Reign Of Pharaoh Akhenaton Essay, Research Paper
During the Reign of pharaoh Akhenaton (Amunhotep IV) which was a short 16 years from 1360 to 1344 B.C.E. He managed to change religion from what it had been to would it became. It went from many gods to a single god and he tried to rub out the existence of other gods. He never listened to anything the people he ruled said and many other things I will discuss in the paper.
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
For the vegetation which joined the other two together (Grempel 2000: 2)
Aten religion was much different from most other religions. He made it known he rejected the god Amun which he was named after (synergy 2000: 1) Atenism rejected the osirian conception of life after death. The journey of the soul to the west and the last judgment before Osiris in the hall of the two truths. With Aten as the sun come up the soul of the dead appeared and at sunset returned to the tomb (Alfred 1968: 191). As Christian El Mahdy states “He made it publicly known he was totally devoted to the new god”(El Mahdy 1999: 87). This is made known by the letters in the Lab’aya Affair in letters EA 253 and 254. They state “ To the king my lord, my sun: message from Lab’aya, your servant, the ground on which you walk” (Moran 1992: 1). This tells to me that he has become devoted totally to the god
Other odd things about the religion are prayers for long life and for benefits after death are addressed by the dead man to the Aten, often to the king and occasionally the queen (Alfred 1988: 248). His instructions as to the marking of the bands by means of a tablet at the southern and northern extremities of the sites, which together with it’s produce would be dedicated to the father, The Aten (Alfred 1988: 270). He also said were he died also his family should be brought back to Akhenaten which means the horizon of Aten (El Mahdy 1999: 88). This broke with the normal burial of the royal tomb in the western hills on the territory of Amun at Thebus (Alfred 1988: 270). He made these changes so Aten was clearly divine forever and not forgotten (Alfred 1988: 278). It is clear the people have tried to forget all about the Amarna age. Things that did not sit very well with Egypt, this still tells of his total dedication to Aten.
The king’s new religion really terrified people of Egypt. He angered the powerful priesthood of Amun in the temple of Karnac threating their livelihood. The priests not wanting to put up with Akenaten kicked him out of the city of Luxor. Hurt by this he told them he would find his own city. He found the city two hundred miles out in desert. On a deserted plain on the eastern bank of the Nile, he called this city Akheteten or Tell El Amarna (El Mahdy 1999: 87). He ordered building to start and in a year he moved his family there. He changed his name to Akhenaten as well as his family members. (El Mahdy 1999: 87). The Queen assumed the identity of Tefaut from Nefertiti, daughter and wife of Atun the primordial sun- god (Alfred 1988: 225). He then locked himself and family in and is not really seen (El Mahdy 1999: 87). Inside the city all mentions of other gods were disallowed. Akhenaten went so far as to send his converts out into other cities and closed temples and destroyed the name of Amun and old gods (El Mahdy 1999: 87). The old way of burying the dead was also disallowed under Osiris. The people of the city sent there dead to be buried under the old ways (EL Mahdy 1999: 87). Akenaten married his daughters it also happened during his father Amenhoteps III (Alfred 1988: 225). Although being the daughter and wife of the king was not always a bad thing. If Nefertiti died the one daughter would take over as queen (Alfred 1988: 239). The other man they were married to also had a benefit of this when the king died they would become king and would take over the thrown (Alfred 1988: 239). So all these things Akhenaten did all showed his devotion to Aten. I also read somewhere that they thought he was a little crazy. By some of the things I have read about him it would not surprise me if he were.
Another very strange thing was cities and countries loyal to Egypt would ask for military help or other things and would receive no response. They would write two or three times and Akhenaten did nothing for them (El Mahdy 1999: 88). In one case the messenger came to the castle and nothing happened the example of this is in the letters also from Amarna number EA 16.
“Why should messengers be made to stay constantly out in the sun and so die?
In the sun? If staying in the sun means profit for the king, then let him (a messenger)
Stay out and let him die right there in the sun, (but) for the king hiself there must be
a profit. Or other [wi]se, why should they die in the sun? As to the messengers we
have exch[anged] …do they keep {my} messengers alive? They are made to die in
the sun!” (Moran 1992: 38).
This says to me that he really was not paying attention to anything that is going on outside the city. He let the messenger site out in the hot sun for hours. He was not a well person. Another one of the examples of Akhenaten not paying attention it is letter from Amarna number EA 4.
Did not you yourself seek brotherhood and amity, and so wrote me about marriage
That we might come closer to each other, and did (not) I, for my part, write you about marriage
For this very same reason, i.e. brotherhood and amity, that we might come closer to each other?
