The Heresy of Akhenaten: The Creation and Doctrine of the First Monotheism
The Heresy of Akhenaten: The Creation and Doctrine of the First Monotheism The history of the Pharaohs of Egypt has been but an endless line of king lists with few pharaohs of note and even fewer with any individual personality, as far as we can glean from the texts, and with few major societal changes. Akhenaten, of the XVIII Dynasty, stands out as one of the rare pharaohs in Egyptian history whose glaring uniqueness both shocks and intrigues scholars at the same time. He ruled for seventeen years from 1375 BC to 1358 BC (though Egyptological dating is far from an exact science), but in this short span he single handedly turned Egyptian Religion and Art on its head. In his History of Egypt, Henry Breasted said of the pharaoh, "He was the first individual in human history," and as with all individuals there has been endless speculation into his nature and character. Theories abound in respect to his daily life: portrayals as that of a loving, and affectionate father to a father who may have been too affectionate; there are even theories that he !had a more than "fraternal" relationship with his successor Smenkhare . All theories aside, the name of Akhenaten evokes images of a
1982:Cornell University Press, Ithaca. There are many examples of the royal couple depicted together, but always it takes on the aspect of a formal portrait with unrealistic poses and extensive idealization. " Amenophis IV would continue this tradition but worked to put Aten on the same level as Amun. In effect: "The world of the dead was not distinct from that of the living, and the Aten of the daytime shone over both. " Finally, in what is the most brilliant portion of the Hymn, the Aten descends below the horizon and deserts the world, thus asserting that the world with out Aten is a empty, unjust, cruel place, and that it can only be dispelled by the return of Aten at dawn. Such "positive" acts like revelation and revolution have their negative complements in the form of rejection and persecution. There are those that contend that he in fact may have had greater influence on Western monotheism than history documents. These three concepts are illustrated best by the following three lines from the first hymn:Life: "Through you do all eyes see, they lack aim when your majesty sets. These academics believed that the priesthood of Amun had become so powerful that the pharaoh's rule was subject and legitimized by the power of the clerics. Following the death of Akhenaten, the Priesthood of Amun reasserted itself and erased most traces of Akhenaten's very existence: it was actually assumed that up until the 18th Century AD that the immediate successors of Amenophis III were the Ramessides. The Different Schools of Interpretation The first and oldest school attained prevalence in the decades immediately following the discovery of the lost pharaoh.
Common topics in this essay:
Hymn Aten,
Founding Fathers,
Khafre Giza,
Disk Aten,
Akhenaten Monotheism,
Suti Hor,
Egyptian Religion,
Period Akhenaten,
Living Truth,
Schools Interpretation,
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university press ithaca,
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Acceptance Essays
