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3400 years ago, Egypt was in chaos(Golden, 78). The pharaoh at the time had eliminated the religion that had lasted 2000 years or more and replaced it with a radically new religion. The borders were in turmoil. The pharaoh also moved the capital from Thebes to a city in the middle in the desert. The pharaoh making these changes and causing the chaos was Akhenaten. During his reign he in acted sweeping changes that made many archeologists in the modern era think he was a mad man. Was he a mad man, though? Could he have been a true religious revolutionary, trying to lessen the priests’ power in Egypt?
Akhenaten was born Amenhotep IV, the second son of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and Queen Tiy some time around 1380 BC. His older brother, Thutmose, died during his father’s reign and left Amenhotep IV the heir to the Egyptian throne. It is unknown weather or not Amenhotep IV served as co-regent with his father (Britannica,sctn=2). What is known is that Amenhotep III died around 1350 BC and his son Amenhotep IV became pharaoh. When he became pharaoh, he took a non-royal wife named Nefertiti who, based on her name and a bust found of her, was the most beautiful woman alive. She was the daughter of Vizier Aye and an unknown wife; her stepmother Tey brought her up.
Amenhotep IV did not begin his religious changes immediately. In 1349 BC, he began the continuance of work on pylons at the Amun temple at Karnak. He, however, built an addition to the temple dedicated to the sun disk, Aten. Aten was the sun it self, the one whom Amenhotep IV thought brought life to all animals and people. Even though Amenhotep IV brought the worship of the Aten to the forefront of Egyptian religion, he did not come up with the idea of the Aten. Archeologists believe that Aten worship, or the idea of Aten as the solar disk, was in the Egyptian pantheon since the Old Kingdom. A large scarab from Thutmose IV contains a text that mentions the Aten. Thus, Amenhotep IV received the idea of the Aten from other sources, most likely from an Aten cult that was gaining strength during his father’s reign (Strange 2). The Aten in artwork is often shown with rays coming down from the solar disk, offering ankhs, Egyptian symbol for life, to Amenhotep IV and his family. Also, in Atenism, there were three persons in Aten. There was Aten, the solar disk itself, Ra, the one who carried the sun in his chariot, and Akhenaten, the son of Aten. This idea is very similar to the three persons in one god concept in Christianity.
During this time, strange artwork appears that depicts the pharaoh and his family as being more lifelike, both in action and in appearance (Golden, 78). Amenhotep IV, during this period known as the Early Amarna Period, was shown having wide hips, big lips, breasts and spindly arms. This was a far cry from the depictions of the pharaoh from the previous 2000 years as being strong, powerful, and being physically better that the normal person. Instead, Amarna artwork showed Amenhotep IV as being weak and almost women-like. The children of Amenhotep IV were shown to have elongated heads. Nefertiti was shown in the late Amarna art, however, as looking very beautiful and not one with genetic deformities that often plague royal families. It is yet unknown weather Amenhotep IV wished to be depicted as being strange looking to REALLY separate him from his people or because he really looked like that. Archeologists are still searching for his mummy that might help in solving the mystery.
Around 1346 BC, as work was being completed on Amenhotep IV additions to Karnak and to his Aten temples at Thebes, it had become quite clear that the Aten cult and the Amun cult could not co-exist. So Amenhotep IV decided that the capital must be moved. He selected a site now called Tell el-Amarna on the east bank of the Nile River in the Eastern Desert. For more than a century and a half, archeologists have been wondering why Amenhotep IV chose el-Amarna as the site for his new capital. A clue to the answer comes from the name Amenhotep IV gave to his new city, Akhetaten. Akhetaten in the Ancient Egyptian language means "Horizon of the Sun". To the east of Akhetaten are two cliffs, between the two cliffs every morning, the sun rises. Amenhotep IV, then, possibly chose that site because of its natural formations that make it a great site to worship the Aten. In 1344 BC, after the birth of three daughters with big heads, Meritaten, Meketaten, and Akhenspaaten, his work at Karnak finished, Amenhotep IV moved the capital officially to Akhetaten. These were not all the changes that Amenhotep IV would make.
