Akhenaten: An Early Egyptian Monotheist

M E R I D I A N M A G A Z I N E ^ | By Daniel C. Peterson and William J. Hamblin

[restornu]

Although monotheism is usually associated with Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, there have, in fact, been a number of other monotheistic religions in world history. Iran, in particular, was a center for monotheistic thought, being home to both Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism.

At first glance, ancient Egypt, with its hundreds of exotic gods, would seem the last place for a monotheistic revelation. Yet one of the earliest monotheists known to history was Akhenaten, pharaoh of Egypt from 1352-1336 BC, who perhaps lived in the generation before Moses. Akhenaten was born of royal parents, raised and trained in the religious traditions of Egypt that focused on the worship of the high-god Amun at his great temple of Karnak in the capital city, Thebes (modern-day Luxor).

However, Akhenaten appears to have been personally devoted to the worship of Aten, the supreme Creator manifest as the sun-disk in the heavens. In the fifth year of his reign (1348 BC), Akhenaten made a formal break with the ancient traditional religion of Egypt, changing his name from his former throne-name, Amenhotep IV, to his new religious title Akhen-aten, “the glory of the [sun] disk.” He also decreased the resources devoted to the worship of Amun, and moved the capital of Egypt from Thebes to his newly established city Akhet-aten (“horizon of the [sun] disk”), which is better known by the modern name Amarna. His attempts to establish the supremacy of Aten included the suppression of the worship of other gods, and the excising of the name Amun from the walls of the great temples.

The twelve years of Akhenaten’s reign at his new capital are often called the Amarna period, due to their revolutionary transformation of Egypt. Although still recognizably Egyptian, the art of the Amarna period is characterized by experimental freedom and less stylized portraiture. The most famous work of art of the period is the realistic, life-like bust of Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s beautiful wife. On another famous bas-relief, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and two of their daughters offer flowers and fruits to the sun-disk Aten, whose rays, stretching down, end in hands bearing the ankh—the Egyptian symbol of eternal life. The Great Temple of Aten at Amarna was surrounded by a vast open-air courtyard, measuring approximately 800x300 yards, which contained 365 altars for sacrifices to the glorious sun-disk.

Akhenaten’s personal religious and mystical feelings are remarkably preserved in his famous "Hymn to Aten," with its extraordinary parallels to biblical Psalm 104. "How manifold are thy works!" writes Akhenaten. "They are hidden from the sight of men, O Sole God, like unto whom there is no other!"

Akhenaten’s obsession with religion caused him to neglect foreign affairs, undermining Egyptian domination of Canaan, which his ancestors had conquered at great cost. The military decay of the empire abroad is remarkably documented in the Amarna Tablets, a collection of royal correspondence from the vassal kings of Canaan to Akhenaten. Among these Egyptian vassals was Abdi-Khiba, king of Jerusalem, who wrote a letter to Akhenaten somewhat dubiously proclaiming his loyalty to the pharaoh.

Upon his death, Akhenaten was succeeded briefly by his brother Smenkhare, and then by the famous Tutankhamun. (It is uncertain if Tutankhamun was Akhenaten’s son, grandson, or closest male relative.) Shortly after ascending the throne, Tutankhamun abandoned Amarna, returning to the former capital at Thebes and to the traditional worship of Amun. The revenge of the priests of Amun for Akhenaten’s blasphemy was swift. His name was excised from the king-lists and his tomb was left unused. Perhaps the priests, seeking to deny him eternal life, refused to carry out the proper burial rituals. Thus, Akhenaten’s attempted religious revolution was quickly overturned by the renewed triumph of Amun. His very name was forgotten until the excavations of Amarna in the nineteenth century. The ultimate success of monotheism in Egypt would have to wait fourteen hundred years, until the coming of Christianity.

Further Reading: C. Aldred, Akhenaten: King of Egypt (Thames and Hudson, 1988).

[restornu]

Daniel C. Peterson teaches in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and is co-director of research for BYU's Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts.

Photo of William J. Hamblin atop the ruins of the huge eighth century Buddhist stupa at Balgas, near Karakorum, Mongolia.

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[restornu]

Insight to others around us!

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By Daniel C. Peterson and William J. Hamblin
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The Sibylline Oracles of Ancient Rome
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[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the links!

