Few scholars now agree with the contention that Amenhotep III associated his son Amenhotep IV on . The Amarna Letters, (correspondence found in the city of Amarna between the kings of Egypt and those of foreign nations) which provide evidence of Akhenaten's negligence, also show him to have a keen sense of foreign policy when the situation interested him. The largest temple Amenhotep IV built at Karnak was "Gemetpaaten" (the "Aten is Found"), built perhaps as early as the second year of his reign. World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. Universe, Other Aliases, Education, Place of Origin, Identity, Known Relatives. 13791336 BCE) was one of the last pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom Egypt, who is known for briefly establishing monotheism in the country. Elongated, spindly limbs and narrow eyes figure prominently in depictions of the royal family during this period, causing some scholars to wonder whether Akhenaten had a medical condition such as Marfan syndrome. However, like many topics pertaining to Akhenaten, this issue remains the subject of much scholarly debate. Near the main precinct of the god Amon at Karnak, he founded several new temples dedicated to Re-Harakhte, who was now provided with a lengthy epithet placed in two royal cartouches and was described as the light which is in the suns disk (aton). Moreover, the new god, Aton, was no longer portrayed in anthropomorphic form but as the suns disk itself, elevated to the heavens and extending its multiple rays down over the royal family. Much scholarly debate has centred on whether these features reflect the actual appearance of the kingextended by convention to his family and retainersand various theories have been argued about the presumed pathology of Amenhotep IV and what medical conditions might produce the anatomical traits shown. The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, New York, 10028-0198. The Egyptologist Zahi Hawass writes: Dating to this point in Akhenaten's reign was a campaign to excise the name of gods other than the Aten, especially Amun, from the monuments of Egypt. The pharaoh Akhenaten worshiped only the sun god, Aten. There is no doubt that his attention to this problem served the interests of the state but, as other similar issues were ignored, it seems that he only chose those situations which interested him personally. Their faces were characterized by large lips, long noses and squinting eyes, and their bodies displayed narrow shoulders and waists, small and somewhat concave torsos and large thighs, buttocks and bellies. That Amenhotep IV was personally involved in these changes seems clear: the biographical text of one of the reigns master sculptors indicates that he was instructed by the king himself. 100% (5 ratings) Answer The following events are ordered from earliest to latest: 1. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Situated at the center of the enormous new city was a giant temple dedicated to Aten. AKHENATON (or Akhenaten) was the tenth pharaoh of Egypt's eighteenth dynasty (c. 1352 - 1336 bce) and the founder of the earliest historically documented monotheistic religion. The art Hawass references is another important deviation of the Amarna Period from earlier and later Egyptian eras. This was done with violence: hieroglyphs were brutally hacked from the walls of temples and tombs. Mark, Joshua J.. Scholars have debated the reasons for this peculiar almost other-worldly representations, but perhaps the figures represent Akhenaten's notions of the infusion of light brought from the solar disk into the bodies of the king and queen. 1336 BCE. Brahman. In the center of his city, the king built a formal reception palace where he could meet officials and foreign dignitaries. Along with these changes, Akhenaten . 1379 BCE). It should be noted that 'cult' did not have the same meaning in this regard as it does in the present day. John Bodsworth (CC BY) Akhenaten (r. 1353-1336 BCE) was a pharaoh of 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt. The gods and practices of the various cults all represented the same end: eternal harmony and balance. [Akhenaten] carried out a religious revolution the like of which had never been seen before in Egypt. In the long course of Egyptian history, few figures have been as polarizing as Akhenaten. Son of Amenhotep III and the chief queen, Tiya, Akhenaton succeeded to the throne as Amenhotep IV and took a throne name meaning "the sun's ultimate perfection, unique one of the sun," reflecting the . Akhenaten was an intellectual and philosophical revolutionary who had the power and wealth to indulge his ideas. 