Why then did my brother not send me just one woman? Should I, perhaps, since you did to me,
And n[ot send her] ? But my daughters being available, I will not refuse [one ] to y[ou]
(Moran 1992: 8)
As you can see here he is not really paying much attention to any one not even his brother when asks for a women. Clearly he is quite busy with other things like his gods and not running the country.
As I told you a few sentences back cities under attack would ask for help and not do anything about it. I have a few examples of his not seeming to care about who was asking for help. In the Amarna letter number EA 288
May the king give thought to his land; the land of the king is lost. All of it has attacked me.
I am at war as far as the land of Seru and as far as Ginti- Kirmil. All the mayors are at peace
But I am at war. (Moran 1992: 330)
This shows me that this guy is in trouble and needs help. The king does nothing to help this guy out. The next one is from another set of Amarna letters I found the number EA 237: [Baadi?] to Pharaoh.
Have taken Lab’aya and they have set themselves against the cities of the king my lord
That the king my lord has entrusted to me to protect. Let the king my lord know that they have taken the cities of the king my lord; but the city in which I reside, I protect, until I see the eyes of
The regent of the king my lord. From the day which I sent these tablets to the palace,
They have been against me [..] (Moran 1992: 4)
It appears that in this letter they have taken the city and he almost seems to at least he thinks he let the king down. He said he was to protect it while he was gone. The last letter is also from Amarna and it is Biridiya to Pharaoh. The number is EA 244. This one seems more desperate then the other one.
When he knew there would not be given troops, he has demonstrated his intentions
To take Megiddo. May the king rescue his city, so that Lab’aya will not take it!
Truly the city is exhausted, to die from pestilence, from the plague. Let the king
Give a hundred garrison men to protect the city. Truly, Lab’aya has no other intention:
To take Megiddo is that which he seeks! (Moran 1992: 4)
This guy seems to be a little bit unhappy with what had happened. The king just does not care about anything that went on in his world. He was to busy making his religion bigger and more known to care about what went on.
As you can see by some of the many letters I used. This very odd individual unlike most kings cared some what about there people this one seemed to not really want to be bothered by it.
Another weird thing is aside from building the city of amarna in the middle of nowhere. In the city of Karnak there was a temple built to Aten (Alfred 1988: 215). The temple to Aten to him was too small. He decided to build a much bigger one to the Aten (Alfred 1988: 215). He changed the temples appearance the Aten form was a falcon bearing a sun- disk on his head (Alfred 1988: 215).
He changed it to an abstract symbol, the sun disk with many rays ending up in a form of hands. Coming down on the king and his family (Alfred 1988: 215). When Akhenaten died the city and the temple lay in ruins for many years. Barry Kemp is currently rebuilding the city of El Amarna (Wilkinson 2000: 242). From what he has discovered the Aten temple was a huge building. The size was 426 feet and 6 inches long and 656 feet long a much bigger temple (Wilkinson 2000: 164). The floor plan of the temple is not yet known so they only guess about the temple (Wilkinson 2000: 164).
The temple may have been an open temple, for his worship of the sun (Wilkinson 2000:164). The temple was largely empty due to the large open- air design (Wilkinson 2000: 140). Around the temple there were 32-foot high square sandstone fillior colonnade (Wilkinson 2000: 164. On the south side of the temple against each pillar is a statue of Akhenaten (Wilkinson 2000: 164). They are reconstructing the temple (Wilkinson 2000:164).
There were several other structures next to the temple that he built. The first one was the River Temple (Wilkinson 2000: 141). Which was next to the river go figure they are not sure why they built the temple (Wilkinson 2000: 141). With the work done on it was done after the Amarna Period (Wilkinson 2000: 141). 75 meters to the southeast next to the Amun complex is the Temple C (Wilkinson 2000: 141). The C in it is for Champollion who discovered the Bentresh Stela, which is now in the Louvre in Paris (Wilkinson 2000: 165). Located in the southern area of Akhenaten is the Maru Temple or viewing temple (Wilkinson 2000: 141). The royal family may have layed out in the sun here (Wilkinson 2000: 141). It had gardens and walkways and pools in it (Wilkinson 2000: 141).
Again the purpose of this temple is unknown and the site know longer exists (Wilkinson 2000:141). The thing we get from this is he was really trying to build a great area in the desert. I do not think he was aware that it would be abandoned after he died.
Akenaten was a very interesting ruler. He changed and turned upside down what Egypt had known of religion. He was not a very helpful or concerned ruler he very rarely did anything for his people. A very interesting person I must say in most respects.