[unspun]

Thanks, r. Interesting stuff. The reader may be interested in the Scriptural understanding of what may be known of God (and what responsibility we have to Him) whether or not a person has been taught from the Scriptures and about the eternal Word made Flesh.

(Romans 1 & 2 recommended)

[unspun]

I remember from Ancient History class, way back in my freshman year at good ol' Judson College, that Akhenaten was indeed a very different pharaoh. In carvings done of him, he had a long sloped forehead and nose and a very pear shaped body for a man. He must have been seen as a real oddball --or maybe "divine."

http://ixquick.com/do/metasearch.pl?cat=web&cat=pics&cmd=process_search&language=english&query=Akhenaten (click "search" if images don't appear)

[unspun]

" In the fifth year of his reign (1348 BC), Akhenaten made a formal break with the ancient traditional religion of Egypt, changing his name from his former throne-name, Amenhotep IV, to his new religious title Akhen-aten, 'the glory of the [sun] disk.'"

BTW, once again... no presumed scientific conclusions, but the historical coincidence of an apparent contact with believing Children of Israel and an outbreak of 'monotheism...'

1754 BC - 1504 BC  Joseph in Egypt
1504 BC - 1254 BC  Exodus

from:   http://agards-bible-timeline.com/timeline_online.html

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the information!

[ET(end tyranny)]

Read a book a few years ago by Bob Brier. He is a paleopathologist. His book 'The Murder of Tutankhamen' goes quite a bit into Akenaten.

Its quite possible that Akenaten, who was physically deformed, may have rejected the traditional Egyptian pantheon of gods because of his malformity. Heand his family suffered from Marfan syndrome. Anyway, he may decided to leave Thebes and go to Amarna and start up his own religion with his own god, having felt betrayed by the pantheon of multiple gods of Egypt at the time.

You have to remember that at these times the Pharaoh's were depicted in perfect health with no blemishes.

Any way it was a good book and the author being an Egyptologist has done several shows for the Discovery channel. I believe that he determined that Smenkare was Tutankhamen's brother, not Akenathen's.

[A.J.Armitage]

Why are you interested in monotheism? Exploring alternatives to your current religion?

[BlackVeil]

Akhenaten’s personal religious and mystical feelings are remarkably preserved in his famous "Hymn to Aten," with its extraordinary parallels to biblical Psalm 104. "How manifold are thy works!" writes Akhenaten. "They are hidden from the sight of men, O Sole God, like unto whom there is no other!"

Fascinating. Thanks for posting.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Anyway, he may decided to leave Thebes and go to Amarna and start up his own religion with his own god, having felt betrayed by the pantheon of multiple gods of Egypt at the time.

Amenhotep III's wife, Queen Tiye, daughter of the vizier Yuya and his wife Tuya (non royals buried in the Valley of the Kings), adhered to the Aten religion prior to Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV). Many are coming to suspect, thanks to the work of Ahmed Osman, that Yuya was very likely Joseph. Notice the congruity of the names, and the inclusion of the divine name with it Yu-"Yah". Joseph - phonetically: Yu-Seph, is an abbreviated form of his Hebrew and Egpytian names joined together.

See Osman's "The Hebrew Pharoah's of Egypt".

[Hermann the Cherusker]

That timeline you link to has little basis in actual facts, and no way of accounting for the Egpytian Empire in Cannan being coeval with the supposed "Judges period" of Israel. It is much more likely that the Israelites were in Egypt from ~1415 to ~1200, with the Exodus around that point.

[restornu]

some secular history of Mid-Eastern events!

[malakhi]

Hi restornu, thanks for the ping! :o)

[restornu]

I really feel many can find some insight in others history that might fill in the gaps and enable a better of understanding!

[Alamo-Girl]

Indeed, history helps us to understand.

[unspun]

....Israelites were in Egypt from ~1415 to ~1200, with the Exodus around that point.