13341325, a child of the consort known as the "Younger Wife") and the earliest 19th dynasty pharaohs led by Horemheb (ruled ca. During his first regnal year, Amenhotep IV ruled from Thebes, the traditional seat of power in Egypt, and remained there for five years, calling it the "southern Heliopolis, the first great seat of Re." The famous Stele of Akhenaten, depicting the royal family, shows the rays of the Aten touching them all and each of them, even Nefertiti, depicted with the same elongation as the king. Images of pharaohs before and after this period depict the ruler as a solitary figure engaged in hunting or battle or standing in the company of a god or his queen in dignity and honor. Rejecting belief in Egypt's numerous traditional gods, Akhenaten worshipped the sun disk, or Aten, as the . A total eclipse occurred on May 14, 1338 BCE, and it lasted for over six minutes, which must have seemed an omen of displeasure from the king's chosen parent. What, then, was this new religion that motivated Akhenaten to upend so many elements of Egyptian society? When he laid out his city, he also commanded that a series of boundary stelae be carved in the cliffs surrounding the site. Akhenaten. We also examine his actions in foreign policy and the changes in Egyptian art during his reign. Amenhotep's jubilee didn't celebrate Amun, Ptah, Thoth, or Osiris; there was only one god represented: Re, the sun god. The most striking changes are seen in the appearance of the royal family. Furthermore, Akhenaten sought to remove the power of the priesthood and so he moved the capital from Thebes to a new ground where he made a new capital for his own god Aten: Akhetaten or El-Amarna. These works are unique in Egyptian art, as they do not flatter the king and his family but reveal them as real people, in all their beauty and decay. Some historians regard this as a predecessor of current monotheisms. Unlike the old gods, he had no carved image hidden in a dark room deep within a temple, but was worshiped out in the light of day. However, modern scholarship notes that Akhenatens cult drew from aspects of other godsparticularly re-Harakhte, Shu, and Maatin its imagining and worship of Aton. But uncertainties surround his demise. 220 lessons Akhenatens son, Tutankhaten, restored the disgraced Amun as king of the gods, and he renamed himself Tutankhamun to honor Amun. The previous name of Akhenaten was King Amenhotep IV before the fifth year of his reign and he was also known as Akhenaton. The Amarna Period is the most controversial era in Egyptian history and has been studied, debated, and written about more than any other. A hallmark of any monotheistic belief system, however, is that it encourages the belief that, in order for it to be right, other systems must necessarily be wrong. For nearly two millennia, Akhenaten danced with insanity. - Act of a Pharaoh determined to keep his political power in face of the threats from the Amun cult. The 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt was full of intrigue. The Cosmic Order used their ultimate might to force peace onto the universe. The preponderance of the evidence, both from the Amarna letters and from Tutankhamun's later decree, as well as archaeological indications, strongly suggests that Akhenaten was a very poor ruler as far as his subjects and vassal states were concerned and his reign, in the words of Hawass, was "an inward-focused regime that had lost interest . Soon after his death, Egyptians flocked back to Thebes where they resumed traditional worship and religion. They sought local humans to guide each space sector through this transition, and Akhenaten's ruthless leadership history and vision for the future made him an ideal candidate. First, Akhenatens cause of death is unknown largely because it is unclear whether his remains have ever been located. On its walls were pictured the transformation of Amenophis III to the godly sphere, and the renaming of his son fromAmenophis ("the god Amun is content") to Akhenaten ("he who is effective on the Aten's behalf.". More simply, the remarkable innovations of Amenhotep IV in several cultural spheres at once may be reasonably viewed as a manifestation of the intimate connection in Egyptian culture between art and religion. 