For a pharaoh who worships one god, it makes no sense to keep the name that glorifies another. So, in 1344, Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten, "Spirit of Aten". Akhenaten also ordered the shutting down of all temples to gods other than Aten. This left the high priests of Amun, who, at one time, were almost, if not more, powerful than the pharaoh himself without jobs or homes. This made the priests angry and bitter at Akhenaten during his reign and for centuries to come. Also, in 1344 BC, work began on Akhenaten’s tomb. In 1342 BC, the names of Aten were purified so that all mention of gods other than Ra and the words "all gods" were stricken from the record.
1337 BC, or the Regnal year 12 in Akhenaten’s reign, was the height of the administration. He had six daughters now from Nefertiti and the religion, at least among the elite in Akhetaten, was the height of its power. But the House of Akhenaten was falling down. Nefertiti about this time ceases to be mentioned. Instead, Kiya is mentioned as the Chief Wife of Akhenaten (Strange 1). Also, one of Akhenaten’s daughters dies during childbirth. The child is believed to be Akhenaten’s. Also in 1337 BC, Akhenaten’s mother came all the way from Thebes to visit Akhenaten. Akhenaten eased up on his reforms after what must have been a heated argument.
Akhenaten was fading and so was his religion by 1334 BC. The local princes of outlining territories of Egypt in Palestine pleaded with Akhenaten to send help when the local peoples revolted and the Hittites from the North threatened to invade, as told in the Amarna Letters, but he did not reply (Britannica, section 5). No one knows if that was a choice he made or if the chief priests of the old religion hid the letters to make Akhenaten look weak. Whatever the case, the local princes were forced to leave and Egypt lost its glorious empire. By this time Akhenaten, possibly sick due to the genetic illness called Marfan’s Syndrome (Golden, 78), was so sick by this time that he was forced to name Smenkhkare as his co-regent. Two years later, Akhenaten died of unknown causes. It has been inferred that Akhenaten may have died of complications from Marfan’s Syndrome. This inference is based on reliefs of the period depicting his misshapen body that resembles the physical symptoms of Marfan’s Syndrome. The symptoms include a distended stomach, long necks and digits, wide hips, and pigeon breast in men. Many famous people have been known to have Marfan’s Syndrome like Abraham Lincoln. Marfan’s Syndrome is also known to cause muscular degeneration and death at an early age (Strange 1).
So, was Akhenaten a religious revolutionary or an insane religious fanatic? He was not entirely crazy; he had to have been intelligent and sane of mind to plan a city like Akhetaten. Akhenaten was also not a religious revolutionary because the god that he glorified had been in Egyptian religion for thousands of years before him. He did, however, create the first true monotheistic religion based on that god. He also created the idea of three entities in one god, what Christians call the Holy Trinity. In Atenism, there was Aten, the solar disk itself, Ra, the one who carried the sun in his chariot, and Akhenaten, the son of Aten. So even though Akhenaten was the first monotheist and should be noted for that in the Book of History, he was not quite a religious revolutionary. He did, though, create the first "Hippie commune" in Akhetaton.
Bibliography
Books
Aldred, Cecil. Akhenaten: King of Egypt. Thames and Hudson: London, Eng. 1991.
Redford, Donald. Akhenaten: The Heretic King. Princeton Univ. Press: Princeton, NJ. 1987
Websites
Strange, Kate. Akhenaten – Glory to the Aten. The Akhet-aton Home Page. http://kate.stange.com/egypt/akhenaten.htm . 22 September 1999.
Strange, Kate. Aten – The Sun Disk. The Akhet-aton Home Page. http://kate.stange.com/egypt/aten.htm . 22 September 1999.
Gardner, Sir Alan, AKHENATON'S GREAT HYMN TO ATEN. Sans Titre. http://gkb.com/ch/git/0a5/0A5..htm . 23 September 1999.
"Akhenaton" Encyclopædia Brittanica Online. http://members.eb.com/bol/topic?eu=5329&sctn=2&pm=1 25 October 1999.
Ib205@cus.cam.rc.uk "Amarna." A Slice of Time. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/3404/map.html
Magazines
Golden, Frederic. "Pharaohs of the Sun," Time Magazine. November 22, 1999. Pg 78-9.
