrate the sacred area with his rays. Also, temple reliefs evolved to depict scenes of daily life at Amarna and the activities of the royal family instead of that of gods, as previously seen in Egypt. The Great Temple contained nine hundred open air mudbrick offering tables, like the ones depicted in the relief, in which food offerings would be left for Amen. Akhenaten probably decided to be depicted as the sphinx in the above relief because of the connection the sphinx previously held to the sun god Amen- Ra with Akhenaten reinterpreting it as a symbol of praise to
In the glorious Eighteenth Dynasty, when Egypt became for the first time a world power, a young Pharaoh ascended the throne about 1375 B.C., who first called himself Amenhotep (IV) like his father, but later on changed his name to Akhenaten (1370-1358 B.C.). This king undertook to force upon his subjects a new religion, one contrary to their ancient traditions and to all their familiar habits. It was a strict monotheism, the first attempt of its kind in the history of the world, as far as we know; and religious intolerance, which was foreign to antiquity before this and for long after, was inevitably born with the belief in one god. But Amenhotep’s reign lasted only for seventeen years; very soon after his death in 1358 B.C. the new religion was swept away and the memory of the heretic king proscribed. From the ruins of his new capital, which he had built and dedicated to his god, and from the inscription in the rock tombs belonging to it, we derive the little knowledge we possess of him.1
Akhenaten had a dream to reform Egypt. He changed the way they worshiped, the way they lived and even the way they created art. His rule was a time of great change for Egypt, however his ideas and reforms were met with little support or enthusiasm. He used tremendous amounts of Egypt’s recourses and time for all his reforms, he also consumed a lot of his own time on these problems rather than on his pharaonic duties. During the 5th and 6th years of his reign Akhenaten set the boundaries for his new capital, Akhetaten, 350 kilometres north of Thebes. It was to be a city dedicated to Aten and all who worshiped him, however like most of Akhenaten’s reforms once his rule concluded, like so many other of his attempts to change Egypt, this too would be abandoned. Akhenaten led an artistic reform, changing the way that Egyptian artists portrayed the people of Egypt. He moved away from the false grandeur that had always been used and opted for a more stark and realistic approach, possible even an exaggerated ugliness. He himself was depicted as a gaunt, frail and pot-bellied man with a stern and imposing face rather than a strong radiant god king as previous pharaohs had always b...
For example, Akhenaten worshiped only one god, Aton, the sun god. For this reason, he had denounced all other Egyptian gods and goddesses as false and disregarded worship for them. Thus, Akhenaten’s monotheism failed to find a place among his people. Furthermore, Akhenaten’s god didn’t bring comfort and tranquility to his people either. In fact, Ancient Egyptians were distressed and yearned for their familiar god, for those gods made Egypt flourish with wealth and might. Even so, Akhenaten had outlawed the gods of Egypt’s past with the help of his wife, Nefertiti. But, when Akhenaten and Nefertiti died, their religion and god died with them. In fact, Akhenaten’s own son restored the former gods and goddesses into their proper places of worship. Unfortunately, Akhenaten’s reign still could not be erased from the Ancient Egyptians minds and they took their revenge. The mummified body of Nefertiti was mutilated. She suffered damages to her mouth, preventing her from speaking before the gods in the afterlife. Thus, Nefertiti will not find rest, doomed from entering paradise because she cannot speak her name in front of the gods who she had help outlaw in
The unification of Ancient Egypt became the major foundation for which the way Egyptian and African history is taught in this day and time. The combination of the two dynamic kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt played a significant role in shaping Egypt’s impact on the early civilization of mankind. Before the unification can be explored, we must further understand the differences of the two kingdoms. This will allow us to better grasp the concept of how the two advanced kingdoms complemented one another during their unification. The geographical qualities/relationship with the Nile River, trade routes, symbols, and religious beliefs will be fully analyzed in order to compare and contrast the two kingdoms. King Narmer’s (Menes) role in the unification
The statue of Khafre is an example of how pharaohs utilized their wealth to elaborate the power they possessed while they were alive and to utilize while they were dead. They ordered statues to be made in their name to decorate the valley temple. The valley temple is a funerary setting in which Khafre ordered 23 statues to be made for it. In this case, Khafre’s statue was made and place near the
Although there are few religions that still consider the ways of the ancient Egyptian culture important, they are still out there. They are influenced every day by the history, which permeates their rituals, scriptures, and more. Furthermore, Egypt’s political influence may be outdated and not the clearest system, but it led the way for further development and refinement for future use. Without the influence of Egypt, we would not be the civilization that we are
...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.