Thanks, that's what I've seen elsewhere; circa. 1300, give or take a century.   ;-`

[restornu]

However, Akhenaten appears to have been personally devoted to the worship of Aten, the supreme Creator manifest as the sun-disk in the heavens. In the fifth year of his reign (1348 BC), Akhenaten made a formal break with the ancient traditional religion of Egypt, changing his name from his former throne-name, Amenhotep IV, to his new religious title Akhen-aten, "the glory of the [sun] disk." He also decreased the resources devoted to the worship of Amun, and moved the capital of Egypt from Thebes to his newly established city Akhet-aten (“horizon of the [sun] disk”), which is better known by the modern name Amarna. His attempts to establish the supremacy of Aten included the suppression of the worship of other gods, and the excising of the name Amun from the walls of the great temples.

It makes me think of Moses when he talked to the burning bush!

Maybe somewhere in in there history they too talked to God and used the Sun as symbol to described the encounter?

Ex. 3: 2
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Ex. 3: 3
3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

Moses 1: 17
17 And he also gave me commandments when he called unto me out of the burning bush, saying: Call upon God in the name of mine Only Begotten, and worship me.

GS Moses
Was saved by Pharaoh’s daughter, Ex. 2: 1-10. Fled to Midian, Ex. 2: 11-22. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush, Ex. 3: 1-15. Announced plagues to come upon the Egyptians, Ex. 7-11. The Lord instituted the Passover, Ex. 12: 1-30. Led the children of Israel across the Red Sea, Ex. 14: 5-31. The Lord sent manna in the desert, Ex. 16. Struck rock at Horeb and water gushed forth, Ex. 17: 1-7. Aaron and Hur held up his hands so that Joshua prevailed over Amulek, Ex. 17: 8-16. Jethro counseled him, Ex. 18: 13-26. Prepared the people for the Lord’s appearance on mount Sinai, Ex. 19. The Lord revealed the Ten Commandments to him, Ex. 20: 1-17. He and seventy elders saw God, Ex. 24: 9-11. Broke the tables of testimony and destroyed the golden calf, Ex. 32: 19-20. Spoke with God face to face, Ex. 33: 9-11. Appeared when Jesus was transfigured, Matt. 17: 1-13 (Mark 9: 2-13; Luke 9: 28-36). Let us be strong like unto Moses, 1 Ne. 4: 2. Christ is the prophet like unto Moses that the Lord would raise up, 1 Ne. 22: 20-21 (3 Ne. 20: 23; Deut. 18: 15). Led Israel by revelation, D&C 8: 3. Was seen among the noble spirits, D&C 138: 41. Saw God face to face, Moses 1: 2, 31. Was in the similitude of the Only Begotten, Moses 1: 6, 13. Was to write the things revealed to him concerning the Creation, Moses 2: 1.

BD Burning Bush
A bush in which the Lord appeared to Moses when he gave him his commission to bring Israel out of Egypt (Ex. 3: 2-4). Although the bush burned, it was not consumed, and this circumstance caught Moses’ attention. The event was referred to by Jesus in speaking to the Sadducees (Mark 12: 26; Luke 20: 37). Stephen also makes mention of it (Acts 7: 30). In latter-day revelation the experience is verified in Moses 1: 17.

Map: The World of the Old Testament
14. Mount Sinai (Horeb) The Lord spoke to Moses from a burning bush (Ex. 3:1-2). Moses was given the Law and the Ten Commandments (Ex. 19-20). The Lord spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice (1 Kgs. 19:8-12).

[restornu]

Islamic Belief in the Afterlife (72 Virgins?)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1112487/posts

The lord of the trumpet, the archangel Israfil (whose name probably derives from the Hebrew “seraphim”), is one of four archangels in Islamic lists, with Jibril (Gabriel), Mikha’il (Michael), and Izra’il. He is of vast size. His feet are said to be under the “seventh earth,” while his head reaches to the pillars of the divine throne. He has four wings—one in the east, one in the west, one with which he covers his body, and a fourth with which he protects himself against the fearsome glory of God. Israfil always holds the trumpet near his mouth, so as to be ready, when God gives the order, to sound the blast that will arouse humankind from the grave. Three times each day and three times every night he looks down into hell and is convulsed by grief. His tears of sadness for the future fate of the damned nearly flood the earth. Some traditions say, on the other hand, that he himself will be roused from slumber at the resurrection, the first to rise on that day. He will stand on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and give the signal that will resurrect the dead.