Thy dawning is beautiful in the horizon of heaven,
O living Aten, beginning of life.
Transformation came to ancient Egypt when Pharaoh Akhenaten banished the old gods and established monotheism around 1350 BCE.
- The priestly caste lost its power and prestige.
- Thebes and other royal destinations no longer served as the Paris and Riviera of their time.
- Pharaoh moved the entire court to an obscure northern desert location that he named Akhetaten after his god.
- There he built a marvelous white and gold city to honor his deity, a sublime entity depicted by the disk of the sun with cascading rays.
- For a time during his 17 year reign he lived in pleasant circumstances with his beautiful wife Nefertiti and their daughters.
- The art of the period relaxed into informality and naturalism.
- Pharaoh wrote exquisite poems to his beloved god, Aten.
- He offered a new way to his people, and all seemed well.
That was only on the surface, of course, and only among Pharaoh’s most loyal family and supporters.
- Beneath, in the beating heart of long-remembered Egypt, the old gods stirred.
- The old priestly caste of Amen-Ra connived to reassert its power.
- The common people of Egypt longed to demonstrate their unfailing devotion to the deities that had served them well for millennia.
- Never mind this unrelatable, usurper god who appeared distant and unfeeling.
- Never mind this heretical Pharaoh who had disrupted eons of stability and tradition.
- Also, with disproportionate emphasis placed on radical change in religion and little on national security, the wolves were at the gate.
Egypt was headed for reversal, with the end result a return to the old gods and old beliefs.
- Pharaoh, his gleaming white and gold city, and his god Aten were scratched off the stones and monuments, covered by the desert sands, and forgotten by history.
- He remained unknown until the discovery of his long lost city, now called Amarna, in the 1800s.
Upon discovery, the modern world became captivated by the Amarna period.
- Pharaoh and his revolution were admired.
- Nefertiti became a subject of fascination and awe.
- The subsequent discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb shook the world.
- My favorites Smenkhkare and Meritaten emerged as mysterious figures that scholars fervently seek to pin down.
- Some scholars, including Freud, theorize that Pharaoh’s beliefs were instilled by the visiting Hebrew Moses.
Again, Akhenaten’s words are sheer beauty:
Thy dawning is beautiful in the horizon of heaven,
O living Aten, beginning of life.
Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic in Romance
Very interesting and intriguing. I love learning about Egypt
Ancient writings and times are so fascinating!