The Life and Times of Akhnaton, Pharaoh of Egypt

by Arthur E. P. Brome Weigall

1. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELIGION OF ATON.

In the Pharaoh’s hymn to the Aton we read these words—

“Thou didst create the earth according to Thy desire, ...

The countries of Syria and Nubia,

The land of Egypt....”

It is certainly worthy of note that Syria and Nubia are thus named before Egypt, and seem to take precedence in Akhnaton’s mind. In the same hymn the following lines occur:—

“The Nile in heaven is for the strangers, ...

But the Nile [itself,] it cometh from the nether world for Egypt.”

Here Akhnaton refers to the rain which falls in Syria to water the lands of the stranger, and compares it with the river which irrigates his own country. Thus again his thoughts are first for Syria and then for Egypt. This is the true imperial spirit: in the broadness of the Pharaoh’s mind his foreign possessions claim as much attention as do his own dominions, and demand as much love. The sentiments are entirely opposed to those of the earlier kings of this dynasty, who ground down the land of the “miserable” foreigner and extracted therefrom all its riches, without regard to aught else.

Akhnaton believed that his God was the Father of all mankind, and that the Syrian and the Nubian were as much under His protection as the Egyptian. This is a greater advance in ethics than may be at once apparent; for the Aton thus becomes the first deity who was not tribal or not national ever conceived by mortal mind. This is the Christian’s understanding of God, though not the Hebrew conception of Jehovah. This is the spirit which sends the missionary to the uttermost parts of the earth; and it was such an attitude of mind which now led Akhnaton to build a temple for the Aton in the heart of Syria, and another far up in the Sudan.[59] The site of the Syrian temple is now lost, but the Nubian buildings were recently discovered and seem to have been of considerable extent.

An Example of the Friendly Relations between Syria and Egypt.

A Syrian Soldier named Terura, and his wife, Aariburæ, attended by an Egyptian servant, who assists him to hold the tube through which he is drinking wine from a jar. From a tablet found at El Amarna. (Zeit. Aeg. Spr. xxxvi. 126.)

At the same time temples were being erected in various parts of Egypt. At Hermonthis a temple named “Horizon of Aton in Hermonthis” was built; at Heliopolis there was a temple named “Exaltation of Ra in Heliopolis,” and also a palace for the king; at Hermopolis and at Memphis temples were erected; and in the Fayum and the Delta “Houses” of Aton sprang up. Few real converts, however, seem to have been made; for the religion was far above the understanding of the people. In deference to the king’s wishes the Aton was accepted, but no love was shown for the new form of worship; and, indeed, not even in the City of the Horizon itself was it understood.

A certain change was now made by Akhnaton in the name of the Aton. The words “Heat which is in Aton” did not seem to him to be very happily chosen. They had been used in the earliest years of the movement, and had evidently not been coined by Akhnaton himself. The word “heat” was in spelling very reminiscent of the name of one of the old gods, and, to the uninitiate, might suggest some connection. The name of the Aton was therefore changed to “Effulgence which comes from Aton,” the new words introducing into the spelling the hieroglyph of Ra, the sun. The exact significance of the alteration is not known; but one may suppose that the new words better conveyed the meaning which Akhnaton wished to imply. Even now it is not easy to find a phrase to express that vital energy, that first cause of life, which the king so clearly understood.

The date of this change is somewhat uncertain, though it is definitely to be placed between the tenth and thirteenth year of the reign, the probability being that it took place at the end of the twelfth year, when Akhnaton was about twenty-three years old. The inscriptions upon the outer coffin, or shrine, of Queen Tiy show the older form of wording, and the change, therefore, took place after her death. Now the queen did not die till the middle or end of the twelfth year, for in the tomb of Huya events of that year are recorded,[60] and he still holds the office of steward to the queen, while a letter from Dushratta, mentioning Tiy, was docketed in the twelfth year. On the other hand, the new name of the Aton occurs in tombs which, by the number of Akhnaton’s daughters represented in them, might be thought to have been constructed earlier than this.[61] Thus there is a slight discrepancy; but the point of significance is that the change occurred after the queen’s death, and was thus concurrent with another change which must here be recorded.