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( ) ( ) Volume 8 issue 2 October 2007 NETFISHING A NCIENT EGYPT explores the WORLD WIDE WEB ...
Akhenaten, Nefertiti and The Aten One of the most controversial periods in Egyptian history is ‘The Amarna Age’ when the pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) ruled Egypt from his newly-constructed city of Akhetaten (modern Amarna). More has been written about this period than any other in Egyptian history – yet no two Egyptologists seem to agree as to exactly what happened, because of the sparsity of archaeological evidence. Theories abound, and more web-sites exist on this topic than on any other, but many of these are little more than works of pure fiction. This has produced a minefield for the uninitiated, so tread carefully when you search the Web; the truth is out there – but it is hard to find … Amenhotep III had retired to his palace at Malkata and identified himself as ‘The living image of the Aten’, whilst his son Amenhotep IV busied himself with religious reforms, raising a previously obscure deity, the Aten, to new heights. The Aten, the visible disk of the sun, became the new symbol for the creation god during the Amarna Period. Refer: Akhenaten: www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/chronology/akhnaton.html www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/akhenaten.html www.egyptologyonline.com/akhenaten1.htm The Aten: www.egyptianmyths.net/aten.htm http://touregypt.net/featurestories/aten.htm www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/akhenaten_02.shtml www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/amarna/belief.html The Amarna Period: www.akhet.co.uk/amarna/index2.htm Early in his reign, Amenhotep IV constructed temples to the Aten to the east of Karnak temple at Luxor. These temples, built in year two of Amenhotep IV’s reign, clearly show that a new ‘exaggerated’ style of artwork had appeared, with ‘the Aten’ now shown in a new form as the disk of the sun, with rays of light extending down to the royal family. In one of these temples, large statues showed Amenhotep IV (later to call himself Akhenaten) in a strange new way, with a thin, high cheek-boned, face, a pendulous chin, a narrow waist, feminine hips, and heavy thighs and buttocks, yet with spindly legs (refer to Issue 43, pp. 30-36). This was completely unlike anything ever seen before and must have been done with royal approval, yet many wonder if this was a true likeness of the king, and suggest that he was suffering from a medical condition; refer: Amarna Art: Akhenaten’s (?)illness: http://egyptmonth.com/mag06012000/magf1.htm Nefertiti and the royal children were depicted similarly, in what is now known as ‘the Amarna Style’. Nefertiti was herself shown making offerings to the deity, a role previously reserved solely for the king. So it is clear that, right from the start, Nefertiti held a prominent role in the new religion of the Aten; refer: Nefertiti: http://touregypt.net/featurestories/nefertiti.htm http://touregypt.net/who/nefertit.htm www.womenintheancientworld.com/nefertiti.htm By the fourth year of Amenhotep IV's reign, it was evident that having Aten temples in the very home of the god Amun, at Karnak, was far from satisfactory; and so he ordered the temples of the old gods to be closed and their revenues diverted to enable the construction of an entirely new capital city for Egypt at Akhetaten (the Horizon of the Aten), now know as Amarna. Building work went ahead and the site was occupied by year six of his reign, by which time Amenophis IV had changed his name to Akhenaten (‘one who is serviceable to the Aten’). Gradually, the old gods of Egypt were proscribed and the Aten became the new state god. At Amarna, Akhenaten and Nefertiti raised their six daughters and promoted their new religion. Unaware of the changes that lay ahead. Victor Blunden
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