3.3 Transfer of Capital to Akhetaten: Political and Religious Motives. Reign: 1350 - 1334 BC. Of course foreigners, in turn, came to live in Egypt, bringing new customs and ideas. Mark, J. J. When Akhenaten died, he was succeeded briefly by Smenkhkare, his favorite, and then by Tutankhaten who change his name to Tutankhamun, dropping the Aten and embracing Amun. In this lesson we explore the reign of Akhenaten, the religiously zealous son of Amenhotep III who tried to initiate a profound shift in Egyptian religion, culture, and governance. Each day, Akhenaten and Nefertiti processed in their chariots from one end of the city to the other, mirroring the journey of the sun across the sky. The local princes, who had been loyal to Egypt, no longer saw any advantage in trading with Egypt. Akhenaten had Abdiashirta brought to Egypt and imprisoned for a year until Hittite advances in the north compelled his release, but there seems a marked difference between his letters dealing with this situation and other king's correspondence on similar matters. Akhenaten was a pharaoh of Egypt who reigned over the country for about 17 years between roughly 1353 B.C. To use the materials on this site please eMail me and ask permission. The introduction of a new cult was accompanied by innovations in the portrayal of the human form in both relief and sculpture. According to Egyptian Mythology he descended from the gods who arrived on Earth at the time of Tep Zepi and until today, people still believe that this Pharaoh did, in fact, come from the Stars. Amenhotep III ruled over a land whose priesthood, centered on the god Amun, had been steadily growing in power for centuries. Ignoring the foreign political losses, Akhenaten instead sent out his agents bearing chisels and orders to destroy all carved references to Amun and Mut, even if they were carved on granite stele many stories above the ground, even if they were small hand-held personal items, even if they were used to spell Amenhotep III's name. Not only was it rich, but it was at peace with its neighbors and well-positioned for long-term stability. In Akhenaten's new religion, this figure generally came to be represented . 18 Jan 2023. Sometime around his fourth regnal year, Akhenaten even dispatched agents to erase the names and images of certain gods from existing texts and monuments. Artistically, Akhenaten's reign saw a shift toward more life-like depictions of royalty in everyday settings. His reign is known as the Amarna Period because he moved the capital of Egypt from the traditional site at Thebes to the city he founded, Akhetaten, which came to be known as Amarna (also Tell el-Amarna). Horemheb's inscriptions listed himself as the successor to Amenhotep III and made no mention of the rulers of the Amarna Period. Freud quotes from James Henry Breasted, the noted archaeologist, that: It is important to notice that his name, Moses, was Egyptian. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. In art, Akhenaten's reign also ushered in a decidedly different style. Any evidence that Akhenaten involved himself in matters outside of his city at Akhetaten always comes back to self-interest rather than state-interest. Dynasty: 18 Religious Revolution. Discover the true identity of Avenger Prime, check out the finale of 'Strange,' get tangled in a 'Dark Web,' and more in this week's comics! copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. Akhenaten sought to impose upon Egypt and its people the worship of a single godthe sun godand in so doing changed the country in every way. Some of the most famous pharaohs come from this period. Reeves argues that, far from being the idealistic founder of a new . Akhenaten came to power as the pharaoh of Egypt in either the year 1353 or 1351 BCE and reigned for roughly 17 years during the 18th dynasty of Egypts New Kingdom. He built an entirely new capital, Amarna, some 200 miles north of the Egyptian capital of Thebes and ordered the relocation. His mother was Tiyi. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. The Greek philosopher Xenophanes (c. 570 - c. 478 BCE) would later experience a similar vision that the many gods of the Greek city-states were vain imaginings and there was only one true god and, though he shared this vision through his poetry, he never established the belief as a revolutionary new way of understanding oneself and the universe. Initially, Akhenaten presented Aten as a variant of the familiar supreme deity Amun-Ra (itself the result of an earlier rise to prominence of the cult of Amun, resulting in Amun becoming merged with the sun god Ra), in an attempt to put his ideas in a familiar Egyptian religious context. The pharaoh later erased the names of other gods from temples; the reason is unclear. 13921292 BCE) continued to tear down the temples, chisel out Akhenaten's name, and bring back the old traditional forms of belief. World History Encyclopedia, 17 Apr 2014. Hirst, K. Kris. Jade artifacts, especially in the form of circular discs, are primarily associated with ancient. 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